1
|
Gibhardt S, Aitken J, Low R, Henderson AME. Task demands matter in shaping how preschoolers express instrumental helping, comforting, and sharing: A longitudinal analysis. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 243:105929. [PMID: 38663123 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Revised: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
The current research provides a detailed longitudinal examination of instrumental helping, comforting, and sharing in early childhood. Preschoolers completed a series of prosocial behavior tasks when they were 2 years old (n = 200), 3 years old (n = 161), and 4 years old (n = 135). As expected, children's prosocial behaviors increased with age across all tasks. Yet children's prosocial behaviors were more nuanced than expected, with significant differences in scores between trials within each type of prosocial behavior. Cross-lagged panel modelling revealed that instrumental helping at 3 years predicted comforting when an experimenter was sad or cold at 4 years. Furthermore, children's comforting of a sad experimenter at 3 years predicted sharing their own toy with a sad experimenter at 4 years. These findings offer novel insights into the developmental trajectory of three types of prosocial behavior in early childhood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sina Gibhardt
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand; Humboldt Research Group for Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Jess Aitken
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Rachel Low
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Gibhardt S, Hepach R, Henderson AME. Observing prosociality and talent: the emotional characteristics and behavioral outcomes of elevation and admiration in 6.5- to 8.5-year-old children. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1392331. [PMID: 38855306 PMCID: PMC11160138 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1392331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Helping and seeing others being helped elicits positive emotions in young children but little is known about the nature of these emotions, especially in middle childhood. Here we examined the specific emotional characteristics and behavioral outcomes of two closely related other-praising moral emotions: elevation and admiration. We exposed 182 6.5- to 8.5-year-old children living in New Zealand, to an elevation- and admiration-inducing video clip. Afterwards children's emotion experiences and prosocial behaviour was measured. Findings revealed higher levels of happiness, care, and warmth after seeing prosociality in others (elevation condition) and higher levels of upliftment after seeing talent in others (admiration condition). We found no differences in prosocial behavior between the elevation and admiration conditions. This is the first study to assess elevation in childhood and offers a novel paradigm to investigate the role of moral emotions as potential motivators underlying helping.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sina Gibhardt
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Hepach R, Engelmann JM, Herrmann E, Gerdemann SC, Tomasello M. Evidence for a developmental shift in the motivation underlying helping in early childhood. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13253. [PMID: 35191158 PMCID: PMC10078187 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
We investigated children's positive emotions as an indicator of their underlying prosocial motivation. In Study 1, 2-, and 5-year-old children (N = 64) could either help an individual or watch as another person provided help. Following the helping event and using depth sensor imaging, we measured children's positive emotions through changes in postural elevation. For 2-year-olds, helping the individual and watching another person help was equally rewarding; 5-year-olds showed greater postural elevation after actively helping. In Study 2, 5-year-olds' (N = 59) positive emotions following helping were greater when an audience was watching. Together, these results suggest that 2-year-old children have an intrinsic concern that individuals be helped whereas 5-year-old children have an additional, strategic motivation to improve their reputation by helping.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jan M Engelmann
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Esther Herrmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
| | - Stella C Gerdemann
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.,Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.,Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Misgav K, Shachnai R, Abramson L, Knafo-Noam A, Daniel E. Personal Values and Sustained Attention as Predictors of Children's Helping Behavior in Middle Childhood. J Pers 2022; 91:773-788. [PMID: 36074016 DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study tested the effect of personal values (motivation) and sustained attention (cognitive ability) on children's helping behavior. METHOD Children (N = 162, age range 8-9 years, mean = 8.81, SD =.43) completed value ranking and go/no-go tasks, and their helping behavior was examined. RESULTS Children who valued self-transcendence over self-enhancement helped more than others. Surprisingly, children's lack of sustained attention was associated with more helping among those who valued self-transcendence over self-enhancement or openness-to-change over conservation values. Valuing both self-transcendence and openness-to-change was also associated with more helping. CONCLUSIONS Children are more likely to help others if they value self-transcendence and openness to change. Notably, children's tendency to act upon these values may be facilitated (rather than obstructed by) low attention skills.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kinneret Misgav
- Department of School Counseling and Special Education, Tel-Aviv University
| | | | - Lior Abramson
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
| | | | - Ella Daniel
- Department of School Counseling and Special Education, Tel-Aviv University
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Michael J, Green A, Siposova B, Jensen K, Kita S. Finish What you Started: 2‐Year‐Olds Motivated by a Preference for Completing Others’ Unfinished Actions in Instrumental Helping Contexts. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13160. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John Michael
- Department of Cognitive Science Central European University
| | | | | | - Keith Jensen
- Human Communication, Development & Hearing University of Manchester
| | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
|
7
|
Preschoolers agree to and enforce prosocial, but not selfish, sharing norms. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 214:105303. [PMID: 34741826 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Young children act prosocially in many contexts but are somewhat selfish when it comes to sharing their resources in individual decision-making situations (e.g., the dictator game). But when deciding collectively, would they make it a binding rule for themselves and others to act selfishly in a resource sharing context? Here we used a novel "group dictator game" in a norm creation paradigm to investigate whether 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 48) would agree to and enforce a selfish or prosocial sharing norm. Children from a Western cultural background were paired with two puppets at a time. Each group member had an endowment of four stickers and faced a photograph of a recipient. In the prosocial norm condition a proposer puppet suggested to share half of one's endowment, whereas in the selfish norm condition another proposer suggested to share nothing. The protagonist puppet then either followed or violated the suggested norm. We found that 5-year-olds (but not 3-year-olds) rejected selfish proposals more often than prosocial proposals. Importantly, older (but not younger) preschoolers also enforced the prosocial (but not the selfish) norm by protesting normatively and intervening when the protagonist acted selfishly (and thus violated the norm). These results indicate that a collective decision-making context may enhance preschoolers' prosociality and that moral considerations on the content of a proposed sharing rule influence preschoolers' creation and enforcement of such nonarbitrary norms.
