Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T07:23:03.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Social-Cognitive Development and Early Prosocial Behavior

from Part II - Antecedents and Mechanisms of Prosociality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

By
Markus Paulus
Edited by
Tina Malti  and
Maayan Davidov
Tina Malti
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Maayan Davidov
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews recent research on the relation between early social-cognitive development and the ontogeny of prosocial behavior. In particular, it focuses on action understanding, cognitive perspective taking, affective perspective taking, social learning, reciprocity, and strategic behavior, as well as self-related cognitive processes. For each aspect, central theoretical considerations and an overview of current empirical findings are presented. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications of these lines of research for the promotion of early prosocial behavior.

Keywords

early developmentsocial understandingperspective takingstrategic behaviorself-conceptsocial learning
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Prosociality
Development, Mechanisms, Promotion
 , pp. 275 - 299
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aknin, L. B., Dunn, E. W., Proulx, J., Lok, I., & Norton, M. I. (2020). Does spending money on others promote happiness? A registered replication report. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(2), e15–e26. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000191Google Scholar
Aknin, L. B., Hamlin, J. K., & Dunn, E. W. (2012). Giving leads to happiness in young children. PLoS ONE, 7(6), e39211. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039211CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aknin, L. B., & Whillians, A. V. (2020). Helping and happiness: A review and guide for public policy. Social Issues and Policy Review, 15(1), 3–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12069Google Scholar
Aquino, K., & Reed, A. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423–1440. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1423Google Scholar
Axelrod, R. M. (2006). The evolution of cooperation. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1965). Influence of models’ reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1(6), 589–595. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0022070Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bateson, M., Nettle, D., & Roberts, G. (2006). Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting. Biology Letters, 2(3), 412–414. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bem, D. J. (1972). Self-perception theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 6(1), 1–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065–2601(08)60024-6Google Scholar
Blake, P. R., Corbit, J., Callaghan, T. C., & Warneken, F. (2016). Give as I give: Adult influence on children’s giving in two cultures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 152, 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.07.010Google Scholar
Blasi, A. (1983). Moral cognition and moral action: A theoretical perspective. Developmental Review, 3(2), 178–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(83)90029-1Google Scholar
Brazzelli, E., Grazzani, I., & Pepe, A. (2021). Promoting prosocial behavior in toddlerhood: A conversation-based intervention study at nursery. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 204, 105056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105056Google Scholar
Brownell, C. A. (2013). Early development of prosocial behavior: Current perspectives. Infancy, 18(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12004Google Scholar
Brownell, C. A., Svetlova, M., Anderson, R., Nichols, S. R., & Drummond, J. (2013). Socialization of early prosocial behavior: Parents’ talk about emotions is associated with sharing and helping in toddlers. Infancy, 18(1), 91–119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00125.xGoogle Scholar
Bryan, C. J., Master, A., & Walton, G. M. (2014). “Helping” versus “being a helper”: Invoking the self to increase helping in young children. Child Development, 85(5), 1836–1842. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12244CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bryan, J. H. (1971). Model affect and children’s imitative altruism. Child Development, 42(6), 2061–2065. https://doi.org/10.2307/1127607Google Scholar
Caputi, M., Lecce, S., Pagnin, A., & Banerjee, R. (2012). Longitudinal effects of theory of mind on later peer relations: The role of prosocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 48(1), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025402Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I., Hammond, S. I., & Atwood, S. (2013). A relational developmental systems approach to moral development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 45, 125–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978–0-12-397946-9.00006-3Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I., Kettner, V. A., & Audet, K. N. (2015). On the nature of toddlers’ helping: Helping or interest in others’ activity?. Social Development, 24(2), 357–366. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12094Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I., & Lewis, C. (2004). Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children’s social understanding within social interaction. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(1), 79–96. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X04000032Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I., & Lewis, C. (2021). What makes us human: How minds develop through social interactions. Routledge.Google Scholar
