TY - CONF
T1 - Happy little benefactor: Prosocial behaviors promotes happiness in toddlers
AU - Song, Y.
AU - Broekhuizen, M.L.
AU - Dubas, J.J.S.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The origin of prosocial behavior has long been debated. Over the past decade, evidence that toddlers display more happiness when sharing rather than receiving treats has been used to support the argument that humans, by nature, are prosocial. However, sharing is rare and inconsistent at this age, implying that the emotional rewards of sharing might have their origins or be affected by social factors, such as praise. In addition, whether this “warm glow” is specific for sharing behavior, or also the case for other prosocial behaviors (e.g., helping and comforting) is unclear. By replicating (using the same task) and extending previous studies (varying the number of resources and examining praise), 113 Dutch toddlers (M = 21.64 months, SD = 3.33 months, 59 boys) participated in a sharing task in which they received 8, 4 or 2 treats, followed by instrumental helping and comforting tasks (for the latter two tasks the toddlers were praised if they helped or comforted). Toddlers were videotaped during the experiment and happiness later coded. In total, 79 toddlers at least shared, helped or comforted once in the experiment. For these children, results showed that: (1) for sharing, consistent with previous findings, toddlers display more happiness when giving than receiving treats, although the number of resources did not affect toddlers’ happiness. (2) for instrumental helping, toddlers displayed more happiness after helping, and their happiness did not increase after been rewarded (praised). (3) for comforting, toddlers displayed less happiness after witnessing experimenter’s emotional distress (feeling cold), but not more happiness after helping or being praised. Taken together, these results indicate that both sharing and instrumental helping are emotionally rewarding independent of praise, supporting a biological origin of these behaviors.
AB - The origin of prosocial behavior has long been debated. Over the past decade, evidence that toddlers display more happiness when sharing rather than receiving treats has been used to support the argument that humans, by nature, are prosocial. However, sharing is rare and inconsistent at this age, implying that the emotional rewards of sharing might have their origins or be affected by social factors, such as praise. In addition, whether this “warm glow” is specific for sharing behavior, or also the case for other prosocial behaviors (e.g., helping and comforting) is unclear. By replicating (using the same task) and extending previous studies (varying the number of resources and examining praise), 113 Dutch toddlers (M = 21.64 months, SD = 3.33 months, 59 boys) participated in a sharing task in which they received 8, 4 or 2 treats, followed by instrumental helping and comforting tasks (for the latter two tasks the toddlers were praised if they helped or comforted). Toddlers were videotaped during the experiment and happiness later coded. In total, 79 toddlers at least shared, helped or comforted once in the experiment. For these children, results showed that: (1) for sharing, consistent with previous findings, toddlers display more happiness when giving than receiving treats, although the number of resources did not affect toddlers’ happiness. (2) for instrumental helping, toddlers displayed more happiness after helping, and their happiness did not increase after been rewarded (praised). (3) for comforting, toddlers displayed less happiness after witnessing experimenter’s emotional distress (feeling cold), but not more happiness after helping or being praised. Taken together, these results indicate that both sharing and instrumental helping are emotionally rewarding independent of praise, supporting a biological origin of these behaviors.
M3 - Paper
ER -