Comparing Mindfulness- and Empathy-based Interventions to Promote Prosocial Behaviors Among Jewish-Israeli Kindergarteners

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Moral Development

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of mindfulness- and empathy-based interventions on Jewish-Israeli kindergarteners’ prosocial behavior during problem-solving tasks. Previous research has shown that empathy-based interventions increased prosocial behaviors among kindergarteners (Mori & Cigala, 2019). Self-regulation and social-emotional competence are intertwined, and both are necessary in early childhood education for children’s adaptive behavior development (e.g., prosociality, Liew, 2012). Mindfulness can promote prosociality by increasing both compassion and attention (Flook et al., 2015). However, mindfulness interventions, have not yet been assessed with Jewish-Israeli kindergartners, who are not only at an early developmental stage but also are growing up amidst protracted conflict. We hypothesized that kindergarteners in the mindfulness and empathy interventions would behave more prosocially than those in the control group, but the mindfulness participants more so than those in the empathy group.

Three classrooms of Jewish-Israel kindergarteners (Ntotal=74) were randomly assigned to the mindfulness, empathy, or control group. The interventions ran over 12 weeks; children were assessed prior to and after the intervention period. The mindfulness intervention involved being present to focus attention on breathing, hearing, and feeling things in the moment. The empathy intervention taught children how to perceive, identify, and share emotions. The control group carried out normal circle time, including singing or storybook reading.

To assess prosociality kindergarteners were observed playing three games with a classroom puppet. At the start of the observations, the kindergarteners received a prize, but two more prizes were set aside for completing the tasks. Then, in a form of parallel play, the kindergartner and the puppet both had the same task to complete in front of them (e.g., a puzzle), but the puppet always had too few pieces to complete their task. The puppet gave three prompts, each increasing in level of distress about not being able to finish and not getting the prize that they really wanted and being so upset/going to cry. Puppets said the prompts to the child as time for the task was nearing an end. The child was scored on whether they helped the puppet before any prompt was said, after hearing one, two, or three prompts, or they did not help at all.

A 2 (gender: male, female) x 3 (treatment group: mindfulness, control, empathy) x 3 (task: tangram, puzzle, matching) x 2 (time: pre-test, post-test) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last two variables was conducted to assess whether the mindfulness based intervention would increase kindergarteners’ prosocial behaviors in comparison to the empathy intervention or the control group. Results showed a significant three-way time by task by group interaction (F(4, 136) = 3.11, p < 0.05, p2 = 0.08; Figure 1), such that both the mindfulness and empathy groups scored significantly higher than the control group and the mindfulness group scores significantly higher than the empathy group (Table 1). These finding provide more knowledge about different opportunities to increase prosociality in the midst of protracted conflict. Discussion will center on the importance of increasing prosociality and mindfulness in early childhood education, particularly in conflict areas.

Authors

• Saskia Dorien Mtendere Van Schaik, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
  Presenting Author

• Alaina Brenick, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joy Benatov, University of Haifa & College of Management and Academic Studies
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rony Berger
  Non-Presenting Author