Chernyak, N., Leimgruber, K. L., Dunham, Y. C., Hu, J., & Blake, P. R. (2019). Paying back people who harmed us but not people who helped us: Direct negative reciprocity precedes direct positive reciprocity in early development. Psychological Science, 30(9), 1273–1286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619854975Google Scholar
Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2022). Varieties of normative understanding and their relation to sharing behavior in preschool children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 224, 105498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105498Google Scholar
Christner, N., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2020). Emotion understanding and the moral self-concept as motivators of prosocial behavior in middle childhood. Cognitive Development, 55, 100893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100893Google Scholar
Colby, A., & Damon, W. (1992). Some do care. Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Looking-glass self. In O’Brien, J. (Ed.), The production of reality: Essays and readings on social interaction (pp. 126–128). Sage.Google Scholar
Cowell, J. M., Samek, A., List, J., & Decety, J. (2015). The curious relation between theory of mind and sharing in preschool age children. PLoS ONE, 10(2), e0117947. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117947Google Scholar
Cutting, A. L., & Dunn, J. (1999). Theory of mind, emotion understanding, language, and family background: Individual differences and interrelations. Child Development, 70(4), 853–865. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00061Google Scholar
Dahl, A. (2015). The developing social context of infant helping in two US samples. Child Development, 86(4), 1080–1093. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12361Google Scholar
Dahl, A., & Paulus, M. (2019). From interest to obligation: The gradual development of human altruism. Child Development Perspectives, 13(1), 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12298Google Scholar
Davidov, M., Vaish, A., Knafo‐Noam, A., & Hastings, P. D. (2016). The motivational foundations of prosocial behavior from a developmental perspective – Evolutionary roots and key psychological mechanisms: Introduction to the special section. Child Development, 87(6), 1655–1667. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidov, M., Zahn-Waxler, C., Roth-Hanania, R., & Knafo, A. (2013). Concern for others in the first year of life: Theory, evidence, and avenues for further research. Child Development Perspectives, 7(2), 126–131. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Villiers, J. (2000). Language and theory of mind: What are the developmental relationships? In Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience (pp. 83–123). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Denham, S. A., & Couchoud, E. A. (1991). Social‐emotional predictors of preschoolers’ responses to adult negative emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32(4), 595–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00337.xGoogle Scholar
Döring, A. K., Makarova, E., Herzog, W., & Bardi, A. (2017). Parent–child value similarity in families with young children: The predictive power of prosocial educational goals. British Journal of Psychology, 108(4), 737–756. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12238CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunfield, K. A. (2014). A construct divided: Prosocial behavior as helping, sharing, and comforting subtypes. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 958. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00958Google Scholar
Dunfield, K. A., & Kuhlmeier, V. A. (2013). Classifying prosocial behavior: Children’s responses to instrumental need, emotional distress, and material desire. Child Development, 84(5), 1766–1776. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12075Google Scholar
Dunfield, K. A., Kuhlmeier, V. A., O’Connell, L., & Kelley, E. (2011). Examining the diversity of prosocial behavior: Helping, sharing, and comforting in infancy. Infancy, 16(3), 227–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00041.xGoogle Scholar
Eggum, N. D., Eisenberg, N., Kao, K., Spinrad, T. L., Bolnick, R., Hofer, C., Kupfer, A., & Fabricius, W. V. (2011). Emotion understanding, theory of mind, and prosocial orientation: Relations over time in early childhood. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(1), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2010.536776Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Cialdini, R. B., McCreath, H., & Shell, R. (1987). Consistency-based compliance: When and why do children become vulnerable. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(6), 1174–1181. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.52.6.1174Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2015). Prosocial development. In Lamb, M. (Vol. Ed.) & Lerner, R. M. (Series Ed.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science, Vol. 3: Socioemotional processes (pp. 610–656). Wiley.Google Scholar
Engelmann, J. M., Over, H., Herrmann, E., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Young children care more about their reputation with ingroup members and potential reciprocators. Developmental Science, 16(6), 952–958. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12086CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ensor, R., & Hughes, C. (2005). More than talk: Relations between emotion understanding and positive behaviour in toddlers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23(3), 343–363. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005X26291CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrant, B. M., Devine, T. A., Maybery, M. T., & Fletcher, J. (2012). Empathy, perspective taking and prosocial behaviour: The importance of parenting practices. Infant and Child Development, 21(2), 175–188. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.740Google Scholar
Flavell, J. H. (1977). The development of knowledge about visual perception. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 25, 43–76.Google Scholar
Foster‐Hanson, E., Cimpian, A., Leshin, R. A., & Rhodes, M. (2020). Asking children to “be helpers” can backfire after setbacks. Child Development, 91(1), 236–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13147Google Scholar
Frimer, J. A., & Walker, L. J. (2009). Reconciling the self and morality: An empirical model of moral centrality development. Developmental Psychology, 45(6), 1669–1681. https://doi-org/10.1037/a0017418Google Scholar
Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2012). Mechanisms of social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 287–313. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100449Google Scholar
Fu, G., Heyman, G. D., Qian, M., Guo, T., & Lee, K. (2016). Young children with a positive reputation to maintain are less likely to cheat. Developmental Science, 19(2), 275–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12304Google Scholar
Garner, P. W., Dunsmore, J. C., & Southam‐Gerrow, M. (2008). Mother–child conversations about emotions: Linkages to child aggression and prosocial behavior. Social Development, 17(2), 259–277. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00424.xGoogle Scholar
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Biggers, D. R., & Hendry, D. J. (2016). A field experiment shows that subtle linguistic cues might not affect voter behavior. PNAS, 113(26), 7112–7117. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1513727113Google Scholar
Gibbons, F. X., & Wicklund, R. A. (1982). Self-focused attention and helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(3), 462–474. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.43.3.462CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Grusec, J. E., & Redler, E. (1980). Attribution, reinforcement, and altruism: A developmental analysis. Developmental Psychology, 16(5), 525–534. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.16.5.525Google Scholar
Grusec, J. E., Saas-Kortsaak, P., & Simutis, Z. M. (1978). The role of example and moral exhortation in the training of altruism. Child Development, 49(3), 920–923. https://doi.org/10.2307/1128273Google Scholar
Gummerum, M., Hanoch, Y., Keller, M., Parsons, K., & Hummel, A. (2010). Preschoolers’ allocations in the dictator game: The role of moral emotions. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2009.09.002Google Scholar
Haley, K. J., & Fessler, D. M. (2005). Nobody’s watching? Subtle cues affect generosity in an anonymous economic game. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(3), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.01.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, S. I., & Carpendale, J. I. (2015). Helping children help: The relation between maternal scaffolding and children’s early help. Social Development, 24(2), 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2011). Moral identity: What is it, how does it develop, and is it linked to moral action? Child Development Perspectives, 5(3), 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00189.xGoogle Scholar
Harris, P. L. (2012). Trusting what you’re told: How children learn from others. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Harter, S. (2012). The construction of the self: Developmental and sociocultural foundations. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hay, D. F., & Murray, P. (1982). Giving and requesting: Social facilitation of infants’ offers to adults. Infant Behavior and Development, 5(2–4), 301–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163–6383(82)80039-8Google Scholar
Hepach, R., Vaish, A., & Tomasello, M. (2017). Children’s intrinsic motivation to provide help themselves after accidentally harming others. Child Development, 88(4), 1251–1264. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12646Google Scholar
Hertz, S. G., & Krettenauer, T. (2016). Does moral identity effectively predict moral behavior? A meta-analysis. Review of General Psychology, 20(2), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000062Google Scholar
Hobbs, K., & Spelke, E. (2015). Goal attributions and instrumental helping at 14 and 24 months of age. Cognition, 142, 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.03.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodapp, R. M., Goldfield, E. C., & Boyatzis, C. J. (1984). The use and effectiveness of maternal scaffolding in mother-infant games. Child Development, 55(3), 772–781. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130128Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
