This study examined young children's behaviour predictions in direct reciprocal prosocial situations. Participants aged 4-6 years (N = 60) listened to four stories that addressed the actor's previous behaviour (prosocial/non-prosocial) combined with the partner's behaviour (prosocial/non-prosocial). Then, they made predictions regarding the…

In this three-paper dissertation, I examine three seemingly unconnected historical philosophers--Locke, Cockburn, and Kant--on questions concerning moral knowledge, human nature, and moral development. In the first chapter, my focus is on Locke's peculiar claim that a demonstrative science of morality is possible, and I address an interpretive…

Scholars and Early Childhood Education (ECE) professionals acknowledge the critical nature of prosocial behavior (PSB) skills in the lives of preschool-aged children. Research specifies that children lacking PSBs are socially and academically disadvantaged. Studies have shown that 30% of preschoolers exhibit negative emotional/social behavior, and…

In this paper, we investigated whether Canadian preschoolers prefer to learn from a competent robot over an incompetent human using the classic trust paradigm. An adapted Naive Biology task was also administered to assess children's perception of robots. In Study 1, 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were presented with two informants; A social, humanoid…

Health messaging can be a successful tool in encouraging pro-social behavior, such as bystander intervention in sexual violence situations. This dissertation explored the development of a social media message to encourage bystander intervention among college students using multiple theoretical frameworks: social norms approach and bystander…

Academic dishonesty threatens the integrity of performance assessment, making it crucial to understand the various types and predictors of such behavior. Second-party cheating, which refers to aiding and abetting cheating behaviors, is similarly prevalent as individualistic cheating, yet has received limited research attention. We follow up on…

We investigated the extent to which parents' prosocial talk and negations relate to the quantity and diversity of parents' spatial language production. We also examined similar associations among children. Participants included 51 children of ages 4-7 years and their parents recruited from South Florida. Most of the dyads included mothers and were…

Increasing research has indicated associations between popularity goal and adolescents' social functioning. However, little is known about the processes intervening and moderating these associations. We examined whether popularity status insecurity explained the longitudinal associations of popularity goal with depression and social behavior among…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the opportunities kindergarten children in the United States had across different learning contexts (whole group, small group, center time, lunch, recess) to engage in social behavior as defined by the Developing Skills Checklist. Across a 3-year period, the social behaviors of 36 children across 13…

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been suggested to increase prosocial behavior in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Out of all the animals used in AAT, dogs have been found to be the most utilized and accessible. This systematic review examines the current state of literature on canine-assisted therapy (CAT) for children…

The errors young children make when recognising others' emotions may be systematic over-identification biases and may partially explain the challenges some have socially. These biases and associations may be differential by emotion. In a sample of 871 ethnically and racially diverse preschool-aged children (i.e. 33-68 months; 49% Hispanic/Latine,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a universal classroom-based social-emotional learning (SEL) program for first grade students. Forty classrooms from 13 elementary schools across 3 states participated in the trial. Teachers in classrooms randomly assigned to the implementation condition were provided with free access to…

We examined the effectiveness of systematic prompting of peer-related behaviors delivered during small group academic instructional sessions with three dyads of preschool-aged children with deficits in social competence. One child was randomly assigned as the target child in each dyad. A multiple-probe single-case research design was utilized to…

The possibility of inducing value change has attracted interest among scholars and practitioners in developmental and social psychology. This study proposes a new web-based intervention aimed at enhancing the importance adolescents ascribe to social-focused values (i.e., self-transcendence and conservation), which was implemented and evaluated in…

Bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment in high school occur in the presence of peers, who often implicitly or explicitly support this perpetration. This study examines the impact of a social norms campaign on personal and perceived peer norms related to bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests indicate…