2-098 - The Early Development of Prosocial Behavior: Motivations and Contextual Influences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The current symposium brings together varied research and theoretical perspectives on the early development of prosocial behavior to examine how and when prosocial behaviors emerge. The first presentation reports on a series of studies demonstrating that 18, 24 and 30 month old children are willing to help another person in need when able and shows that by 30 months of age children will enlist their mothers to help when they are not capable of helping the person themselves. The second presentation reports on a longitudinal study of the development of helping, cooperation and comforting that has followed children from 18 to 30 months of age. This research examined whether mothers‘ socialization goals and prosocial- specific parenting behaviors together with child temperament predicts prosocial behavior and shows that specific aspects of socialization but not temperament are associated with prosocial behavior. The third presentation reports on the sharing, helping and comforting behavior of 18 and 24 month olds and demonstrates that children are sensitive to the number of resources they have to share and that having more resources leads to more subsequent prosocial behavior in other domains. Together these studies demonstrate the capacity and motivation of young children to be prosocial strengthens across the second and third year of life and that prosociality can also be influenced by contextual demands and constraints. The discussant is an expert on the early development of prosociality whose work primarily focuses on the early biological foundations of human prosociality.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Judith Semon Dubas, Utrecht University

Discussant

• Felix Warneken, Harvard University

Individual Presentations

• Toddlers Involve Their Caregiver to Help Another Person in Need - Presenting Author: Markus Paulus, University of Munich; Kelly O'Driscoll, Dalhousie University; Chris Moore, Dalhousie University

• The Influence of Socialization and Temperament on Helping, Cooperating and Comforting: A Longitudinal Study - Presenting Author: Marta Giner Torrens, University of Munster; Joscha Kartner, University of Munster

• The Emergence of Prosocial Behavior: Does the Number of Resources Matter? - Presenting Author: Yue Song, Utrecht University (UU); Martine L Broekhuizen, Utrecht University; Judith Semon Dubas, Utrecht University