Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Relation of Quantity and Mode of Prosocial Behavior to Moral Cognitions and Social Style

1984; Wiley; Volume: 55; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1130017

1467-8624

Nancy Eisenberg, Jeannette Pasternack, Ellen Cameron, Kelly Tryon,

Child and Animal Learning Development

EISENBERG, NANCY; PASTERNACK, JEANNETTE FLOM; CAMERON, ELLEN; and TRYON, KELLY. The Relation of Quantity and Mode of Prosocial Behavior to Moral Cognitions and Social Style. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1479-1485. Researchers have seldom differentiated between 2 types of moral cognitions: moral judgments and self-attributions. Thus, the primary purposes of the present study were (a) to examine the relation of preschoolers' self-attributions about their naturally occurring prosocial behaviors to frequency of prosocial responding, and (b) to determine if different types of prosocial behaviors are associated with different configurations of moral judgments, self-attributions, and social behaviors. The prosocial and social behaviors of 44 preschoolers were observed in their classrooms over approximately 9 weeks, and their self-attributions about prosocial acts were elicited. Moreover, for a subsample, moral judgment was assessed. In general, there was some relation of spontaneously emitted prosocial behaviors to both self-attributions and moral judgment, as well as to general sociability. Frequency of requested prosocial behaviors was unrelated to self-attributions or moral judgments, but was associated with low sociability and low assertiveness with peers. Self-attributions were unrelated to moral judgment. The results are discussed in terms of the psychological significance of various types of prosocial actions and the role of both moral cognitions and social style in children's prosocial responding.