Detecting age differences in prosociality using a newly developed picture-based measure

Previous research has indicated that older adults are more likely than younger adults to share money, suggesting more prosociality. However, the extent to which older adults exhibit prosociality in other forms, such as helping and comforting, remains unclear due to the absence of a comprehensive measure. This study addresses this gap by validating a novel picture-based measure of prosociality (PB-Prosocial) in older adults, which showed good psychometric properties. Using this measure, we examined age-related differences in prosociality and underlying mediators. Older adults were found to be more prosocial in sharing, but not in helping or comforting, compared with younger adults. The age difference in sharing appeared to result from older adults being more familiar with the situations and perceiving a lower cost of sharing than younger adults. Taken together, our study provides a validated measure of prosociality and demonstrates that older adults’ increased prosociality is specific to sharing.