Does reading a compassionate story improve children's helping in the compassionate responding paradigm?
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Updated: Nov 4, 2026

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children
Published on: March 1, 2019
Frankie T K Fong1, Kelly Kirkland2, Prerna Nagesh2
1School of Psychological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
Abstract:
Recent findings using the compassionate responding paradigm suggest that preschool children will not help a distressed target (puppets or adults) when it is costly to do so. This registered report examined whether reading a storybook that promotes compassionate behavior translates to greater costly compassionate helping using the same experimental paradigm. The first part of our study involved parents reading either a book promoting compassionate action or a control book with their children across a 1-week period. The storybook was sent to parents, along with reading guidelines and a short reading diary (which parents filled in every day). Children were then invited to participate in the compassionate responding paradigm. We expected a higher level of compassionate helping for children who read the compassionate storybook compared with children who participated in the control condition; however, our results did not support this hypothesis. This study affords important insights into whether preschool children are responsive to stories that promote compassionate action. It also raises discussions about the scope and limits of the compassionate responding paradigm. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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