The Developing Social Context of Infant Helping in Two U.S. Samples
Audun Dahl1,2
1University of California, Santa Cruz.
Child Development
|March 25, 2015
Summary
Most infants begin helping at home around their first birthday. Family encouragement and reinforcement, like thanking or praising, support this early helping behavior, impacting development theories.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Behavior
- Social Development
Background:
- Limited research exists on early helping behaviors within the home environment.
- Existing theories on helping development make varied assumptions about infants' daily experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence, encouragement, and social reinforcement of helping behaviors in infants aged 11 to 25 months.
- To examine the role of family involvement in the development of infant helping.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: 76 mothers provided qualitative descriptions of infant helping.
- Study 2: Naturalistic interactions of 51 families were videotaped to observe helping behaviors.
- Combined longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses were employed.
Main Results:
- Helping behaviors were observed in most infants from approximately 12 months of age.
- Infant helping instances were frequently associated with parental encouragement, thanking, and praise.
- Family member involvement appears to contribute to infant helping, with age-dependent variations.
Conclusions:
- Infant helping is a common behavior that emerges around the first birthday.
- Social reinforcement and encouragement from family members play a significant role in fostering infant helping.
- Findings support the view that family interactions are crucial for the development of early prosocial behaviors.
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