Accepted Manuscript

Title: Fostering Prosocial Behavior and Empathy in Young

Children

Author: Tracy L. Spinrad Diana E. Gal

PII: S2352-250X(17)30128-8
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.004
Reference: COPSYC 529

To appear in:

Received date: 9-5-2017

Revised date: 1-8-2017
Accepted date: 2-8-2017

Please cite this article as: T.L. Spinrad, D.E. Gal, Fostering
Prosocial Behavior and Empathy in Young Children, COPSYC (2017),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.004

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 Fostering Prosocial Behavior and Empathy in Young Children

Tracy L. Spinrad & Diana E. Gal

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T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics

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Arizona State University

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Tempe, AZ 85287

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Child Self-

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Regulation

Parenting Child
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(e.g. Warmth, Sensitivity, Prosocial
Emotion Socialization) Behavior
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Child
Emotion
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Knowledge

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 Abstract

There is increasing interest in understanding ways to foster young children’s prosocial

behavior (i.e., voluntary acts to benefit another). We begin this review by differentiating between

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types of prosocial behavior, empathy, and sympathy. We argue that sympathy and some types

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of prosocial behaviors are most likely intrinsically motivated, whereas other types of prosocial

behaviors may be extrinsically motivated. Next, we highlight work focusing on the socialization

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practices that have been found to predict individual differences in young children’s prosocial

behavior and concern for others. Although work in the area is limited, we also review some

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intervention programs that have shown effectiveness in improving young children’s positive

social behaviors. We conclude with areas for future research.

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 Introduction

Prosocial behavior is defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit another, such as

helping, cooperating, donating, and sharing [1]. Prosocial behaviors stem from diverse

motivations. For example, altruism refers to prosocial behavior that is intrinsically motivated,

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whereas some prosocial behaviors may be motivated by social rewards, avoiding punishment,

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or improving one’s own welfare [2].

Further, nuances in the type of prosocial behavior may provide some insight into

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whether particular behaviors are motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Prosocial behaviors

that are costly (e.g., sharing resources at an expense to oneself, comforting someone in

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distress), anonymous, and spontaneous are thought to be motivated by intrinsic concerns,

whereas those that are less costly, more public, or more compliant may be motivated by
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extrinsic reasons. Interestingly, recent findings indicate that different types of prosocial

behaviors, such as low-cost instrumental helping (i.e., handing someone an object that is out of
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his reach), sharing resources, and comforting others, are largely uncorrelated [3, 4], indicating
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that they may, indeed, have different underlying motivations.

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Altruistic motivations are believed to be based on empathy, “an affective response that
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stems from the apprehension or comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition, and

which is identical or quite similar to what the other person is feeling or would be expected to
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feel” and sympathy, which refers to, “feeling sorry or concern for the distressed or needy other,”

rather than feeling the same emotion as the other person is experiencing or is expected to

experience [1]. Empathy and sympathy are thought to motivate prosocial behavior [5], and work

with children indicates that sympathy (and sometimes empathy) is related to helping others

even at a young age [1].

Developmental researchers have been particularly interested in studying the ways in

which empathy, sympathy, and prosocial behavior can be fostered in young children [6]. We

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briefly focus on some of the ways socializers may impact young children’s prosocial actions. We

also consider intervention efforts to improve children’s prosocial behaviors, although research in

this area has been somewhat limited, especially outside of the school context. Finally, we focus

on areas for further research.

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Socialization of Prosocial Behavior and Empathy-Related Responding

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Individual differences in prosocial behavior and empathy can be predicted by

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dispositional factors (i.e., temperament), socio-cognitive factors (e.g., self-recognition, emotion

knowledge), as well as socialization practices. Due to space constraints, we touch on only a few

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parenting processes that have been related to young children’s prosocial and empathy-related

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responding. We also consider the mediational role of children’s self-regulation and emotion

knowledge in the relation of parenting to prosocial outcomes.

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Parental Warmth, Sensitivity, and the Quality of the Parent-Child Relationship

Parental warmth refers to parents’ supportive, affectionate, and responsive interactions

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with their children. Parental warmth is thought to promote prosocial behavior because such
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practices model warm and cooperative interactions, are reciprocal and nurturing, and likely

foster positive parent-child relationships. Indeed, research has demonstrated associations of

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parental warmth and prosocial behavior or empathy/sympathy [7, 8]. In one study, warmth and
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support, characterized by maternal positive affect and encouragement during a challenging

puzzle task, were positively related to 5- to 7- year-olds’ sympathy [9].

