Читать книгу Developmental Psychopathology - Группа авторов - Страница 89

Prosocial behavior can be defined as behavior that is voluntarily performed in order to benefit another person. The urge to engage in this behavior is associated with a person’s morality and many people use prosocial moral reasoning to aid decision‐making. This reasoning may be useful when an individual has to decide between helping another person or meeting the needs of oneself. Altruism is at the center of prosocial behavior and can be referred to as the motivation to help other people, even if it comes at a cost. Altruism is seen in infants as young as 14 months old, but children may differ in their readiness and reasons for engaging in prosocial behavior (Warneken & Tomasello, 2009). Some research shows humans may be biologically predisposed to act in prosocial ways while other research focuses more on parental and societal influences. Parents who are warm, sympathetic, and demonstrate prosocial behavior are more likely to instill prosocial behavior in children. Child peer groups that model prosocial behavior also result in a greater likelihood of increasing this behavior among other children (Hoorn et al., 2016).