Voluntary behaviour with a goal of benefitting another, termed as prosocial behaviour, has been of a major interest in developmental psychology over the last few decades. As Davidov, Vaish, Knafo-Noam and Hastings (2016) pointed out, this interest is largely due to the cross-cultural consistency in attributing high importance to prosociality, yet counterintuitive evolutionary explanations of it, as well as the complexity of factors determining and motivating prosocial behaviour. Particularly, the exact driving forces that underpin prosocial behaviour have caused a substantial amount of the debate in the field. While it is largely agreed that the major prosocial motive is empathy, the extent to which it promotes prosociality as well as whether
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As Eisenberg et al. (2016) have pointed out, empathy seems to be a rather weak motive for a sharing behaviour, particularly costly sharing, compared to a simple responding to a distress or comforting behaviour. For instance, in a series of studies by Fehr, Bernhard and Rockenbach (2008), children between 3 and 8 years were asked to allocate units of sweets to themselves and/or to the anonymous partners. Results indicated a very clear behavioural pattern: children under the age of 4 generally behaved selfishly and were unwilling to share the resources. Although a small percent of young children decided to share, it was exclusively in the conditions where the benefiting of other was not costly for them (i.e. they did not lose sweets). With a decreased cost of sharing, children younger than 4 years can be willing to share; however, toddlers under the age of 2 need much more explicit communicative support from adults to get engaged in sharing (Brownell, Iesue, Nichols, & Svetlova, 2012). Overall, empirical evidence suggests young children’s reluctance to sharing (Levitt, Weber, Clark, & McDonnell, 1985), yet after the age of 4 children begin systematically to share spontaneously. This developmental change cannot be explained by the levels of empathy alone, thus, there must additional motives driving prosocial behaviour in older …show more content…
Certainly, young children do not have a full-blown understanding of the society; nevertheless, evidence indicates an emerging awareness of one’s reputation at around the age of 5. For example, Warneken and Tomasello (2013) found no difference in young children’s behaviour when they are alone compared to when in the presence of others, however, Leimgruber, Shaw, Santos and Olson (2012) found that five-year-olds already exhibit something that they referred to as ‘strategic prosociality’, meaning that children behave more prosocially when others are aware of their actions. Similarly, in the study by Engelmann, Herrmann and Tomasello (2012), children were observed in helping and stealing conditions and either in the presence of a peer watching them, or alone, and their results demonstrated that five-year-olds, indeed, share more and steal less in the presence of a peer. Furthermore, Piazza, Bering and Ingram (2011) found that children behave more prosocially even when they believe they are being observed by an imaginary person. The findings indicate that long before children become fully aware of the social importance of self-reputation, they behave more prosocially when being watched by others, as if trying to improve other people’s beliefs about them. Therefore, the promotion of reputation also appears to be a strong motive for prosocial behaviour in
As Eisenberg et al. (2016) have pointed out, empathy seems to be a rather weak motive for a sharing behaviour, particularly costly sharing, compared to a simple responding to a distress or comforting behaviour. For instance, in a series of studies by Fehr, Bernhard and Rockenbach (2008), children between 3 and 8 years were asked to allocate units of sweets to themselves and/or to the anonymous partners. Results indicated a very clear behavioural pattern: children under the age of 4 generally behaved selfishly and were unwilling to share the resources. Although a small percent of young children decided to share, it was exclusively in the conditions where the benefiting of other was not costly for them (i.e. they did not lose sweets). With a decreased cost of sharing, children younger than 4 years can be willing to share; however, toddlers under the age of 2 need much more explicit communicative support from adults to get engaged in sharing (Brownell, Iesue, Nichols, & Svetlova, 2012). Overall, empirical evidence suggests young children’s reluctance to sharing (Levitt, Weber, Clark, & McDonnell, 1985), yet after the age of 4 children begin systematically to share spontaneously. This developmental change cannot be explained by the levels of empathy alone, thus, there must additional motives driving prosocial behaviour in older …show more content…
Certainly, young children do not have a full-blown understanding of the society; nevertheless, evidence indicates an emerging awareness of one’s reputation at around the age of 5. For example, Warneken and Tomasello (2013) found no difference in young children’s behaviour when they are alone compared to when in the presence of others, however, Leimgruber, Shaw, Santos and Olson (2012) found that five-year-olds already exhibit something that they referred to as ‘strategic prosociality’, meaning that children behave more prosocially when others are aware of their actions. Similarly, in the study by Engelmann, Herrmann and Tomasello (2012), children were observed in helping and stealing conditions and either in the presence of a peer watching them, or alone, and their results demonstrated that five-year-olds, indeed, share more and steal less in the presence of a peer. Furthermore, Piazza, Bering and Ingram (2011) found that children behave more prosocially even when they believe they are being observed by an imaginary person. The findings indicate that long before children become fully aware of the social importance of self-reputation, they behave more prosocially when being watched by others, as if trying to improve other people’s beliefs about them. Therefore, the promotion of reputation also appears to be a strong motive for prosocial behaviour in