Work

The Developing Social Context of Infant Helping in Two U.S. Samples

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Theories about the development of helping make different assumptions about infants' everyday experiences. Yet little research has investigated early helping at home. Two studies investigated the presence, encouragement, and social reinforcement of helping in 11- to 25-month-old infants in U.S. middle-class families. In Study 1, 76 mothers provided descriptions of infant helping. Study 2 involved videotaping of naturalistic interactions in 51 families. From around the first birthday, most infants helped at home. Instances of helping were frequently accompanied by encouragement, thanking, or praising. Longitudinal and cross-sectional findings were consistent with the view that family members' involvement contributes to infant helping, although the role of family members may depend on infant age. These findings have implications for theories and research about infant helping.

Source: Child Development

DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12361

Author: Audun Dahl

Institutions: University of California, Santa Cruz, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Amini Foundation for the Study of Affects, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G1309633988, G4812158650, The Affective Roots of Moral Development: Naturalistic and Experimental Studies