House, B. R. (2017). Diverse ontogenies of reciprocal and prosocial behavior: Cooperative development in Fiji and the United States. Developmental Science, 20(6), e12466. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12466Google Scholar
House, B. R., Henrich, J., Sarnecka, B., & Silk, J. B. (2013). The development of contingent reciprocity in children. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(2), 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.10.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, B. R., & Tomasello, M. (2018). Modeling social norms increasingly influences costly sharing in middle childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 171, 84–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.12.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imuta, K., Henry, J. D., Slaughter, V., Selcuk, B., & Ruffman, T. (2016). Theory of mind and prosocial behavior in childhood: A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 52(8), 1192–1205. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000140Google Scholar
Israel, A. C., & Raskin, P. A. (1979). Directiveness of instructions and modeling: Effects on production and persistence of children’s donations. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 135(2), 269–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1979.10534080CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janoski, T., & Wilson, J. (1995). Pathways to voluntarism: Family socialization and status transmission models. Social Forces, 74(1), 271–292. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/74.1.271Google Scholar
Jones, S. S. (2007). Imitation in infancy: The development of mimicry. Psychological Science, 18(7), 593–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01945.xGoogle Scholar
Jung, H., Seo, E., Han, E., Henderson, M. D., & Patall, E. A. (2020). Prosocial modeling: A meta-analytic review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(8), 635–663. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000235Google Scholar
Juvrud, J., Bakker, M., Kaduk, K., DeValk, J. M., Gredebäck, G., & Kenward, B. (2019). Longitudinal continuity in understanding and production of giving‐related behavior from infancy to childhood. Child Development, 90(2), e182–e191. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13131Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1785/1962). Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten [Foundations of the metaphysics of morals]. Felix Meiner Verlag.Google Scholar
Kelsey, C., Grossmann, T., & Vaish, A. (2018). Early reputation management: Three-year-old children are more generous following exposure to eyes. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 698. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00698CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenward, B., & Gredebäck, G. (2013). Infants help a non-human agent. PLoS ONE, 8(9), e75130. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075130Google Scholar
Kienbaum, J. (2001). The socialization of compassionate behavior by child care teachers. Early Education and Development, 12(1), 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1201_8Google Scholar
Killen, M., Mulvey, K. L., Richardson, C., Jampol, N., & Woodward, A. (2011). The accidental transgressor: Morally-relevant theory of mind. Cognition, 119(2), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.01.006Google Scholar
Kochanska, G. (2002). Committed compliance, moral self, and internalization: A mediational model. Developmental Psychology, 38(3), 339–351. https://doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.38.3.339Google Scholar
Kochanska, G., Forman, D. R., Aksan, N., & Dunbar, S. B. (2005). Pathways to conscience: Early mother–child mutually responsive orientation and children’s moral emotion, conduct, and cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(1), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00348.xGoogle Scholar
Kochanska, G., Koenig, J. L., Barry, R. A., Kim, S., & Yoon, J. E. (2010). Children’s conscience during toddler and preschool years, moral self, and a competent, adaptive developmental trajectory. Developmental Psychology, 46(5), 1320–1332. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020381Google Scholar
Kosse, F., Deckers, T., Pinger, P., Schildberg-Hörisch, H., & Falk, A. (2020). The formation of prosociality: Causal evidence on the role of social environment. Journal of Political Economy, 128(2), 434–467.Google Scholar
Kuhnert, R. L., Begeer, S., Fink, E., & de Rosnay, M. (2017). Gender-differentiated effects of theory of mind, emotion understanding, and social preference on prosocial behavior development: A longitudinal study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 154, 13–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.10.001Google Scholar
Lalonde, C. E., & Chandler, M. J. (1995). False belief understanding goes to school: On the social-emotional consequences of coming early or late to a first theory of mind. Cognition & Emotion, 9(2–3), 167–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939508409007Google Scholar
Lecce, S., Caputi, M., & Pagnin, A. (2014). Long-term effect of theory of mind on school achievement: The role of sensitivity to criticism. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11(3), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2013.821944Google Scholar
