Better Language — Faster Helper : The Relation Between Spontaneous Instrumental Helping Action and Language Ability in Family-Reared and Institutionalized Toddlers

Abstract. Prosocial behavior is the key component of social and interpersonal relations. One of the elements of prosociality is helping behavior, which emerges already in early childhood. Researchers have identified several domains of helping behavior: instrumental helping, comforting another person and one’s capacity to share resources with others. The development of helping behavior can depend on a number of factors: children’s age, the social situation of development, communication skills, the ability to understand the feelings and needs of another person. Goal. In Study 1, the main goal was to determine the effects of age, cognitive, language and motor development on the instrumental helping skills in early childhood. The goal of Study 2 was to estimate the effects of rearing in adverse social environment via comparing the capacity for instrumental helping in family-raised and institutionalized children. Materials and methods. The authors examined toddlers’ ability (Ns=198) to initiate spontaneous helping and the factors that may influence it. Cognitive, language and fine motor skills were measured by using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Child Development, 3rd edition. Children’s instrumental helping behavior was assessed according to the procedure presented by Warneken and Tomasello, with few modifications. Results. Study 1 demonstrated that children’s ability to initiate helping was dependent on their age: the non-helpers were significantly younger than the helpers. Children’s language skills also played a significant role in their helping behavior. The children with higher level language skills helped the adult more often and in a quicker manner. Study 2 demonstrated that institution placement per se was not related to toddlers’ ability to initiate helping. The language ability was associated to helping behavior both in institution- and family-reared toddlers. Conclusions. The instrumental helping in early childhood is related to children’s age, language skills development and rearing conditions.