Young children often think that groups who receive help are less smart than those who don’t receive such help, according to new research published in the journal Child Development.

“This research examines how young children perceive helping behavior. Understanding what helping signals to young children is important because children, by virtue of their age, receive a great deal of help from others that is often foundational to their academic and social development,” said study author Jellie Sierksma, an assistant professor at VU Amsterdam.

“We were specifically interested in understanding the inferences children make when groups of children do or do not receive help from an adult, given that help is often given based on the groups children belong to (e.g., due to educational tracking at school).”

In three experiments with 216 children who were 4 to 6 years old, the participants were shown videos of groups of cartoon children engaging in various activities, such as solving a puzzle. In the videos, one group received help from an adult while the other group did not. After watching the videos, the participants were asked if they thought one group was smarter or nicer than another.

The researchers found that the children tended to think that groups who received help were less smart, but they did not perceive either group as nicer.

“We show that a large majority of young children think that groups and group members who receive help are less smart. The current research thus provides evidence for the idea that helping can serve as a social signal to children, supporting the formation of biased inferences about groups,” Sierksma told PsyPost.

“That children as young as 4 years make these inferences underlines how powerful observing differential helping could be in guiding children’s view of groups and individuals.”

The findings might hold significance for educators.

“The implications of this work are twofold. First, the findings underscore how much children learn about the social world by watching adults. Here we show that adults’ differential helping can function as a social signal to children eager to learn about their social world,” Sierksma explained.

“Second, the findings have implications for thinking about ability grouping, an educational practice that is implemented across the world with the main aim of helping children of all levels acquire academic success. However, by creating groups of children based on their competence, these practices also set the stage for group-based helping. As such, tracking may ironically contribute to the perpetuation of inequality as children observe and make inferences about group members’ competence.”

But the study — like all research — includes some limitations. “It is important to keep in mind that we tested children of one age group in a controlled lab setting. It will be important for future research to address what happens in more naturalistic settings (e.g., actual classrooms with real teachers) and with children of different ages,” Sierksma said.

The study, “When Helping Hurts: Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart“, was authored by Jellie Sierksma and Kristin Shutts.