Leimgruber, K. L., Shaw, A., Santos, L. R., & Olson, K. R. (2012). Young children are more generous when others are aware of their actions. PLoS ONE, 7(10), e48292. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048292Google Scholar
Leimgruber, K. L., Ward, A. F., Widness, J., Norton, M. I., Olson, K. R., Gray, K., & Santos, L. R. (2014). Give what you get: Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and 4-year-old children pay forward positive and negative outcomes to conspecifics. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e87035. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087035Google Scholar
Lenz, S., Essler, S., Wörle, M., & Paulus, M. (2021). “Who will share with me?”: Preschoolers rely on their friends more than on their nonfriends to share with them. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203, 105037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105037Google Scholar
Malti, T., Chaparro, M. P., Zuffianò, A., & Colasante, T. (2016). School-based interventions to promote empathy-related responding in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 45(6), 718–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2015.1121822Google Scholar
Malti, T., Gummerum, M., Keller, M., & Buchmann, M. (2009). Children’s moral motivation, sympathy, and prosocial behavior. Child Development, 80(2), 442–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01271.xGoogle Scholar
Malti, T., & Krettenauer, T. (2013). The relation of moral emotion attributions to prosocial and antisocial behavior: A meta‐analysis. Child Development, 84(2), 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01851.xGoogle Scholar
Marshall, P. J., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2014). Neural mirroring mechanisms and imitation in human infants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1644), 20130620. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0620Google Scholar
Martin, A., & Olson, K. R. (2015). Beyond good and evil: What motivations underlie children’s prosocial behavior? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 159–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615568998Google Scholar
Mauss, M. (1954). The gift: Forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. Free Press.Google Scholar
Michael, J., & Székely, M. (2019). Goal slippage: A mechanism for spontaneous instrumental helping in infancy?. Topoi, 38(1), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-017-9485-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milinski, M. (2016). Reputation, a universal currency for human social interactions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1687), 20150100. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0100Google Scholar
Moore, C. (2006). The development of commonsense psychology. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Moore, C., Barresi, J., & Thompson, C. (1998). The cognitive basis of future‐oriented prosocial behavior. Social Development, 7(2), 198–218. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00062Google Scholar
O’Mara, A. J., Marsh, H. W., Craven, R. G., & Debus, R. L. (2006). Do self-concept interventions make a difference? A synergistic blend of construct validation and meta-analysis. Educational Psychologist, 41(3), 181–206. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4103_4Google Scholar
Ongley, S. F., & Malti, T. (2014). The role of moral emotions in the development of children’s sharing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 1148–1159. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035191Google Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Brazzelli, E., Grazzani, I., Agliati, A., & Lucarelli, M. (2017). Does training toddlers in emotion knowledge lead to changes in their prosocial and aggressive behavior toward peers at nursery?. Early Education and Development, 28(4), 396–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2016.1238674Google Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Grazzani, I., Cherubin, E., Conte, E., & Piralli, F. (2015). “Let’s talk about emotions!”: The effect of conversational training on preschoolers’ emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation. Social Development, 24(1), 166–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12091Google Scholar
Ottoni-Wilhelm, M., Estell, D. B., & Perdue, N. H. (2014). Role-modeling and conversations about giving in the socialization of adolescent charitable giving and volunteering. Journal of Adolescence, 37(1), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.10.010Google Scholar
Perner, J. (1991). Understanding the representational mind. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Paulus, M. (2014). The emergence of prosocial behavior: Why do infants and toddlers help, comfort, and share? Child Development Perspectives, 8(2), 77–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12066Google Scholar
Paulus, M. (2018). The multidimensional nature of early prosocial behavior: A motivational perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 111–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.09.003Google Scholar
Paulus, M. (2020). The developmental emergence of morality: A review of current theoretical perspectives. Progress in Brain Research, 254, 205–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.05.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paulus, M., & Essler, S. (2020). Why do preschoolers perpetuate inequalities? Theoretical perspectives on inequity preferences in the face of emerging concerns for equality. Developmental Review, 58, 100933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2020.100933Google Scholar
