The Sharing Experiment

We wanted to know if sharing is natural. On October 7, 2011 Action Against Hunger conducted an experiment in Madrid, Spain to study human behavior when faced with the injustice of hunger. Of the 20 children under study, all 20 shared their food.

In a world that produces more than enough food to feed everyone, 3.5 million children still die from hunger every year. We should learn from them and share, too.

• Category

  Nonprofits & Activism

[joshuak47]

Two thoughts (after the "awww cute" gut reaction).

1) What was the sample size? 20? That means 10 dyads... very small.

2) If you want to make this more "symbolic", add a third child, a bully. The bully takes the food away from the second child each time. Repeat this until the first child either stops giving food to the second one, or punches the bully.

[ACFinternational]

LOL, clever ideas - thanks for your feedback! Our sample size was 20, and we just wanted to show that children will typically share with each other.

[loner007]

Where are those children from? Spain or different parts of the world?

[ACFinternational]

This video was produced in Spain and these are Spanish children. We bet kids anywhere would do the same!

[shane hughes]

Wow!!! love it. it's not the one who demands it gets the bigger one it's the one who makes the cut (and so has the power) always ends up with the smaller one...

[ACFinternational]

We can certainly learn from their generosity and spirit :)

[SharedEconomy]

Nice video ! Share lovers may also help the economy grow !

[joshuak47]

marcelog59:

Or maybe you just don't get it? That's OK, though.

[marcelog59]

What a stupid comment !

[MrGoronyo]

Very good experiment, but what about making this experiment in Third World Countries? say African ones or Asia or where a lot of children suffer from the malnutrition.

[salamancaab1]

I like it but 2 kids wanted the bigger piece

[butteromatic]

Video says "Not available in your country". Ah the irony, why won't you share with the UK?

[DarknesSxLDS]

The comments are just utterly stupid.

This is not an experiment to prove a scientific psychology concept, it's proving a moral point and conveying a message behind it.

[WilliamRayWalters]

How does this determine that 'sharing is natural'? Haven't these kids been brought up by their parents up until now? Surely the teachings of their parents, and not 'nature', were the reason for their generosity.

[Kean Lee]

The problem lies in the logistic side of it.

[Seetoh Kelvin]

agree