Date of Award

1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

This study concerns the multidimensional factors influencing preschoolers' prosocial behavior. Comprehension of this complex phenomenon requires a synthesized, theoretical conceptualization. This study develops the concept of prosocial orientation to meet this need. Prosocial orientation is posited as minimally composed of four core variables: perspective-taking, empathy, moral reasoning, and others-concept. The position is taken in this study that higher levels of some or all of these four variables may cluster statistically among some preschoolers. The second issue proposes that preschoolers with a relatively better developed prosocial orientation (i.e., higher levels of some or all of the four variables) would also likely engage in significantly more prosocial acts of sharing, helping and cooperating in dyadic free play. Age and anxiety are controlled variables. Subjects were considered higher on each variable if they: (1) correctly took another's perspective (perspective-taking), (2) displayed concerned facial expressions (empathy), (3) responded to hypothetical stories with higher leveled principled thinking (moral reasoning) and (4) made positive references to neutral sketches (others-concept). A median split divided the subjects into high and low groups for each variable. Thirty-six t-tests were computed on all combinations of the variables. The second hypothesis was tested by ANOVAS with gender, the four core and the two controlled variables serving as independent variables. The dependent variable was the frequency of prosocial behavior. The findings revealed significant relationships between perspective-taking and others-concept, moral reasoning and age and empathy and moral reasoning. Empathy was also found to be significantly linked to an increased number of prosocial acts. It was concluded there was partial support for the construct of a prosocial orientation among preschoolers because a rudimentary clustering of some of the identified variables occurs. The data also seemed to support the importance of empathy as a catalyst in translating a prosocial orientation into prosocial behavior.

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