Paulus, M., Licata, M., Kristen, S., Thoermer, C., Woodward, A., & Sodian, B. (2015). Early social understanding and self-regulation predict preschoolers’ sharing with friends and disliked peers: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 39, 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025414537923Google Scholar
Paulus, M., & Moore, C. (2015). Preschool children’s anticipation of recipients’ emotions affects their resource allocation. Social Development, 24(4), 852–867. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12126Google Scholar
Paulus, M., & Moore, C. (2017). Preschoolers’ generosity increases with understanding of the affective benefits of sharing. Developmental Science, 20(3), e12417. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12417Google Scholar
Piazza, J., Bering, J. M., & Ingram, G. (2011). “Princess Alice is watching you”: Children’s belief in an invisible person inhibits cheating. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 109(3), 311–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.02.003Google Scholar
Pons, F., Harris, P. L., & de Rosnay, M. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: Developmental periods and hierarchical organization. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1(2), 127–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405620344000022Google Scholar
Rapp, D. J., Engelmann, J. M., Herrmann, E., & Tomasello, M. (2019). Young children’s reputational strategies in a peer group context. Developmental Psychology, 55(2), 329–336. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000639Google Scholar
Rauthmann, J. F., Gallardo-Pujol, D., Guillaume, E. M., Todd, E., Nave, C. S., Sherman, R. A., Ziegler, M., Jones, A. B., & Funder, D. C. (2014). The Situational Eight DIAMONDS: A taxonomy of major dimensions of situation characteristics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 677–718. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037250Google Scholar
Rushton, J. P. (1975). Generosity in children: Immediate and long-term effects of modeling, preaching, and moral judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(3), 459–466. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076466Google Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68Google Scholar
Sarmento-Henrique, R., Quintanilla, L., Lucas-Molina, B., Recio, P., & Giménez-Dasí, M. (2020). The longitudinal interplay of emotion understanding, theory of mind, and language in the preschool years. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 44(3), 236–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025419866907Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. F., & Sommerville, J. A. (2011). Fairness expectations and altruistic sharing in 15-month-old human infants. PLoS ONE, 6(10), e23223. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0023223Google Scholar
Schuhmacher, N., Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2019). Modeling prosocial behavior increases helping in 16‐month‐olds. Child Development, 90(5), 1789–1801. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13054CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sebastián-Enesco, C., Hernández-Lloreda, M. V., & Colmenares, F. (2013). Two and a half-year-old children are prosocial even when their partners are not. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116(2), 186–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.05.007Google Scholar
Sebastián-Enesco, C., & Warneken, F. (2015). The shadow of the future: 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, adjust their sharing in anticipation of reciprocation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 129, 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.08.007Google Scholar
Sengsavang, S., & Krettenauer, T. (2015). Children’s moral self-concept: The role of aggression and parent–child relationships. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 61(2), 213–235. https://doi.org/10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.61.2.0213Google Scholar
Sette, S., Colasante, T., Zava, F., Baumgartner, E., & Malti, T. (2018). Preschoolers’ anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 179(5), 286–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2018.1502147Google Scholar
Shaw, A., Montinari, N., Piovesan, M., Olson, K.R., Gino, F., & Norton, M. I. (2014). Children develop a veil of fairness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 363–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031247Google Scholar
Silver, I. M., & Shaw, A. (2018). Pint-sized public relations: The development of reputation management. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(4), 277–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.006Google Scholar
Slaughter, V., Dennis, M. J., & Pritchard, M. (2002). Theory of mind and peer acceptance in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20(4), 545–564. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151002760390945Google Scholar