Collapse
|
8
|
Green A, Siposova B, Kita S, Michael J. Stopping at nothing: Two-year-olds differentiate between interrupted and abandoned goals. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 209:105171. [PMID: 33962107 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has established that goal tracking emerges early in the first year of life and rapidly becomes increasingly sophisticated. However, it has not yet been shown whether young children continue to update their representations of others' goals over time. The current study investigated this by probing young children's (24- to 30-month-olds; N = 24) ability to differentiate between goal-directed actions that have been halted because the goal was interrupted and those that have been halted because the goal was abandoned. To test whether children are sensitive to this distinction, we manipulated the experimenter's reason for not completing a goal-directed action; his initial goal was either interrupted by an obstacle or abandoned in favor of an alternative. We measured whether children's helping behavior was sensitive to the experimenter's reason for not completing his goal-directed action by recording whether children completed the experimenter's initial goal or the alternative goal. The results showed that children helped to complete the experimenter's initial goal significantly more often after this goal had been interrupted than after it had been abandoned. These results support the hypothesis that children continue to update their representations of others' goals over time by 2 years of age and specifically that they differentiate between abandoned and interrupted goals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Green
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Barbora Siposova
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Sotaro Kita
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - John Michael
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Schmerse D, Hepach R. How socialization goals and peer social climate predict young children's concern for others: Evidence for a development shift between 2 and 4 years of age. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schmerse
- Department of Educational Research and Educational Psychology Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Kiel Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development Leipzig University Leipzig Germany
- Department of Experimental Psychology University of Oxford Oxford UK
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Song Y, Broekhuizen ML, Dubas JS. Happy Little Benefactor: Prosocial Behaviors Promote Happiness in Young Children From Two Cultures. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1398. [PMID: 32714246 PMCID: PMC7346734 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2019] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence that young children display more happiness when sharing than receiving treats supports that humans, by nature, are prosocial. However, whether this "warm glow" is also found for other prosocial behaviors (instrumental helping and empathic helping) and/or in different cultures is still unclear. Dutch (studies 1 and 2) and Chinese (study 3) young children participated in a sharing task, followed by instrumental helping and empathic helping tasks in which they were praised (thanked) if they helped. Consistent results were found across three studies, showing that (1) participants displayed more happiness after giving than receiving treats; (2) toddlers displayed more happiness after instrumental helping than initially interacting with the experimenter; and (3) toddlers' happiness remained the same after positive social feedback (i.e., being thanked). Taken together, these results indicate that independent of culture, both sharing and instrumental helping are emotionally rewarding, supporting an evolutionary origin of these behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yue Song
- Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Investigating the nature of children's altruism using a social humanoid robot. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
|
12
|
Martin DU, MacIntyre MI, Perry C, Clift G, Pedell S, Kaufman J. Young Children's Indiscriminate Helping Behavior Toward a Humanoid Robot. Front Psychol 2020; 11:239. [PMID: 32153463 PMCID: PMC7047927 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Young children help others in a range of situations, relatively indiscriminate of the characteristics of those they help. Recent results have suggested that young children's helping behavior extends even to humanoid robots. However, it has been unclear how characteristics of robots would influence children's helping behavior. Considering previous findings suggesting that certain robot features influence adults' perception of and their behavior toward robots, the question arises of whether young children's behavior and perception would follow the same principles. The current study investigated whether two key characteristics of a humanoid robot (animate autonomy and friendly expressiveness) would affect children's instrumental helping behavior and their perception of the robot as an animate being. Eighty-two 3-year-old children participated in one of four