Developing Prosocial

Behaviors

Definition of PROSOCIAL
BEHAVIOR
Behavior that is intended to benefit
another person or animal
Concern for others
Sharing, helping, and cooperating are
all prosocial behaviors and are alike
because they are intended to benefit
someone else
caring

Forms of Prosocial
Behavior

Sharin
g/dona
ting
Share
time

Share
resourc
es

Cooper
a-tion
Share
informati
on

Figure 9-1. Prosocial Behavior

Rescu
e

Helpin
g

Defen
d

Remove
cause of
distress

FORMS OF PROSOCIAL
BEHAVIOR
SHARING a child who shares owns
something, or at least currently has
possession
HELPING
Forms of helping simple acts of
kindness, rescue (prevents someone
from getting hurt)
COOPERATION a form of prosocial
behavior in which people work
together to get a job done and when
their motive is altruistic children follow
one another around and make mutual
suggestions about what to do next

WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO ACT

PROSOCIALLY
BEHAVIOR what you see when
someone acts prosocially
Genuine feelings of empathic
concern
Ability to imagine the inner
experience of someone in need
Sense of responslibility for relieving
the others distress
Need for social approval

External pressure
Relieving ones own sadness, anger,
or guilt
A desire for social interaction

FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT TO
UNDERSTAND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
It is the occurrence of DEVELOPMENT
that transforms an infant from
someone who knows nothing about
helping, sharing, or other prosocial
behavior into a child who is capable
of selfless altruism and prosocial
behavior.

COGNITIVE
COMPETENCIES

PROSOCIA
L
BEHAVIOR
SKILL DEVELOPMENT

EMOTIONAL
COMPETENCIE
S

The area of overlap of all three competencies will yield

prosocial behavior

Cognitive competencies
1. A child must realize that he is an individual
and that he is separate from other individuals
(Bengtsson & Johnson, 1992; Berthenthal &
Fisher, 1978;Hoffman, 1989)
2. A child must also be able to take anothers
perspective, that is, think about what that
person would say that he needs (Rheingold &
Emery, 1986; Selman, 1980) and be able to
reflect on the victims inner experience (The
preoperational stage occurs between ages
two and six).

Cognitive competencies

3. A child must also be able to see

himslef as a person who can make
things happen (Kuebli, 1994)
4. A child must have good language
skills to describe how others might be
feeling and to describe how he himself
feels.
5. A childs memory must be
sophisticated enough to allow him to
keep another persons need in mind
long enough to act on that need.

EMOTIONAL COMPTENCIES
- It is not enough for a child to have developed
all of the cognitive competencies in order for
him to act in a truly prosocial way. Children
must have the emotional capacity to respond
to anothers needs or distress.
They must have developed empathy
-The heart and soul of empathy is that a
childs emotional state is similar to the other
persons situation. Some researchers think
that human children are biologically prepared
for empathy (Hoffman, 1975).

EMOTIONAL
COMPETENCIES
The road to high-level empathy
starts in infancy.
Very young infants also respond to
affective states of the caregiver, for
example, they can respond to the
unpleasant feelings that go along with
their mothers depression (Cohn,
Campbell, Matias & Hopkins, 1990).

EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES
This budding ability to pick up on another persons
emotional state is not real empathy, though. Hoffman
(1987) said that we should look at how a childs
emotional response to someones situation is affected
by his ability to take that persons perspective.
It is affected by the childs cognitive state. Those who
can show extended empathic understanding are
those who can see the two sides of the story. They
will reason this way: I didnt like the way they
pushed the little girl out of the room, but I can also
understand that they wanted to be left alone while
playing.

EMOTIONAL
COMPETENCIES
Those who can reason in the above
mentioned example are 10-and 11-yearolds, not young children.
It takes several years for children to
develop high-level empathy and the ability
to think about the perspective of both a
victim and a victimizer.
Getting older is an important element in
developing empathy but, by itself, getting
older is not enough.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT
If a child likes to help, he must also have the social
skill of approaching another child and must also
know what to say as he offers something.
Zahn-Waxler et al. (1992) believe that young children
have a better chance of developing such skills if they
have had a firm attachment to their primary
attachment figures and have experienced sharing,
turn-taking, and cooperation with their parents.
As early childhood teachers, we can also influence
childrens willingness to share, help, and cooperate
by teaching the skills that they need for acting
prosocially.