Sticker, R. M., Pletti, C., Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2021). The moral self-concept in preschool children: Its dimensions and relations to prosocial behavior. Cognitive Development, 58, 101033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101033Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T., Nielsen, M., & Von Gehlen, R. (2011). Children’s capacity to remember a novel problem and to secure its future solution. Developmental Science, 14(1), 26–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00950.xGoogle Scholar
Svetlova, M., Nichols, S. R., & Brownell, C. A. (2010). Toddlers’ prosocial behavior: From instrumental to empathic to altruistic helping. Child Development, 81(6), 1814–1827. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01512.xGoogle Scholar
Takagishi, H., Kameshima, S., Schug, J., Koizumi, M., & Yamagishi, T. (2010). Theory of mind enhances preference for fairness. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 105, 130–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2009.09.005Google Scholar
Tatone, D., Geraci, A., & Csibra, G. (2015). Giving and taking: Representational building blocks of active resource-transfer events in human infants. Cognition, 137, 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.12.007Google Scholar
Taumoepeau, M., & Ruffman, T. (2006). Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Development, 77(2), 465–481. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00882.xGoogle Scholar
Thompson, E. L., Bird, G., & Catmur, C. (2019). Conceptualizing and testing action understanding. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 105, 106–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M. (2016). A natural history of human morality. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Uithol, S., & Paulus, M. (2014). What do infants understand of others’ action? A theoretical account of early social cognition. Psychological Research, 78(5), 609–622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-013-0519-3Google Scholar
Underwood, B., & Moore, B. (1982). Perspective-taking and altruism. Psychological Bulletin, 91(1), 143–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.91.1.143Google Scholar
Vaish, A., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 534–543. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014322Google Scholar
Vaish, A., Hepach, R., & Tomasello, M. (2018). The specificity of reciprocity: Young children reciprocate more generously to those who intentionally benefit them. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 167, 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.11.005Google Scholar
Vandell, D. L., & Wilson, K. S. (1987). Infants’ interactions with mother, sibling, and peer: Contrasts and relations between interaction systems. Child Development, 58(1), 176–186. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130299Google Scholar
Vogt, S., Efferson, C., Berger, J., & Fehr, E. (2015). Eye spots do not increase altruism in children. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(3), 224–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.11.007Google Scholar
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Altruistic helping in human infants and young chimpanzees. Science, 311(5765), 1301–1303. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121448Google Scholar
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2009). The roots of human altruism. British Journal of Psychology, 100(3), 455–471. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712608X379061Google Scholar
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2013). The emergence of contingent reciprocity in young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116(2), 338–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.06.002Google Scholar
Williamson, R. A., Donohue, M. R., & Tully, E. C. (2013). Learning how to help others: Two-year-olds’ social learning of a prosocial act. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(4), 543–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.11.004Google Scholar
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2005). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(3), 131–134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00355.xGoogle Scholar
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children’s understanding of deception. Cognition, 13(1), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5Google Scholar
Wörle, M., Essler, S., & Paulus, M. (2020). Paying it back and forward: The impact of experiencing and observing others’ sharing and stinginess on preschoolers’ own sharing behavior and expectations. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198, 104886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104886Google Scholar
Wörle, M., & Paulus, M. (2019). Normative foundations of reciprocity in preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 188, 104693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104693Google Scholar
Woodward, A. L. (1998). Infants selectively encode the goal object of an actor’s reach. Cognition, 69(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010–0277(98)00058-4Google Scholar
Wu, Z., & Su, Y. (2014). How do preschoolers’ sharing behaviors relate to their theory of mind understanding? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 120, 73–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.11.007Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., Wagner, E., & Chapman, M. (1992). Development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology, 28(1), 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.28.1.126Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×