Toddlers Involve Their Caregiver to Help Another Person in Need

Abstract

Three experiments with 18‐ to 35‐month‐old children (n = 169) studied toddler–caregiver interactions when being confronted with another person in need. In particular, we explored whether toddlers would request their caregiver to help a needy other when they are not able to help themselves. Children observed another person who needed help to accomplish a task, but were either not able to provide help as the object was out of reach (Experiment 1) or because an obstacle prevented children from interacting with the other person (Experiments 2, 2b). The experiments revealed the same developmental trend with 2.5‐year‐olds selectively involving their caregiver to help the needy other. The results are interpreted in terms of toddlers’ motivation to see others helped and with respect to their developing ability to actively involve others to regulate their emotions.

The effect of emotional communication on infants' distinct prosocial behaviors

“…Furthermore, the finding that 24-month-olds were more likely to engage in comforting than younger infants is consistent with theoretical and empirical work, suggesting that relevant emotional perspective taking skills do not emerge until toddlerhood (Dunfield, 2014;Padilla-Walker & Carlo, 2014;Svetlova et al, 2010), though these results suggest that the overall rates of comforting remain low even in the beginning of the second year of life. The observed differences between infant age groups also complement work by Dunfield and colleagues suggesting an increase in prosocial behaviors between 18 and 24 months of age (Dunfield et al, 2011) and identify specific types of prosocial behaviors that become more prevalent in later infancy, such as indirect helping (see also Paulus et al, 2017). More broadly, the observed development and use of distinct helping behaviors support a view that prosocial behavior develops gradually across infancy and early childhood (see Dahl & Paulus, 2019;Dunfield, 2014).…”

“…For example, comforting, which functions to address another's distressed state, emerges later than instrumental helping, which involves goal‐directed completion of others’ actions (Dahl & Paulus, 2019; Svetlova et al., 2010). Likewise, indirect forms of helping (e.g., soliciting help from a caregiver) are less prevalent in younger infants (Paulus, Jung, O'Driscoll, & Moore, 2017), possibly due to the interpersonal skills required to make such social bids. Thus, just as prosocial behavior emerges gradually, so too can it be expected that specific prosocial strategies may vary in prevalence across infancy and emotional contexts.…”

From Interest to Obligation: The Gradual Development of Human Altruism

“…Empathic Concern With Others' Well-Being (Altruistic) By late in the 2nd year, most children show empathic concern with relieving others' distress (Campbell, Leezenbaum, Schmidt, Day, & Brownell, 2015;Zahn-Waxler et al, 1992). At this age, children often go beyond facial expressions of concern or interest and act to alleviate the other's distress, for instance, by giving a hug or alerting a third party (Paulus, Jung, O'Driscoll, & Moore, 2017;Zahn-Waxler et al, 1992). Late in the 2nd year, children also appear to want to see others helped, even if they do not provide the help themselves (Hepach, Vaish, & Tomasello, 2012; but for alternative explanations, see Pletti, Scheel, & Paulus, 2017).…”

Is young children’s helping affected by helpees’ need? Preschoolers, but not infants selectively help needy others

“…These findings point to the role of socialization in the early emergence of helping (for reviews see Brownell et al, 2016;Dahl, 2018) and suggest that by the end of the second year, helping behavior is an established routine. When they are prevented from helping themselves, 2.5-year-old toddlers (but not 1.5-to 2-year-olds) systematically involve their own caregivers to help a needy other (Paulus et al, 2017; see also Karasevich, Kuhlmeier, Beier, & Dunfield, 2018), indicating a motivation to see others being helped. Similarly, by 2 years toddlers show signs of proactive helping, that is, help spontaneously by putting an object back on a table without being requested to do so (Warneken, 2013).…”

“…The experimental design relied on similar tasks (or slight variations thereof) that had been used in previous work on infant helping (e.g., Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013;Paulus, Jung, O'Driscoll, & Moore, 2017;Warneken & Tomasello, 2006). Materials for the six tasks included the following objects: two xylophones, eight drumsticks, and a plastic box (xylophone task); two music boxes (height: 21.5 cm; diameter: 8 cm) containing a little bell and 20 toy-coins that could be inserted into the box (music box task); two sheets of paper, 13 crayons, and one glass (crayon task); two plastic cups, and two stacks of books (chair task); two flaps (44.5 cm × 36 cm × 19.5 cm) with a movable front lid and either a small (8.5 × 4.5 cm) or a large (12.5 × 6.5 cm) hole on their top, two cups, and two spoons (flap task); the same two flaps covered by white cloths, two yellow and six blue cubes (12 cm × 12 cm × 12 cm; cube task).…”