Twenty-two preschoolers aged 48-63 months were observed and questioned by a familiar experimenter about their spontaneous helping, sharing, or comforting behavior over a 12-week period. (JMB)

Examines the contribution of two variables, directiveness of instructions and presence of a socializing agent, upon the production and persistence of modeled donating. Subjects were 112 second and third graders. (MP)

Study of third- through sixth-grade children's prosocial behavior based on peer nominations found that children with prosocial reputations tended to be high in constructive social skills and attentional regulation, and low in negative emotionality. The relations of children's negative emotionality to prosocial reputation were moderated by level of…

Investigates young adolescents' perceptions of their peers' prosocial behaviors. Results suggest that traditional research has not addressed the diversity of prosocial behaviors that youth enact, nor emphasized behaviors that are salient to young adolescents. Such behaviors included standing up for others, encouraging others, helping others…

Interviewed Australian and Canadian mothers about the assignment of either routine or specially requested household work to their 9- to 14-year-old sons and daughters. Found that routine work was positively correlated with older children's concern for family members. There was no correlation between household work and prosocial behavior toward…

Investigates three variables related to attributed altruism: (1) the effects of initiating prosocial behavior; (2) the potential gain or loss for the prosocial actor; and (3) the possible risk for the prosocial actor. Determines that any evidence of selfish motivation detracts from perceived altruism, and that no evidence of selfish motivation…

Examined whether children's goals in peer conflict situations were related to the strategies they proposed for resolving conflicts, and how these strategies were related to acceptance by peers. Subjects were 142 fourth through sixth graders. Found that peer acceptance was negatively related to hostile/coercive strategies for girls, and negatively…

Assessed teachers' ratings of social behavior and peers' ratings of likability for 43 preschoolers over a 10-month period. Among preschoolers, those who were friendlier, more cooperative, less aggressive, and less difficult were more well liked. Later likability was predicted by earlier likability, not by prosocial behavior. (BC)

Activity book helps elementary students learn about peace and see themselves as peacemakers and peacekeepers. Students are introduced to literary and historical figures who have worked for peace and won the Nobel Peace Prize. Activities teach students that peace means more than calm situations or absence of war. (SM)

Measures of likability, knowledge of emotion, prosocial and aggressive behavior, peer competence, and expressed emotions of happiness and anger of 65 subjects between 33 and 56 months of age supported the notion of early development of stable peer reputations and the hypothesized centrality of emotion-related predictors of likability. (RH)

Focuses on how counselors can help parents understand that parenting styles influence children's behavior. Offers ideas for humanistic parenting to elicit socially desirable outcomes behavior in children. Presents strategies that parents can use to increase the likelihood that young children will develop prosocial behavior and learn to respond to…

Previous studies by Holmes, Miller, and Lerner (2002) support the norm of self-interest and exchange fiction hypotheses. Together these arguments state that people want to act on compassionate feelings (e.g., by donating to charities) but are reluctant to do so if they cannot justify their behavior as being in line with their own self-interest.…

A persistent anomaly in the social dilemmas literature is the surprisingly high level of cooperation observed in experimental investigations of the one-shot Prisoners' Dilemma (PD). The exchange heuristic hypothesis and related approaches explain this finding by arguing that actors subjectively transform PD into the Assurance Dilemma. A tendency…

Childhood and youth violence in the schools is a major concern in the United States. School-associated violent deaths between 1194 and 1999 have increased, and significantly more students report taking a weapon to school. This paper discusses the causes and correlates of school violence, including the accumulation of social and psychological risk…

Five dimensions of friendship quality (conflict, closeness, companionship, helping, and security) were predicted from self-reports and peer reports of physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behaviour, using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001). Participants were 224 adolescents aged 15-17 years (142…