experimental conditions manipulating a robot's ostensible animate autonomy (high/low) and friendly expressiveness (friendly/neutral). Helping was assessed in an out-of-reach task and animacy ratings were assessed in a post-test interview. Results suggested that both children's helping behavior, as well as their perception of the robot as animate, were unaffected by the robot's characteristics. The findings indicate that young children's helping behavior extends largely indiscriminately across two important characteristics. These results increase our understanding of the development of children's altruistic behavior and animate-inanimate distinctions. Our findings also raise important ethical questions for the field of child-robot interaction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dorothea U. Martin
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Madeline I. MacIntyre
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Conrad Perry
- School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Georgia Clift
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Sonja Pedell
- Swinburne Future Self and Design Living Lab, Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Jordy Kaufman
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Helping, fast and slow: Exploring intuitive cooperation in early ontogeny. Cognition 2019; 196:104144. [PMID: 31765923 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Cooperative behavior is central to human societies. Human adults who reach their cooperative decisions more rapidly and independently of cognitive control display greater levels of prosocial behavior. This is taken to show that cooperation is guided by intuitive processes rather than by active control of selfish impulses. The current study investigated the emergence of intuitive cooperation in early human ontogeny. We measured helping behavior (latency and frequency) in a longitudinal sample of infants at ages 14 and 18 months. Between 14 and 18 months, the frequency of helping significantly increased and latency to help significantly decreased, suggesting advances in helping behavior during this period of development. Moreover, at 18 months and to some extent, even at 14 months, infants who helped more rapidly (as indexed by a shorter latency) acted more prosocially (as indexed by a greater frequency of helping) than infants who were slower to help. This link between latency and frequency of prosocial behavior was independent of infants' ability for inhibitory control and general sociability levels. Prosocial behavior thus begins to be governed by intuitive processes that operate independently of cognitive control early in human ontogeny. This informs our understanding of the nature and emergence of cooperative behavior by supporting accounts that assign a central role to intuition in the evolution of human cooperation.
Collapse
|
14
|
Hepach R, Benziad L, Tomasello M. Chimpanzees help others with what they want; children help them with what they need. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12922. [PMID: 31710758 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2018] [Revised: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Humans, including young children, are strongly motivated to help others, even paying a cost to do so. Humans' nearest primate relatives, great apes, are likewise motivated to help others, raising the question of whether the motivations of humans and apes are the same. Here we compared the underlying motivation to help in human children and chimpanzees. Both species understood the situation and helped a conspecific in a straightforward situation. However, when helpers knew that what the other was requesting would not actually help her, only children gave her what she needed instead of giving her what she requested. These results suggest that both chimpanzees and human children help others but the underlying motivation for why they help differs. In comparison to chimpanzees, young children help in a paternalistic manner. The evolutionary hypothesis is that uniquely human socio-ecologies based on interdependent cooperation gave rise to uniquely human prosocial motivations to help others paternalistically.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Research Methods in Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Leïla Benziad
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Aitken J, Ruffman T, Taumoepeau M. Toddlers' Self-Recognition and Progression From Goal- to Emotion-Based Helping: A Longitudinal Study. Child Dev 2019; 91:1219-1236. [PMID: 31429069 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Research has typically used cross-sectional designs to draw conclusions on the development of helping. This study aimed to examine the development of instrumental and empathic helping behaviors as they emerge, and assess how self-recognition might moderate this progression. Seventy-two children (14- to 25-months at T1) were assessed over four monthly sessions. Participants' individual response patterns showed instrumental helping to be a necessary precursor to empathic helping for 55.77%-67.92% of children who helped during the study. Self-recognition emerged before empathic but not instrumental helping, yet did not directly influence helping behavior.
