"Helping" versus "being a helper": invoking the self to increase helping in young children.
Can a subtle linguistic cue that invokes the self motivate children to help? In two experiments, 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 149) were exposed to the idea of "being a helper" (noun condition) or "helping" (verb condition). Noun wording fosters the perception that a behavior reflects an identity-the kind of person one is. Both when children interacted with an adult who referenced "being a helper" or "helping" () and with a new adult (), children in the noun condition helped significantly more across four tasks than children in the verb condition or a baseline control condition. The results demonstrate that children are motivated to pursue a positive identity. Moreover, this motivation can be leveraged to encourage prosocial behavior.
University of California, San Diego.
Christopher J
CJ
Bryan
Allison
A
Master
Gregory M
GM
Walton
D002675:Child, Preschool; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept