{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T17:54:21Z","timestamp":1790963661490,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","issue":"40","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007768","name":"Max-Planck-Institut f\u00fcr Evolution\u00e4re Anthropologie","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CCCP"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CCCP"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007768","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003986","name":"Jacobs Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize 2011"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize 2011"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003986","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100018694","name":"EC | Horizon Europe | Excellent Science | HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["101148929"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101148929"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100018694","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.pnas.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Helping others is an integral part of human sociality, but systematic cross-cultural comparisons of children\u2019s helping behavior are rare. Existing work has mainly focused on interactions between adults and children, paying less attention to peer dynamics\u2014which are more relevant in many cultural settings. Here, we report a study of 4- to 9-y-old children\u2019s (N = 336) spontaneous helping in 6 highly diverse populations in Latin America, Africa, and Europe (Wich\u00ed, Quechua, \u2260Akhoe Hai||om, Samburu, Kikuyu, and Germans). In all settings, we observed pairs of same-aged children in an experimental task in which one partner could assist the other by providing either instrumental help or information. Across cultures, children reliably helped their peers by offering either type of help, with the provision of information increasing over age. We found striking commonalities in peer helping in all settings, with only small culture-specific patterns in children\u2019s responses. This suggests that helping among children is a universal human behavior which is subtly shaped by local norms and practices.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2515233123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T17:15:22Z","timestamp":1790961322000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Children from six cultures reliably help their peers\u2014but in different ways"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"123","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5521-102X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henriette","family":"Zeidler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health, Sapienza University","place":["Rome, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0739-2273","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marie","family":"Sch\u00e4fer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03s7gtk40","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6791-0805","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esther","family":"Herrmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03ykbk197","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Portsmouth","place":["Portsmouth, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1068-3725","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricia","family":"Kanngiesser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/008n7pv89","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Psychology, University of Plymouth","place":["Plymouth, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luke","family":"Maurits","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02a33b393","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3262-645X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Haun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02a33b393","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology","place":["Leipzig, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1649-088X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Tomasello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00py81415","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University","place":["Durham"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"341","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_1_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dr.2018.11.004"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/cdep.12101"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/9781108769204"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_2","first-page":"1","article-title":"Early social cognition in three cultural contexts","volume":"76","author":"Callaghan T.","year":"2011","unstructured":"T. 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