Collapse
|
16
|
Köster M, Kärtner J. Why do infants help? A simple action reveals a complex phenomenon. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2018.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
|
17
|
Dahl A. The Science of Early Moral Development: on Defining, Constructing, and Studying Morality from Birth. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2018; 56:1-35. [PMID: 30846044 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2018.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The first 4 years of moral development are perhaps the most transformative. Helpless neonates become infants who routinely help and harm others; infants develop into preschoolers who make moral judgments based on moral concerns with welfare. Over the past two decades, there has been tremendous empirical progress, but also theoretical stalemates, in research on early moral development. To advance the field, this chapter argues for providing definitions of key terms, adopting an interactionist and constructivist approach (eschewing the dichotomy between innate and learned characteristics), and combining naturalistic and experimental methods. On this basis, the chapter reviews research on how children's orientations toward helping and harming others develop gradually through everyday social interactions in the early years. In these interactions, children play active roles through initiation, negotiation, protest, and construction. The chapter concludes with key questions for future research on early moral development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Audun Dahl
- University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Allen M, Perry C, Kaufman J. Toddlers prefer to help familiar people. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 174:90-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Revised: 05/15/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
|
19
|
Aknin LB, Van de Vondervoort JW, Hamlin JK. Positive feelings reward and promote prosocial behavior. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:55-59. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Revised: 06/21/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
|
20
|
How to build a helpful baby: a look at the roots of prosociality in infancy. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:21-24. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2017] [Revised: 06/26/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
|
21
|
Engelmann JM, Rapp DJ. The influence of reputational concerns on children's prosociality. Curr Opin Psychol 2018; 20:92-95. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2017] [Revised: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
|
22
|
Expanding the social science of happiness. Nat Hum Behav 2018; 2:248-252. [PMID: 30936535 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0308-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/22/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Valid and reliable self-report happiness scales have prompted a wellspring of research into the causes and consequences of human happiness, allowing researchers from across the social sciences to empirically address questions that were previously treated more theoretically in the social sciences, religion and philosophy. As this body of knowledge accumulates, we see a need for the study of happiness to be more social in both content and methodology. Specifically, we argue for a social science of happiness that further recognizes the importance of social connection and prosocial action for human well-being, and invests in greater collaboration across all disciplinary boundaries, especially among social scientists and policymakers. As a larger and stronger social science of happiness emerges, it both requires and is supported by a corresponding shift in policy from identifying and fixing problems to finding positive ways to promote well-being.
Collapse
|
23
|
Weltzien S, Marsh LE, Hood B. Thinking of me: Self-focus reduces sharing and helping in seven- to eight-year-olds. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0189752. [PMID: 29320506 PMCID: PMC5761840 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 12/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
By 7-to 8-years of age, most children readily adhere to prosocial norms aimed at benefiting others through giving up time and effort (helping) or resources (sharing). Two studies explored whether sharing and helping by 7-to 8-year olds (N = 180) could be influenced by priming children's attention on themselves or their friends through a semi-structured interview. Results revealed that self-priming led to reductions in both sharing and helping compared to friendship-priming or a control condition. These findings are considered as indicative of the fragile state of prosocial behaviours at this age that can be easily shifted towards more selfish biases by simple priming.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Weltzien
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Lauren E Marsh
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Bruce Hood
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Affiliation(s)
- Felix Warneken
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Wynn K, Bloom P, Jordan A, Marshall J, Sheskin M. Not Noble Savages after all: Limits to early altruism. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2017; 27:3-8. [PMID: 29713124 DOI: 10.1177/0963721417734875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Many scholars draw on evidence from evolutionary biology, behavioral economics, and infant research to argue that humans are "noble savages", endowed with indiscriminate kindness. We believe this is mistaken. While there is evidence for an early-emerging moral sense - even infants recognize and favor instances of fairness and kindness amongst third parties - altruistic behaviors are selective from the start. Babies and young children favor those who have been kind to them in the past, and favor familiar individuals over strangers. They hold strong biases for ingroup over outgroup and for self over other, and indeed are more unequivocally selfish than older children and adults. Much of what is most impressive about adult morality arises not through inborn capacities, but a fraught developmental process that involves exposure to culture and the exercise of rationality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karen Wynn
- Department of Psychology, Yale University
| | - Paul Bloom
- Department of Psychology, Yale University
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
26
|
Aime H, Broesch T, Aknin LB, Warneken F. Evidence for proactive and reactive helping in two- to five-year-olds from a small-scale society. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0187787. [PMID: 29141009 PMCID: PMC5687751 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are unique in their propensity for helping. Not only do we help others in need by reacting to their requests, we also help proactively by assisting in the absence of a request. Proactive helping requires the actor to detect the need for help, recognize the intention of the other, and remedy the situation. Very little is known about the development of this social phenomenon beyond an urban, industrialized setting. We examined helping in nineteen two- to five-year old children in small-scale rural villages of Vanuatu. In the experimental condition, the intentions of the experimenter were made salient, whereas in the control condition they were ambiguous. Children helped more often in the experimental compared to the control condition, suggesting that the propensity to monitor others' goals and act accordingly can be detected in different cultural contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hilary Aime
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Tanya Broesch
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Lara B. Aknin
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Felix Warneken
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|