L&D 2.2 - Prosocial & Antisocial Behaviour in

What is prosocial behaviour?

behaviour that benefits someone else at cost to the self

how does prosociality evolve?

reciprocity = a helps b so b helps a

Indirect = a first helps b so c then helps a

How did prosociality in 18mo infants get studied?

presented infants with situations where experimenter needed help and measured how they responded
10 different tasks eg opening door when their hands are full

what psychological mechanisms motivate us to be prosocial?

Empathy (feeling as others feel)
sympathy (feeling concern for others)
guilt

How is empathy seen in infants?

infants cry when they hear other infants crying

How is sympathy studied in infants?

Whether children comfort others in distress
mother was distressed and infants' prosocial behaviours were coded as physical comfort, verbal comfort, verbal advice, helping and sharing
prosocial responding increased over 2y and they showed more diverse helping behaviours
eg 1yo showed physical help/comfort but 1.5y showed more behvaiours

How is sympathy without emotional cues studied in infants?

18mo watched experimenter lose her balloon
cond 1 = necklace broke and her drawing get ripped up
cond 2 = played w necklace and drawing normally
infants showed more sympathy if she had a bad day and helped more

What is guilt?

Aversive emotion that follows the realisation that one has harmed another person
Unpleasant to experience so adults are more likely to be prosocial when feeling guilty
commonly viewed as a toxic emotion to be avoided at all costs

How is the development of guilt studied in infants?

whether feeling guilty increases 2/3yo children's tendency to be helpful
situation where either child or experimenter caused a mishap
3yo more likely to repair damage if their fault
2yo sometimes tried but weren't more likely to help if their fault
guilt as a motivator of prosocial behaviour emerges by 3

How are the consequences of guilt studied in infants?

Children who were more prone to guilt in fifth grade were less likely to be arrested, convicted. incarcerated and abuse drugs in adolescence
more likely to practise safe sex

How do parents socialise prosociality?

• influence through modelling of empathetic and responsive behaviour
• scaffolding children's participation in everyday chores
• warm and sensitive responding to a child's need

How does parents' language about emotions/mental states socialise prosociality?

simple affect (happy/sad), desire (want/need), mental (think/know)
Talk child through picture book and code number of times emotions are talked about
mental state talk predicted emotion-based helping but not goal-directed as it requires an understanding of recipient' s internal state

What is aggression?

behaviour that intentionally harms other people by inflicting pain or injury

what is relational aggression?

Behaviour that intentionally upsets another person such as name calling

how did crick study antisocial behaviour in development?

3-4yo
teachers asked to rate children on overt/relational aggression, prosocial behaviour and depression
children listed 3 most/least fav peer to play with
high in aggression were low in prosocial behaviour and rejected by peers and more depressed

How did caspi study continuity of antisocial behaviour?

personality in 3yp
when they were 12, parents rated antisocial behaviour, delinquency and passivity
lack of control at 3 awes more likely to be antisocial
same sample into adulthood ans those with poor emotional regulation at 3 responses more negatively

Why are some children aggressive?

• lead their friends into antisocial behaviour
• negative social experiences lead children to have a hostile attribution bias

Does media make children more aggressive?

• 66% of children's tv contains violence
• children who spend more time watching tv are prone to aggression

How did Moffitt measure extreme anti-social behaviour in children?

• pro and antisocial behaviour in children from dunedin
• 7% of boys were consistently antisocial in childhood and adolescence
• difficult temperament at age 3
• impairments in verbal functioning and mental flexibility
• associated with ADD

What are callous and unemotional traits?

• limited empathy
• lack of guilt
• shallow affect

How did viding study the genetics of callous and unemotional traits?

• Twin studies showed it was heritable
• lower levels were explained by environmental factors
• evidence that theres a substantial genetic risk for psychopathy

Are callous and unemotional traits malleable?

• respond to warm parenting but less responsive to negative parenting
• may benefit from training in emotional literacy and recognition

What are the three types of morality?

judgment, behaviour and emotion

What is Piaget's moral decision stories?

children asked moral dilemmas
Younger children judge negative outcome more harshly
older children judge negative INTENTION more harshly
young children = respect for adult's rules
age develops a morality of cooperation where conflicts can be resolved (Around 10)

What is Kohlberg's theory of moral development?

Heinz story
had 3 levels being pre conventional morality (punishment, personal gain) conventional (good boy/girl, maintenance of social order), post conventional (morality of contract, of conscience)

what evidence is there in favour of kohlberg stages?

• longitudinal studies showed mortality becomes more abstract and advanced
• Percentage of ppts using lower level reasoning decreased with age and higher increased

What are critiques of kohlberg's stages?

• higher cognitive development = higher moral reasoning but doesnt lead to more moral actions
• samples not representative as it's western males and stage 6 was rarely seen in data
• children may not understand the dilemmas so maybe simple contexts may be better

What did hamlin's study of morality with young infants show?

shown a red circle getting up a hill and a shape either helped or was mean
children then picked a shape
they chose the nice shape
however doesn't really mean morality

How did Hamlin study social judgment in infancy?

• adults' social evaluations of others aren't always morally justifiable as they prefer people similar to them
• seeing if infants prefer people who treat similar others well
• 9-14m had to pick between crackers and green beans
• puppet show where rabbit loved crackers or beans
• watched another show where the rabbit was similar or dissimilar and dog helps or hinders rabbit
• infants had to pick between helper and hinderer

What did Hamlin's research reveal about infants' social judgments?

• infants like those who are similar and dislike those who are different
• 9-24m preferred ppl who harm dissimilar others over those who help them
• supports biased that contribute to intergroup hostility and conflict

What critiques are there of hamlin's research?

• compatible with evidence that toddlers engage in moral actions however there's a replication crisis
  touch doesn't exactly mean moral judgment could just be basic

What social influences are there on morality?

• in west, parents who are warm and supportive have kids who regulate emotion effectively and show sophisticated moral judgment
• negotiation with peers is crucial and quality of peer interaction at 9 predicted moral judgment of 4 years later

What other aspects of morality are there?

• people v animal responses
• adults believe animals matter more than do animals
• intelligent, socially embedded, speciesism

What are children's moral responses to people and animals?

• 5-9yo and adults asked whether they'd save the lives of humans or dogs/pigs
• scenarios eg 1 human v 100/10/2/1 dogs and vice versa
• adults were speciesism and chose 1 human over 100 animals
• children valued dogs life the same as humans
• children chose 10 pigs over 1 person
• findings clash that children have a narrow moral circle that expands
• idea that humans are morally special is a socially acquired ideology