What is a Prosocial Behavior

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What is a Prosocial Behavior

• Chapter 13

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• Acts are often executed without the doers
  anticipation of cost or benefit.
• Examples of acts are helping, sharing, giving,
  cooperating, sympathizing, encouraging,
  sacrificing, aiding, rescuing, defending,
  reassuring and comforting.

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Prosocial behavior is

• The opposite of antisocial conduct
• Behaving in a manner that is socially accepted as
  benefiting others.
• The disposition to engage in such action is
  learned and practiced as a child, eventually
  carrying over into adulthood.

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Steps to Acting Prosocially

• Step one awareness- Children must first
  recognize that someone would benefit from a
  prosocial response.

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• Step two decision
• 3 factors that influence the decision to act or
  not.
• Childs relationship to the person in need
• Childs current mood
• Whether he/she thinks of himself as a basically
  prosocial being

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• Step three action
• Conduct is influenced by two abilities, which
  are
• PERSPECTIVE TAKING, which is the ability to
  recognize what, would be useful to someone else
  whose needs may not mirror the childs at the
  moment
• INSTRUMENTAL KNOW HOW, which is having the
  knowledge and skills necessary to act competently.

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Influences on Prosocial Behavior

• TEMPERAMENT DOES INFLUENCE PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• Children with more pleasant dispositions, as well
  as children prone to more intense emotions are
  more sympathic to others. Prosocial children
  tend to be those who are able to REGULATE their
  emotions and take action.

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GENDER DIFFERENCES

• No gender differences in childrens
  willingness to engage in prosocial behavior- both
  boys and girls have equal capacity to be
  prosocial.
• Difference in the occurrence with girls
  engaging in more prosocial behavior more often
  than boys

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AGE

• Childrens capacity for prosocial behaviors
  expands with age it is not a guarantee that a
  child will become more prosocial.

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CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Cultures clearly differ in the emphasis they
  place on prosocial behaviors like sharing,
  helping and cooperating. Some emphasize
  competition and individual achievement. Others
  stress cooperation and group harmony. Some, like
  ours, have a high tolerance for violence while
  others do not.

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ADULT BEHAVIOR

• Create an environment that facilitates the
  development of childrens prosocial behavior.

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• Group settings that are most likely to promote
  nurturing, sharing, cooperating and rescuing have
  the following characteristics

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• 1. Expectation that everyone will do his or her
  best to support one another
• 2. Both adults and children contribute to
  decision making, practices and procedures
• 3. Communication is direct, clear and mutual

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• 4. Individual differences are respected
• 5. Expectations are reasonable
• 6. People like one another and feel a sense of
  belonging to the group
• 7. There is an emphasis on group as well as
  individual accomplishment.

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• Modeling- seeing in action makes the lesson
  vivid
• Prosocial attribution - the more children
  believe themselves to be kind, generous or
  compassionate they are more likely to behave that
  way to others.
• Rewarding prosocial behavior

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DIRECT INSTRUCTION

• Discussing the value of prosocial behavior and
  giving examples of how children themselves can
  act prosocially
• Telling stories that illustrate prosocial
  principles
• Teaching children games that promote cooperation
  and awareness of others
• Creating opportunities for children to help or
  cooperate in real-life situations

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• Demonstrating prosocial behavior using small
  figures or puppets
• Getting children to reenact previously observed
  prosocial actions.
• Having children role-play situations in which
  they take on the behaviors of helper and helpee

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• Teaching children games that promote cooperation
  and awareness of others
• Creating opportunities for children to help or
  cooperate in real-life situations