PSY2004 SEMESTER 1 - WEEK 10 Flashcards
define prosocial behaviour
voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another eg; comforting, helping, sharing, providing helpful info
define altruism
prosocial behaviour that is performed for unselfish motives (no benefit to self even in long run)
outline how children address negative emotional states in others
rate with which child comfort others in pain/distress (not reacting with distress self) increases over their 2nd year
1-2 increasing shows comfort behaviour
3 years = reasoned responsiveness to distress
outline how heritability/genetics may be able to account in individual difference of comforting in children
genetic factors have modest role
genes can influence neurohormonal system (affective response to other in distress)
what emotion are those who are not overwhelmed by emotions they see then experience are more likely to feel, compared to those who are not overly inhibited (shy)
those not overwhelmed by emotions they see, then experience = more likely to feel sympathy
those not overly inhibited (shy) more likely to act on their sympathetic feeling
if a child is struggling processing/acting on emotion, how may they present
showing no concern or comfort
outline comforting and reassurence behaviours in chimps/bonobos
comfort and reassure, just later on in developments than humans
define helping
addressing instrumental needs to achieve practical outcome
what kinds of helping can be seen at 12 months (Liszkowski, 2008)
informative pointing to where objects are if adult didn’t see it
helping other achieve instrumental goal
at what age is active assistance helping behaviours shown
18 months
do chimps show helping behaivours
yes, if easily able to infer what others goal is, but some debate over chimp’s prosociality
outline Pettygrove research on how caregivers can promote helping in 18/30months infant
ask to help mum clean up, behaviour recorded, child had chance to help another adult
found certain styles of behaviour predict likelihood of helping other adult
18months: directives important
30months: scaffolding, providing support to make their actions relevant in activities
at 18months, what kind of caregiver behaviour is important to promote helping behaviour
directions (command/request)
at 30months, what kind of caregiver behaviour is important to promote helping behaviour
scaffolding (providing support like emotional regulations, making childs action relevant in activity)
what 3 approaches do not help in promoting helping at 18-30month
- reasoning (explaining why need to tidy up, at 30months reasoning skills not yet developed)
- praise (positive comments are too open-ended, but promotes self-esteem)
- character attributions (promotes self-esteem, not helping behaviours)
at what age do infants share attention?
6 months
at what age do infants actively give object
9-10months
sets stage for notions of “mine” and “yours”
at what age do infants start to share?
18 months (initially requiring heavy scaffolding, instruction, prompting)
when does sharing behaviour become uncommon, despite previously being apparent
18months, but start to share again at 24months (quicker and often, need less prompts, are more generous)
dried by increases in social understanding
explain reciprocity of helping
sharing resources with those who share with us
explain indirect reciprocity in helping
sharing with those who we know share with other
at what age do children become discerned about who should benefit from act of kindness
age 3, think people should prefer to share resources with family, friends and those who share with them, and others
alongside direct/indirect helping behaviour reciprocity, what else do children show age 3
sacrifice resource to punish (game-based evidence)
outline methodology of Blake & McAuliffe( 2015) study on fairness attitudes in child
2 children, 1 lever with a bowl in middle, different number of sweets on each trial
1 child pull lever: green means both get sweets (accept it as being equal), if pull red sweets go to middle bowl (reject, as see it as being unequal)
outline results of Blake & McAuliffe( 2015) study on fairness attitudes in child, using levers and sweets, what did child do when perceiving disadvantageous inequity (you get less sweets)
more quick to reject the state of affairs
outline results of Blake & McAuliffe( 2015) study on fairness attitudes in child, using levers and sweets, what did child do when perceiving equal distribution to advantageous inequity (you get more sweets)
more cultural variation
some still reject, as see as unfair (Canada, Uganda, USA)
when does disadvantegous inequity aversion emerge (getting less than others)
emerges in all population by middle childhood
when does advantegous inequity aversion emerge (getting more than others)
more variable and emerged in 3 populations, only later in development
outline sharing behaviours in chimps/bonobos
female chimps shares food, more common for bonobo (voluntarily hand food to other)
what is evidence of altruism behaviour in children (specifically for toddlers)
toddlers help others anonymously and help whether adult there to watch/not, or if familiar/not
even if they’re engaged in an interesting task of their own
name the 4 motivational sources of prosociality
empathetic concern
gratitude and guilt
obligation
reward
what is empathetic concern (a motivational source of prosociality)
sincere concern for others wellbeing
how can gratitude/guilt sustain prosocial motivations
gratitude sustains prosocial interactions, reinforce reciprocity
guilt motivates repairing ruptured social relation
how can obligation be a motivational source of prosociality
commitments create sense of social obligation, norms create expectation of altruistic behaviour
what is the impact of material reward on altruism (Warneken & Tomasello studied this in toddlers)
when infants helped, adults either gave material reward, praise (verbal reward), or responded neutrally (no rewards)
infant given an opportunity for more helping
found those in reward condition less likely, and praise didn’t function as a verbal reward
important intrinsic motivation in altruistic actions
what is the point of view that altruistic behaviours are an innate tendency
infants display helping behaviours from early on-development, extrinsic motivation inhibits helping and also chimps help other when is easy to infer goals
what is the point of view that altruistic behaviours are NOT an innate tendency
early helping can be explained by motivation for social interaction rather than altruism
