School-age children and adolescents distinguish competitive from cooperative opponents, with cooperation peaking in late childhood¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i1–i3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 Across grades 1-12, children cooperated more with the high-competitive than the low-competitive opponent after repeated interaction. → Zhang 2026 q3 i3 Cooperation rates were lowest in grades 1-2 and highest in grades 4-5, declining toward adolescence. → Zhang 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Zhang 2026¶

Zhang, R., Zhang, L., Hao, X.-M., Dreher, J.-C., & Qu, C. (2026). Learning to adaptively cooperate through social interactions during childhood and adolescence. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00423-9

q3 · i1 · causal · r2

Mixed ANOVA on cooperation rates for 146 participants aged 6-17: Opponent × Block interaction was significant (ηp² = 0.02), with higher cooperation toward HCO in blocks 2-5 but not block 1. There was also a significant Opponent main effect (d = -0.35, p < .001).

"We found a significant Opponent × Block interaction, F (3.75, 532.48) = 2.84, p = .027, 𝜂𝑝2 = 0.02."

Zhang 2026 (2)¶

Zhang, R., Zhang, L., Hao, X.-M., Dreher, J.-C., & Qu, C. (2026). Learning to adaptively cooperate through social interactions during childhood and adolescence. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00423-9

q3 · i3 · causal · r2

Grade main effect (ηp² = 0.17): grades 1-2 showed lower cooperation than grades 4-5 (d = -0.81, p < .001), grades 7-9 (d = -0.67) and grades 10-12 (d = -0.46, p = .037). No Grade × Opponent × Block interaction (p = .807), so opponent differentiation was similar across grades.

"There were significant main effects of Opponent F (1, 568) = 32.39, p < .001, 𝜂𝑝 2 = 0.18, and Grade F (3, 142) = 10.19, p < .001, 𝜂𝑝 2 = 0.17."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Learning-rate asymmetries between opponent types reverse across grade groups, with a non-monotonic age trend — related
• Preschoolers gradually learn to cooperate more with high-competitive than low-competitive opponents in the Chicken game — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Preschoolers' Chicken game choices are best explained by reward-based learning with a higher learning rate for the competitive opponent — related
• Model support shifts from reward-based learning in early primary school to belief-based opponent tracking from grades 4-5 onward — related