IMPLICATIONS: GUIDE CHILDRENS

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR BY USING
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE
STRATEGIES
MODEL PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
-in terms of generous, helpful
behavior, the research shows that
what a child sees is what the child
does. Modeling prosocial behavior is a
powerful way to encourage it in
children (Marcus & Leiserson, 1978;
Oliner & Oliner, 1988). BUT

CHILDREN DO NOT IMITATE ALL

 Children are more likely to imitate a

powerful model a person who
controls resources and children
usually perceive parents and
teachers as powerful because
caregivers do control resources
(Mussen & Eisenberg-Berg, 1977).
They also imitate an authoritative
model, one who is highly responsive
to their needs but who also makes
expectations known.

IMPLICATIONS: GUIDE CHILDRENS

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR BY USING DA
STRATEGIES
Children also need a consistent
model a model who practices what
he preaches
They are also more likely to imitate
models who give without grumbling,
who are quietly and effectively
generous, cooperative, and helpful,
and who are genuinely pleased to be
able to help someone else and not
expect anything in return

 HONIG & WITTMER (1991)advise ECE

teachers to provide models of prosocial
behavior by arranging regular viewing of
prosocial media and video games, because
programs whose messages emphasize
cooperation, helping, and sharing promote
these behaviors in children (Stout &
Mouritsen, 1988).
A major study analyzing 190 other studies
found that prosocial programming does
have powerful effects on childrens
prosocial behavior (Hearold, 1986)

ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO
DEVELOP HELPFUL EMOTIONAL
SCRIPTS

Research on emotions reveals that young children are

able to identify another persons distressed state and the
situation that produced the distress. Children seem to
organize their understanding of the emotional state of
others in the form of emotional scripts that they learn by
the age of 6 years (Russell, 1989).
Emotional scripts include information abouth the
appropriate emotion for the cchild and the emotion or
affectivve state of another person or animal in specific
situations (Lewis, 1989).
They learn emotional scripts as they interact with
parents, siblings, teachers, and others; as they watch
television; and as they have books read to them.

State Expectations for Prosocial

Behavior and Accept Childrens
Help When Offered

Children learn to be prosocial in

families and in classrooms when
adult ask them to cooperate, help,
share, or give comfort or by actually
accepting a childs offer of help or
cooperation.
Adults, as socializing agents, have
the responsibility to help children
learn norms of social responsibility.

 Communicate your expectations that

children are an important part of a
family or classroom system by
assigning age-appropriate
responsibilities to them
Authoritative adults, high in
demandingness and responsiveness,
assign household chores and tasks

 Responsibilities should be assigned to

children based on their developmental
disability
3-4 year-old can certainly mist plants,
feed or water pets, clean out her own
locker at school, place toys back in the
spot where they belong, help set and
clean tables for meals, hang up her own
clothes, and take good care of books,
games and other materials.

USE POSITIVE DISCIPLINE

STRATEGIES
Adults who use positive discipline
strategies have an authoritative style
of caregiving.
1. Clearly communicate their
expectations about helping, sharing,
and cooperating
2. Encourage children to take someone
elses perspective, and children are
more likely to be cooperative,
helpful, or compassionate if they

3. Give suggestions on how to help,

cooperate, or share. State
expectations, give specific
suggestions.
4. Tell children what to do and avoid
telling children what not to do

Verbally Label and Discuss Prosocial

Behavior
Do not hesitate to label acts of
kindness and compassion as a way to
teach children about these traits.
Statements that are mere preaching
are not effective with children.
Ex. You cleared the space for the
group.
Discuss a segment of Mr. Rogers
Neighborhood.

 Practice the desired behavior

Plan a lesson about how to practice
sharing, helping and cooperating in
Math, science, English, in the use of
mother tongue

Recognize and encourage prosocial

behavior
Authoritative adults use either social
reinforcement (smiles, verbal praise),
more tangible rewards (favorite
stickers) or a combination of the two.
Effective praise is a form of social
reinforcement

HOW FREQUENTLY SHOULD ADULTS

USE REINFORCEMENT?
Plan when to use reinforcements.
Show it in your lesson plan
Reinforce cooperation not
competition

What are the benefits of

encouraging prosocial behavior

Increased competence
Mutual helping
Shared work
Pleasant, friendly, relaxing atmosphere

Reference:
Marion, Marian (1999). Guidance of Young Children. USA:Prentice-Hall, Inc.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (2011). Caring
about Caring: What Adults Can do to Promote Young Childrens Prosocial
Skill
Prosocial Behavior Development Guide