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Similar to parental warmth, parental sensitivity and responsiveness, which reflects

parents’ contingent and responsive behaviors toward their children’s cues, has been positively

related to empathy and prosocial behavior [10, 11, 12]. For example, Spinrad and Stifter [12]

showed that maternal sensitivity observed during a free-play at 10 months of age predicted

toddlers’ observed concern toward an unrelated distressed adult 8 months later. Similarly, in

long-term longitudinal work, Feldman [13] showed that mother-infant synchrony in the first year

of life predicted empathy in adolescence.

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 Findings also support the view that the quality of the parent-child relationship has been

related to higher empathy and prosocial actions. Attachment security has been associated with

relatively high empathy or prosocial behavior [14, 15]. Because securely attached children tend

to have sensitive and warm parents, these findings provide evidence that parenting practices

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that contribute to parent-child closeness predict children’s concern for others.

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Emotion Socialization Practices

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Researchers have begun to focus on socialization practices that are relevant to the

experience and expression of emotions (i.e., emotion-related socialization practices) in

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understanding the development of prosocial behavior and empathy [16]. In particular, parents

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who allow their children to express emotions, who validate their children’s feelings, and who

help their children deal with emotions in constructive ways are likely to model strategies that
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enable children to express and regulate their emotions appropriately. These parenting practices

teach children about their own and others’ emotions and promote constructive self-regulation
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strategies. In turn, when children learn to cope with their emotions adequately, they presumably
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experience sympathy, rather than personal distress (a self-focused, aversive reaction), when

confronted with another’s distress [1].

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Empirical evidence supports the view that emotion socialization behaviors have been
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related to relatively high empathy, sympathy, and/or prosocial behavior. For example, Taylor,

Eisenberg, Spinrad, Eggum, and Sulik [17] showed that 24-month olds were seen as more
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empathic at age 2 when their mothers encouraged them to express their emotions at 18 months

of age. In addition to encouraging expression of emotions, parents’ use of problem-solving

strategies in response to young children’s distress has been related to children’s sympathy and

prosocial behavior [18, 19]. Children whose mothers seemed to understand how their children

felt and knew what was comforting to them were relatively high in empathy [20].

There is also evidence that when parents talk about emotions, their children showed

higher levels of empathy. Parents’ emotion talk with toddlers, including how they encourage

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their toddlers to think about emotions, has been associated with children’s helping, sharing, and

sympathy [21, 22, 23]. Thus, it appears that when parents draw children’s attention to emotions

of those around them, children seem to be particularly aware of others’ needs.

It is likely that the relations between various parental emotion socialization practices and

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children’s sympathy and prosocial behavior are mediated by children’s emotional competence

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such as self-regulation abilities and emotion knowledge. Supportive parenting has predicted

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higher levels of regulation/effortful control in young children, even after controlling for stability in

the constructs [24]. Further, research has indicated that regulation skills mediated the link

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between parenting and sympathy and prosocial behavior. For example, Davidov and Grusec

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[10] showed that mothers’ responsiveness to children’s distress was positively associated with

children’s empathy and prosocial behavior, but this relation was mediated by children's
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regulation abilities. Other research supports the notion that parental socialization practices

predicted children’s prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding through their impact on
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children’s regulatory skills [25, 26, 27].
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The relations between emotion socialization practices and children’s prosocial behaviors

may also be explained through increases in children’s emotion knowledge (i.e., emotion
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recognition abilities and understanding of causes and consequences of emotions). Indeed,

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parental warmth and responsiveness has been shown to significantly and positively predict child

emotion knowledge, whereas intrusive or harsh parenting behaviors has been related to
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children’s lower emotion knowledge [28, 29]. In turn, children who had higher levels of emotion

knowledge also had higher levels of empathy, sympathy, and prosocial behavior [30, 31].

Consistent with this expected mechanism, emotion knowledge at age 3 mediated the relations

between positive, mutually responsive mother-child interactions at age 2 and children’s

prosocial behaviors in preschool [32].

Reinforcement and Learning by Doing

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 One important question is whether parents should offer rewards for children’s prosocial

behavior. Research has indicated that when children are offered a material reward for prosocial

behavior (such as a small prize) they were less likely to behave prosocially in non-reward

contexts [33]. Research with younger children also supports this notion [34]. The use of material

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rewards for helping, sharing, and cooperation likely undermines children’s internal motivations

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for prosocial behaviors in future contexts.

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Nonmaterial reinforcement (such as verbal praise and encouragement of prosocial

behavior) has been shown to increase children’s prosocial behavior [35, 36]. Further, simply

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participating in prosocial behaviors with parents may foster prosocial behavior. The majority of

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parents report that they encouraged their young children to engage in household and caring

activities (i.e., household routines and chores) as early as 13-24 months of age [37]. Toddlers
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whose mothers reported scaffolding their everyday helping also tended to behave more

prosocially with an experimenter [38, 39].

