Little Benefactors: How Helping and Sharing Develop within Social Contexts

Prosocial behaviors, such as helping and sharing, has always been a heated topic for many researchers. Are we all born to be good and nice, and the society then corrupts us? Or, are we all born to be evil, and society then teaches us to be a moral being? The current dissertation focused on these debates. Especially, we focused on the emergence and the early development of helping and sharing. In the first part of the thesis, we examined the general development of helping and sharing. In doing so, we first review the literature and delineate how these two behaviors develop from 0 – 18 years of age. Second, we tracked 100 Dutch toddlers’ prosocial behaviors three times during a year. Especially, we observed toddlers’ sharing and helping during three experimental tasks (Such as, ask them to share with the puppet, or help the puppet). In the end, there will be a photo for the puppet In the second part of the thesis, we examined whether and how society would affect these young toddlers’ helping and sharing. In doing so, we first observed, and compared young children’s helping and sharing under three cultures (Dutch, Indian, and China). Second, we asked parents and daycare teachers about their values (for example, people should focus on their own success or group harmony), goals for their children (for example, how much they want their children to be prosocial), and their practices with children (for example, will they ask their children to help/share in daily lives). Then, we examined how these values, goals, and practices would affect prosocial development. Third, we zoomed into three specific contexts. (1) the abundance of resources. Whether toddlers would share more if they have 8 treats, rather than 2 treats? (2) social affiliation. Whether toddlers would share and help more if they have a sense of affiliation (for example, see two puppets stand face to face with each other). (3) choice. Whether toddlers would share and help more if they were asked to do so (have to)? In this thesis, we found that we are prosocial beings. In addition, help develops earlier than sharing. Also, children from three cultures showed NO difference in their behaviors. More importantly, after helping and sharing, toddlers would show an increase in happiness. Especially, compared with receiving treats,, they are happier after sharing these treats. All of this evidence showed that we are born to be good and nice. However, society also contributes to prosocial development. Prosocial behaviors can be promoted through (even) small changes in the environment (e.g., see a photo with two puppets together), and also through parents’ /teachers’ socialization (e.g., prosocial-related socialization practices). More importantly, although parents from different cultures have their unique ways of stimulating prosocial behaviors, these ways all serve a similar goal that holds for all societies: to refine our natural prosocial inclinations, in order to raise little benefactors for the society in which we live