Gwen Dewar, Ph.D.
posted in Mom Stories
Are little children intrinsically selfish? Many people assume so. But recent research suggests that young children want to be kind.
For instance, in clever experiments designed by Felix Warneken and Michael Tomasello, toddlers as young as 14 months saw adult strangers in trouble and then offered to help.
And now Lara B. Aknin and her colleagues at the University of British Columbia report that little kids – only 20-22 months of age — actually feel happier when they share a treat.
The new experiment worked like this: Each toddler was introduced to a puppet monkey character and told that the monkey likes treats–fish-shaped crackers. Then an adult experimenter pulled out some treats (which she pretended to have just discovered) and gave them away – eight treats for the child and just one treat for the monkey. One of two things happened next. The adult either
(1) “found” another treat and asked the child to pass it along to the monkey, or
(2) simply asked the child to share – to give one of his own eight treats to the monkey
The idea was to create two conditions – one in which “giving” came at no cost to the child, and another where the child had to dig into his own, personal stash.
You can watch an example of the whole scenario right here.
When the researchers checked out the children’s emotional reactions – which were videotaped – the general outcome was clear. Kids reacted with more happiness to giving than they did to receiving. And they seemed to enjoy costly giving – making a little sacrifice – most of all.
You might wonder if kids were merely enjoying the sight of the monkey getting a treat. But the researchers tested for that, too. Watching the monkey eat might have been fun, but it wasn’t as fun as being a giver.
A fluke? There were only 23 toddlers in this experiment, and we can always question whether the results of one, small study reflect chance factors.
But the outcome of this study jibes with the results of previous research, like an experiment where toddlers either shared a toy with a puppet or merely interacted in a playful way. The young children displayed more happiness when they shared.
And if this all seems to defy everyday experience – like the toddler whose favorite word is “mine!” – we should consider the context. This research isn’t about a toddler handing his favorite truck over to another little girl who (for all he knows) might not give it back. In these puppet experiments, toddlers were operating in the context of a friendly, supervisory adult, and items to be shared were either windfalls (“found” treats) or a toy that was only temporarily available to them.
So the puppet experiments don’t tell us that your 22-month old child wants to give away his toys. And why should he? You don’t want to give away your most cherished personal effects, and you’re not in the habit of sharing expensive, breakable items with preschoolers. When we expect young children to cheerfully share their favorite toys with unreliable peers, we’re applying a standard that we ourselves seldom meet.
But this research does suggest that very young children get a pleasant buzz from acts of generosity. And I think we can build on that, creating easy, non-threatening opportunities for little kids to give and share. I’m reminded of the sharing games that hunter-gatherers practice with little children — teaching them to exchange beads and baubles with their parents or grandparents. It’s a lesson we might all put to good use.
——————
More reading
For more talk about the generous impulses of young children, see my post “Trouble? Chores? Even babies want to help.”
image by David R. Tribble
Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”
Incoming search terms:
i could care less about my beauty i just want my pizza
want a happy toddler help him give to others
And here is for the eye:Images from around the web about want a happy toddler help him give to others, hope you like them. Keywords: want a happy toddler help him give to others .
want a happy toddler help him give to others related images
