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Related Experiment Videos

Prosocial development in early adulthood: a longitudinal study.

Nancy Eisenberg1, Ivanna K Guthrie, Amanda Cumberland

  • 1Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287, USA.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 8, 2002
PubMed
Summary
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Prosocial personality and moral judgment show consistency over time, linking early empathy and behavior to adult prosocial traits. These findings highlight the stable nature of prosocial tendencies throughout development.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Prosocial behavior and personality traits are crucial for social functioning.
  • Understanding the stability and interrelations of prosociality over time is important for developmental research.
  • Previous research has explored aspects of prosociality, but longitudinal studies examining both personality and moral judgment are less common.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the consistency of prosocial personality and prosocial moral judgment over time.
  • To investigate the interrelations between prosocial personality and prosocial moral judgment.
  • To explore the links between early childhood prosocial indicators and later adult prosociality.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal assessment of participants' and friends' reports of prosocial characteristics at multiple adult age points (21-26 years).

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  • Assessment of prosocial moral judgment using interviews and an objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning.
  • Inclusion of retrospective reports of childhood prosocial behavior and empathy, and observational data from preschool.

    • Main Results:

    • Demonstrated significant interindividual consistency in prosocial dispositions across adulthood.
    • Found that adult prosocial dispositions were related to earlier empathy and prosocial behavior in childhood and preschool.
    • Showed substantial interrelation between interview and objective measures of moral reasoning in late adolescence/early adulthood, correlating with reported prosocial disposition.

    Conclusions:

    • Prosocial personality and moral judgment exhibit considerable stability throughout adulthood.
    • Early childhood indicators of empathy and prosocial behavior predict later prosocial development.
    • The findings underscore the enduring nature of prosocial traits and their connection to moral reasoning from adolescence into adulthood.