Children start to be competitive from 4 years old

A new study finds that children start to be competitive from the age of 4, when they seriously play a game to win.

Before age 4, children had no concept of defeating someone. Children under 4 are often happy to help other children when playing, rather than competing.

However, at the age of 4, the young brain seemed to be triggered to think in favor of victory, according to a joint study by British and Austrian scientists for children from 3 to 5 years old.

From 4 years old, children start to be competitive because they know how to play seriously to win, whether or not they need to use tricks.(Photo: truthpressure.com)

First, the team conducts quizzes to assess children's ability to help others, even if it means losing a game or having to complete the task on their own. . They include a series of imaginary scenes to see what the kids will do in different situations, to test their views on competition.

After that, the team gave the children a competition to pick up seeds in the top of a basket. The rules allow children to pick up seeds from a jar in the middle or can take them from someone else's basket. The latter is a trick to help the child win by destroying the opponent's accomplishments, while still filling his basket.

The results show that children under 4 years of age are less likely to use 'tricks' and often go to the bottle placed in the center to pick up seeds for themselves. Meanwhile, 4 or 5 year olds are more likely to 'steal' seeds from their competitors' baskets.

Researcher Johannes Roessler from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick (UK) said that even if the opponent stole his seeds, younger children would not retaliate by doing the same.

The results of experimental games are consistent with the psychological test results of the study subjects. It shows a clear difference in the child's age, in terms of competitiveness.

'Our work implies that children do not understand competitive behavior until 4 years old. Most children under the age of 4 are not well aware of the plans of others, especially what someone deliberately does in certain situations , 'the research report published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.