Children's Sympathy, Guilt, and Moral Reasoning in Helping, Cooperation, and Sharing: A 6‐Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study examined the role of sympathy, guilt, and moral reasoning in helping, cooperation, and sharing in a 6-year, three-wave longitudinal study involving 175 children (M 6.10, 9.18, and 12.18 years). Primary caregivers reported on children's helping and cooperation; sharing was assessed behaviorally. Child sympathy was assessed by self- and teacher reports, and self-attributed feelings of guilt-sadness and moral reasoning were assessed by children's responses to transgression vignettes. Sympathy predicted helping, cooperation, and sharing. Guilt-sadness and moral reasoning interacted with sympathy in predicting helping and cooperation; both sympathy and guilt-sadness were associated with the development of sharing. The findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of differential motivational pathways to helping, cooperation, and sharing.

The multidimensional nature of early prosocial behavior: a motivational perspective

“…While the previous sections summarized dissociations between early forms of prosocial behavior, there are also a few studies -mostly with older preschool or school-aged children [20][21][22] -that reported some modest relations. Some of them used other-report measures of children's prosocial behavior that have disadvantages when assessing subtle differences in behavioral phenomena [23].…”

The Motivational Foundations of Prosocial Behavior From A Developmental Perspective–Evolutionary Roots and Key Psychological Mechanisms: Introduction to the Special Section

“…Thus, this motivational mechanism can support costly behavior, requiring self‐regulation. Notably, individuals are often able to reflect on their prosocial and moral values, and to explain why those values are correct and should take precedence over other considerations (e.g., self‐oriented concerns)—a capability known as moral reasoning; such awareness can strengthen the tendency to act in accordance with one's prosocial norms and values, even at a cost to the self (e.g., Eisenberg et al., ; Malti et al., , discussed below).…”

“…The role of such self‐reflective, anticipatory guilt was examined by Malti et al. (), together with two other motivational mechanisms discussed earlier: sympathy for others’ distress and moral reasoning reflecting internalized prosocial norms. The authors examined how these three distinct motivations predict three prosocial behaviors (helping, cooperating, and sharing) in a longitudinal study spanning ages 6–12.…”

“…With increased cognitive development, older children can also anticipate feeling guilty if they were to transgress or harm others, and this anticipated remorse can further motivate fair and kind treatment of others. The role of such self-reflective, anticipatory guilt was examined by Malti et al (2016), together with two other motivational mechanisms discussed earlier: sympathy for others' distress and moral reasoning reflecting internalized prosocial norms. The authors examined how these three distinct motivations predict three prosocial behaviors (helping, cooperating, and sharing) in a longitudinal study spanning ages 6-12.…”

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and prosociality in childhood: Evidence for a quadratic effect

“…The PNS has been implicated in children's other‐oriented, social‐emotional capacities, such as sympathy and prosocial behaviors (Hastings & Miller, ; Malti et al, ). A theorized anatomical route for the PNS's involvement in prosociality is the nucleus ambiguus, which is the point of origin for the myelinated vagus nerve.…”