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Summary
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A number of parenting practices are related to children's prosocial behavior and

empathy/sympathy. Specially, findings generally show that prosocial behavior is enhanced by

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parental warmth and support and by children’s connection to others (i.e., attachment). Further,
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positive socialization practices that foster emotional competence (i.e., parental behaviors that

teach children about emotions or the regulation of emotions) also have been related to
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children’s sympathy and prosocial behaviors, perhaps due to mediation by regulatory skills

and/or emotion knowledge. Finally, offering material rewards for prosocial behavior appears to

decrease later prosociality, but encouraging children’s prosocial actions through praise and

encouraging participation in household chores may be effective in fostering prosocial behaviors.

Intervention Work

These insights into the role of social and emotional skills for children’s social adjustment

have motivated both school-based and parent-focused prevention and intervention programs.

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Increases in prosocial behavior, although not always a specific focus of these programs, are

often outcomes related to social and emotional skill building which emphasizes many of the

important precursors to prosocial behavior such as empathy, understanding of own and others’

emotions, and emotional and behavioral self-regulation. Indeed, in a recent meta-analysis, Malti,

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Chaparro, Zuffiano, and Colasante [40] reported on nineteen school-based SEL (social and

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emotional learning) programs implemented in Kindergarten through 8th grade that targeted

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empathy-related skills, including prosocial behavior. These authors found that program effects

on both social and academic outcomes were stronger when programs were implemented at

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younger ages and incorporated more empathy-related skills such as emotion understanding and

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perspective taking. Other similar school-based programs not included in the previous review

have shown similar effects. For example, building emotion knowledge through classroom
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activities has increased prosocial behavior for both toddlers and preschool-aged children [41,

42]. Similarly, school-based interventions focused on building empathy, impulse control, and
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mindfulness have increased prosocial behavior in preschool and elementary school age children
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[43, 44].

Although there are fewer studies on the topic, there is also evidence that family-based
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prevention and intervention programs are successful in increasing children’s prosocial behavior.
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For example, in a twenty-two week program targeting improving family processes for children 8-

17 years old, prosocial behavior increased over the course of the program [45]. Moreover, a
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recent meta-analysis of a parent training program (named “The Incredible Years”) focused on

increasing parental responsivity and warmth found small but significant increases in prosocial

behaviors for children between birth and 10 years [46].

Gaps in the Literature

Although we have some understanding of fostering prosocial behavior in young children,

the research still can not adequately address many important issues. In particular, causal

evidence for ways to improve prosocial responding is lacking. Moreover, as previously noted,

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there are few family-based intervention evaluations that monitor prosocial development. To

elucidate potential causal associations between parenting behaviors and children’s prosocial

behaviors, more experimental intervention designs should be employed in which specific

parenting behaviors are targeted and prosocial behavior is measured as an outcome.

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Further, a number of areas in the field require greater attention. For example,

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researchers generally have not examined the impact of parenting on multiple types of prosocial

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behaviors. As a recent exception, Schuhmacher, Collard, and Kärtner [47] showed that

parenting practices were associated with demanding types of prosocial behavior (i.e., toddlers’

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comforting) but not low-cost prosocial behaviors (i.e., handing over an object that is out of

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reach). Understanding the motivations of different types of prosocial behavior and how to foster

intrinsic motivation for helpfulness is an area for further research.

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More attention also should be paid to understanding the conditions under which children

behave prosocially. That is, there are likely individual differences in the degree to which children
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are prosocial to people one knows and cares about versus people one does not know, such as
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strangers, people in one’s social in-group (i.e., groups someone belongs to), and/or people in

the out-group. Weller and Lagattuta [48] showed that 5- to 13-year-old children believe that
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other children feel more positive about helping in-group versus out-group members. However, it
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is unclear when these biases occur and the factors that affect these biases in children. Having

such data would allow researchers to understand how to foster prosocial behavior towards
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groups beyond one’s in-group.

Finally, we urge researchers to consider important complexities in understanding the

relation between parenting and children’s prosocial and empathy-related responding. For

example, examining potential moderators, such as dispositional emotionality, may contribute to

our better understanding of the development of prosocial behavior. That is, parenting may be

particularly important for children who have a tendency to respond to their environment with

high levels of negative emotion [49]. Further, researchers must consider the potential for bi-

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directional effects between socialization efforts and children’s prosocial development. Just as

parents are seen as contributors to children’s social competence, children’s prosociality may

influence parenting [50, 9].

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** indicates outstanding interest

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* indicates special interest

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2016;57(7):824-834
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Highlights

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● Parental warmth and sensitivity promote young children’s empathy and prosocial

behavior

● Parent socialization of emotion predicts prosociality through emotion regulation and

knowledge

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● Parents support prosocial behavior through encouragement but not material rewards

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● School- and family-based interventions are successful in improving prosocial behavior

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