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Current literature is insufficient in addressing how culture influences the development of prosociality, particularly when considering differences among ethnic groups. Therefore, we analyzed how culture and ecological aspects influence the prosocial development of quilombola children in two separate studies. The activities were developed in the schools where the children studied. Our objective in Study 1 was to examine whether there are differences in sharing behavior, among Brazilian quilombola children and those living in communities in rural and urban areas ( N = 151). By using the dictator game, we found that children from urban areas shared significantly more than children from quilombo communities. The rural area children exhibited an intermediate response between the urban area and the quilombo communities. In Study 2, we employed an Implicit Association Test to compare preferences for prosocial behaviors among children from the same three communities ( N = 91). The results were the opposite of those found in the first study: children from quilombo communities demonstrated a stronger preference for prosocial behaviors when compared to urban children. These findings suggest that intercultural differences can influence both prosocial behaviors and cognition, as measured by explicit and implicit measures. Additionally, ecological aspects also played a role in the observed outcomes. Overall, our results contribute to understanding prosocial development in middle childhood, considering an intercultural perspective.
Medeiros et al. (Fri,) studied this question.