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Related Experiment Videos

Asking Children to "Be Helpers" Can Backfire After Setbacks.

Emily Foster-Hanson1, Andrei Cimpian1, Rachel A Leshin1

  • 1New York University.

Child Development
|September 20, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Framing tasks as identity categories, like "be helpers," can backfire. When young children face difficulties, this approach may lead to negative attitudes and reduced helping behavior, contrary to expectations.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Labeling behaviors with categories (e.g., "be helpers") can promote prosocial actions in children.
  • However, the impact of setbacks on these category-based effects is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if framing tasks as identity categories can negatively affect children's attitudes and behaviors after experiencing difficulties.
  • To examine the conditions under which category labels might impede rather than enhance prosocial behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Two studies with 139 children (ages 4-5) were conducted.
  • Participants were assigned to either a category frame ("be helpers") or a behavioral frame ("to help").
  • Children completed tasks with both successful and unsuccessful scenarios, followed by assessments of attitudes and helping behavior.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • After unsuccessful trials, children in the "be helpers" condition reported more negative attitudes compared to the "to help" condition.
  • Experiencing difficulties while trying to help specifically hindered helping behavior in children assigned the "be helpers" label.

Conclusions:

  • Category labels, such as "be helpers," can have detrimental effects on children's prosocial behavior and attitudes when they encounter setbacks.
  • These findings highlight the complex interplay between identity, performance, and social behavior, suggesting that framing matters significantly in developmental contexts.