prosocial development Flashcards
What is prosocial behaviour?
- Intended to benefit another person
- Involves a risk or sacrifice to actor
- Is voluntary
two factors that make up prosocial behavior
Empathy and sympathy
children at age 2 on prosocial behavior:
children start to more clearly differentiate between another’s emotional distress and their own (responses can still be egocentric
children at age 2-3 on prosocial behavior:
frequency and variety of young children’s prosocial behaviours increase, although they don’t regularly act in prosocial ways
children’s prosocial behavior in preschool to adolescence
increase
young vs. old children on motivation for prosocial behavior
- Young children: prosocial behaviour motivated by empathy or sympathy for others
- Older children: drive by desire to act in ways consistent with one’s own conscience and moral principles
Eisenberg’s stage of prosocial behavior
- Level1: hedonistic, self-focused orientation
- Level2: needs-based orientation
- Level3: approval and/or stereotyped orientation
- Level4a: self-reflective empathic orientation
- Level4b: transitional level
- Level5: strongly internalized stage
Eisenberg’s level 1: hedonistic, self-focused orientation
- Concerned with own interests
- Preschool age
Eisenberg’s level 2: needs-based orientation
- Concerned with others’ needs even when they conflict with own needs
- some preschool and elementary school ages
Eisenberg’s level 3: approval and/or stereotyped orientation
- Decision to help based on ideas of good and bad
- Elementary school age
Eisenberg’s level 4a: self-reflective empathic orientation
- Sympathetic responsiveness or role-taking; concern for others’ humanness
- Older elementary school and high school age
Eisenberg’s level 4b: transitional level
Internalize values, norms, responsibilities, concern for larger society
Eisenberg’s level 5: strongly internalized stage
Everything based on values, norms and responsibilities; desire to maintain obligations and improve society; belief in dignity of all individuals
supportive and constructive parenting related to…
higher prosocial behaviour
Physical punishment, threats, authoritarian parenting related to…
lower sympathy and prosocial behaviour
Physical rewards for prosocial behaviour…
decreases motivation later for prosocial behaviour if reward is not present
Punishment for not using prosocial behaviours leads …
child to believe reason for helping is to avoid punishment
3 primary ways parents can socialize prosocial behaviours:
- Modelling and teaching prosocial behaviour
- Arranging opportunities for children to engage in prosocial behaviour
- By electing prosocial behaviour from them
Modelling and teaching prosocial behaviour
Reasoning that points out consequences or child’s behaviour for others and encourages perspective taking, promotes voluntary prosocial behavior
Television and video games influence on children:
children who watch prosocial TV tend to exhibit this behaviour immediately after the show
- Effects not lasting, but increased when parents role play prosocial behaviour seen on TV or provide child with play material that reinforces prosocial theme
Cultural contributions to prosocial behavior
In more prosocial cultures, children often live in extended families —> may help them learn that they were responsible for others, and helping behaviour was valued
Genetic contributions to prosocial behavior
- greater similarity in these behaviours between identical twins than fraternal twins
- Genetic effects on prosocial behaviour may be influenced by diffs in temperament
Piaget’s stages of moral judgement
- Heteronomous morality
- Transitional period
- Autonomous morality
Piaget’s Heteronomous morality
- Characterizes moral reasoning of children who have not yet reached cognitive stage of concrete operations
- See rules and duties as givens established by adult
- What determines whether an action is good or bad is consequence of action, not motive behind it
Piaget’s Transitional period
(age 7or8 to age 10)
- Increased peer interaction causes children to learn that rules can be constructed by groups
- Increasingly learn to take one another’s perspective, thereby becoming more autonomous in their thinking about moral issues
Piaget’s Autonomous morality
(age 11/12, moral relativism emerged, with all typically developing children reaching this stage)
- Understand rules can be changed if group agrees to do so
- Consider fairness and equality among people as important factors in constructing rules
- Consider individuals’ motives when evaluating their crimes
piaget’s rigidity of timeline
young children can consider intentions and disregard adults’ views when judging morality of some actions (e.g., hurting others)
Kohlberg’s stages of moral judgement
- Pre conventional
- Conventional
- Post conventional
Kohlberg’s pre-conventional stage 1a
moral reasoning is self-centred, focusing on getting rewards and avoiding punishment
Pre convential level: Punishment and obedience orientation:
- What is seen as right is obedience to authorities
- Fear of and avoidance of punishment
- Does not consider interest of others or recognize that they differ
Kohlberg’s pre-conventional stage 1b
Pre conventional level: Instrumental and exchange orientation:
- What is in one’s own best interest
Kohlberg’s conventional stage 3
moral reasoning is centred on social relationships
Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity (good girl, niece boy) orientation:
- Does what is expected by people who are close to the person or what people generally expect of someone in a given role (e.g. son)
- Being good is important in itself and means having good motives, showing concern about others and maintaining good relationships with others
Kohlberg’s conventional stage 4
Social system and conscience (law and order) orientation:
- Focus on fulfilling one’s duties, upholding laws, and contributing to society or one’s group
- Motivated to keep the social system going and to avoid a breakdown in its functioning
Kohlberg’s post-conventional stage 5
Social contract or individual rights orientation:
- Focus on upholding rules that were agreed upon by the group
- However, some values and rights, such as life and liberty, are universally right and must be upheld in any society, regardless of majority opinion
Kohlberg’s post-conventional stage 6
Universal ethical principles:
- Commitment to self-chosen ethical principles that reflect universal principles of justice
- When laws violate these principles, the individual should act in accordance with these universal principles rather than the law
Kohlberg’s theory of moral judgment
- Argued that people all over the world go through these stages ins ame order, although differ with regard to the final stage they attain
- Also contended that levels of cognitive development, especially individuals’ skills in perspective taking, determined their progress through the stages
Warneken and Tomasello
- altruism is not solely taught by culture but has natural roots.
- External rewards can undermine children’s intrinsic motivation to help, demonstrating the “overjustification effect.”
- Chimpanzees engage in helping similar to humans, such as retrieving out-of-reach objects
- chimpanzees are less inclined to share resources altruistically and do not inform others helpfully without self-serving motives.
- Human infants naturally inform others of useful information, demonstrating prosocial communication.
- Chimpanzee communication is primarily self-serving, with few instances of altruistic information sharing.
- Children are more generous in sharing resources compared to chimpanzees, who often compete over food and lack trust in reciprocal exchanges.
