ERIC Number: EJ1010038
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920
EISSN: N/A
Helping the In-Group Feels Better: Children's Judgments and Emotion Attributions in Response to Prosocial Dilemmas
Weller, Drika; Lagattuta, Kristin Hansen
Child Development, v84 n1 p253-268 Jan-Feb 2013
Five- to 13-year-old European American children ("N" = 76) predicted characters' decisions, emotions, and obligations in prosocial moral dilemmas. Across age, children judged that characters would feel more positive emotions helping an unfamiliar child from the racial in-group versus out-group (African American), happier ignoring the needs of a child from the racial out-group versus in-group, and greater obligation to help a child from the racial in-group versus out-group. Situations varied by whether the race of the needy child matched versus mismatched that of the focal character. With increasing age, children attributed more positive emotions to people who sacrifice their own desires to help needy others as well as became more discriminating about the situations that call for altruistic action. (Contains 6 figures.)
Descriptors: Emotional Response, Whites, Prosocial Behavior, Moral Values, Age Differences, Racial Factors, African Americans, Racial Differences, Social Attitudes, Child Development, Altruism, Pictorial Stimuli, Social Development, Children, Early Adolescents, Group Membership
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A