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Children's Intrinsic Motivation to Provide Help Themselves After Accidentally Harming Others

Robert Hepach1, Amrisha Vaish2, Michael Tomasello3

  • 1Leipzig University and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Child Development
|November 2, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Moral Psychology

Background:

  • Children's prosocial motivation is not well understood.
  • Understanding factors influencing helping behavior in early childhood is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the flexibility of prosocial motivation in young children.
  • To examine the role of accidental harm and repair in children's helping behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Studied 128 children aged 2-3 years.
  • Measured internal arousal using pupil dilation.
  • Manipulated scenarios of accidental harm and ability to repair.

Main Results:

  • Increased arousal observed when children accidentally harmed a victim and could not repair the damage.
  • Arousal decreased when children could repair the harm or when someone else provided help.
  • Children showed heightened motivation to help those they had harmed.

Conclusions:

  • Young children's prosocial motivation is flexible and influenced by their actions.
  • Accidentally harming others may trigger guilt and a desire to reconcile, enhancing helping behavior.
  • Children value both the well-being of others and the relationship with those needing help.

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