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Abstract

Social categorization is one of the main factors exacerbating intergroup relationships. It usually transpires at young ages and imposes an impact on children’s developmental trajectory of prosocial behaviors and modulation of empathic appraisal. Therefore, ascertaining the mechanism of empathy and generosity in black and white children is an important endeavor. In the current study, in-group bias was predicted to mediate the association between empathy and generosity. The experiment incorporated an integrated methodology of behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience to examine the extent to which brain response to facial expressions, measured with electrophysiology, predicted costly sharing in a Dictator Game. Results indicated that although there was no direct evidence for an impact of group bias in the sharing game, the influence of group membership was detected in the neural response in particular reflected in the Late Positive Potential (LPP) component. Children elicit greater event-related potential (ERP) when they perceive faces from a different race or with different emotional expressions. There is also a significant correlation between children’s ERP response at LPP when perceiving faces depicting sadness from in-group members. Furthermore, children share more highly valued resources with an in-group recipient. Taken together, the study suggested prosocial behavior is predicted by empathy and in-group bias involved during sharing in both racial groups.

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