Peer-reviewed article
The Effect of Early-Childhood Education on Social Preferences
Alexander W. Cappelen, John A. List, Anya Savikhin Samek, Bertil Tungodden ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how early childhood education affects children's social preferences by randomly assigning 3-4 year-old children to either full-time preschool, a parenting program, or no intervention. The researchers returned when children were 6-8 years old and used economic experiments to measure their social preferences. The study found that early childhood education has a strong causal effect on how children value fairness and cooperation with others.
Key points
- Children were randomized at ages 3-4 into preschool, parenting program, or control group
- Social preferences were measured using incentivized experiments when children were 6-8 years old
- Early childhood education had a strong causal impact on social preferences
- The study emphasizes that early education programs affect development beyond academic outcomes
Limitations
The document does not specify which countries were involved or provide detailed results of the social preference measurements. The specific mechanisms through which early education changed social preferences are not explained.
Abstract
We present results from the first study to examine the causal impact of early childhood education on the social preferences of children. We compare children who, at 3-4 years old, were randomized into either a full-time preschool, a parenting program, or a control group. We returned to the children when they reached 6-8 years of age and conducted a series of incentivized experiments to elicit their social preferences. We find that early childhood education has a strong causal impact on social preferences. Our findings highlight the importance of taking a broad perspective when designing and evaluating early childhood educational programs.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Full-time preschool or parenting program for 3-4 year-old children
- Population
- Children ages 3-4 years old
Key finding
Early childhood education has a strong causal impact on social preferences