The Emergence of Prosocial Behavior: Why Do Infants and Toddlers Help, Comfort, and Share?

Paulus, Markus

doi:10.1111/cdep.12066

Cited by 216 publications

(219 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Additionally, infants' and toddlers' individual differences in Nc (300-500 ms) for viewing positive versus bad actions or in LPP/PSW (600-1,000 ms) were not related to the expression of sharing behaviors. Although sharing behaviors in infancy and toddlerhood appear to be common (47), many have questioned whether such early expressions are actually representative of morality or rather early self-regulation, compliance, and effortful control (48,49). Consistent with the latter argument, our results suggest that sharing propensity is directly related to children's temperamental effortful control.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Cowell

Decety

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

197

160

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The nature and underpinnings of infants’ seemingly complex, third-party, social evaluations remain highly contentious. Theoretical perspectives oscillate between rich and lean interpretations of the same expressed preferences. Although some argue that infants and toddlers possess a “moral sense” based on core knowledge of the social world, others suggest that social evaluations are hierarchical in nature and the product of an integration of rudimentary general processes such as attention allocation and approach and avoidance. Moreover, these biologically prepared minds interact in social environments that include significant variation, which are likely to impact early social evaluations and behavior. The present study examined the neural underpinnings of and precursors to moral sensitivity in infants and toddlers (n = 73, ages 12–24 mo) through a series of interwoven measures, combining multiple levels of analysis including electrophysiological, eye-tracking, behavioral, and socioenvironmental. Continuous EEG and time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and gaze fixation were recorded while children watched characters engaging in prosocial and antisocial actions in two different tasks. All children demonstrated a neural differentiation in both spectral EEG power density modulations and time-locked ERPs when perceiving prosocial or antisocial agents. Time-locked neural differences predicted children’s preference for prosocial characters and were influenced by parental values regarding justice and fairness. Overall, this investigation casts light on the fundamental nature of moral cognition, including its underpinnings in general processes such as attention and approach–withdrawal, providing plausible mechanisms of early change and a foundation for forward movement in the field of developmental social neuroscience.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Cowell

Decety

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

197

160

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“…In attempting to account for this hallmark of human sociality, comparative and developmental psychologists have increasingly become interested in the emergence in infancy and early childhood of prosocial behavior, i.e. of 'behaviors benefiting another person without providing the helper an immediate payoff' (Paulus 2014). In particular, it has been observed that infants as early as the second year of life comfort others who are in distress (Bischof-Köhler 1988, 1991Zahn-Waxler et al 1992;Dunfield et al 2011;Dunfield and Kuhlmeier 2013;Vaish et al 2009), share food and other resources (Hay et al 1991;Levitt et al 1985), point to provide others with information (Liszkowski et al 2007), and spontaneously help others to achieve their goals (Warneken and Tomasello 2006;Svetlova et al 2010;Hepach et al 2012Hepach et al , 2016Hepach et al , 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3), we turn to our primary project, which is to illuminate a specific subset of models that have been proposed to account for spontaneous instrumental helping-namely models based upon 'goal alignment' (Paulus 2014). The core idea behind goal alignment models that the identification of an agent's goal leads infants to take up that goal as their own (Barresi and Moore 1996;Kenward and Gredebäck 2013;Paulus 2014;Köster et al 2015;). Our main aim will be to distinguish between two separate goal-alignment models: 'goal contagion' and 'goal slippage'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goal Slippage: A Mechanism for Spontaneous Instrumental Helping in Infancy?

Michael

Székely²

2017

Topoi

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“…This occurs even when the person in need shows no distress. The idea that natural representation of other's goals or feelings provides the motivation for human prosociality is at the centre of most modern accounts of moral development (see Paulus, 2014 for review).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

You and me: Investigating the role of self-evaluative emotion in preschool prosociality

Ross

2017

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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Citation for published version (APA): Ross, J. (2017). You and me: investigating the role of self-evaluative emotion in preschool prosociality. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 155, 67-83. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in Discovery Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from Discovery Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain.• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 13. May. 2018Self-evaluative emotion and preschool prosociality AbstractSelf-evaluative emotions depend on internalized social standards and motivate social action. However, there is a lack of empirical research documenting the impact of self-evaluative emotion on 3-and 4-year-olds' prosociality. Extant research relates children's experiences of guilt to empathetic concern and making amends. However, the relationship between guilt and both concern and making amends is potentially reductive. Empathetic concern involves similar bodily expressions to guilt, and amend making is used to distinguish guilt from shame in children. This is the first study to relate the development of both positive and negative selfevaluative emotions to empathetic concern and prosocial choice (making amends, spontaneous help). Results confirm that the broad capacity for self-evaluative emotion is established in the preschool years, and relates to empathetic concern. Moreover, these social emotions can be used to predict prosocial choice. Making amends was best predicted by empathetic concern and by children's responses to achievement (pride following success, lack of shame following failure). Alongside moral pride, pride in response to achievement and resilience to shame was also the best predictor of spontaneous help. The data support the idea that young children's prosocial choices may be partially driven by the affective drive to maintain an 'ideal' self. Psychologists have emphasised that in order to be adaptive, selfevaluative emotion should be guilt rather than shame orientated. However, the adaptive role of pride has been neglected. We call on future research to redress the focus on negative selfevaluation in moral development and further explore the prosocial potential of pride. Research Highlights1. Self-evaluative emotions depend on internalized standards and motivate social action.2. Extant developmental research associates guilt with empathetic concern and reparation.3. The current paper shows th...

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The Emergence of Prosocial Behavior: Why Do Infants and Toddlers Help, Comfort, and Share?

Cited by 216 publications

References 48 publications

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Goal Slippage: A Mechanism for Spontaneous Instrumental Helping in Infancy?

You and me: Investigating the role of self-evaluative emotion in preschool prosociality

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