Prosocial behavior is a highly heterogeneous construct, and young children use distinct prosocial actions in response to differing emotional needs of another person. This study examined whether toddlers’ prosocial responses differed in response to two understudied emotional contexts—whether or not children caused a victim’s distress and the specific emotion expressed by the victim. Toddlers (N = 86; M age = 35 months) and their parent participated in two separate mishap paradigms in which parents feigned pain and sadness, respectively. Half of the sample was led to believe they had transgressed to cause their parent’s distress, whereas the other half simply witnessed parent distress as bystanders. Results indicated that toddlers were overall equally prosocial when they were transgressors compared to when they were bystanders and significantly more prosocial in response to sadness than pain. Toddlers were significantly more likely to use affection as transgressors than bystanders, information seeking as bystanders than transgressors, and affection in response to pain than sadness. All children used greater helping in response to sadness than pain, and this was especially true when they were bystanders. Findings add to mounting evidence of the complexity of prosocial action in early childhood by identifying that two, distinct emotional contexts influence the amount and type of prosocial behaviors that toddlers use to help others.

中文翻译：

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情绪情境影响幼儿的亲社会策略

亲社会的行为是高度异质的结构，幼儿为了响应另一个人的不同情感需求而使用不同的亲社会行为。这项研究调查了幼儿对两个被忽视的情感环境的亲社会反应是否有所不同-儿童是否造成了受害者的痛苦以及受害者表达的特定情感。幼儿（N = 86； M年龄= 35个月）和他们的父母参加了两个单独的灾难范例，父母分别装作痛苦和悲伤。一半的样本被认为是他们过犯而导致父母的困扰，而另一半只是见证了父母的困扰作为旁观者。结果表明，与犯人相比，蹒跚学步的幼儿总体上在亲社会上平等，并且对悲伤的反应比对痛苦的亲社会要多得多。相对于旁观者，幼儿更容易将情感用作犯罪者，比旁观者更倾向于寻求信息作为旁观者，而对痛苦做出反应的情感则多于悲伤。所有孩子在应对悲伤方面都比痛苦付出更大的帮助，当他们成为旁观者时尤其如此。通过发现两种截然不同的情感环境影响幼儿用来帮助他人的亲社会行为的数量和类型，这些发现增加了越来越多的证据证明幼儿亲社会行为的复杂性。相对于旁观者，幼儿更容易将情感用作犯罪者，比旁观者更倾向于寻求信息作为旁观者，而对痛苦做出反应的情感则多于悲伤。所有孩子在应对悲伤方面都比痛苦付出更大的帮助，当他们成为旁观者时尤其如此。通过发现两种截然不同的情感环境影响幼儿用来帮助他人的亲社会行为的数量和类型，这些发现增加了越来越多的证据证明幼儿亲社会行为的复杂性。相对于旁观者，幼儿更容易将情感用作犯罪者，比旁观者更倾向于寻求信息作为旁观者，而对痛苦做出反应的情感则多于悲伤。所有孩子在应对悲伤方面都比痛苦付出更大的帮助，当他们成为旁观者时尤其如此。通过发现两种截然不同的情感环境影响幼儿用来帮助他人的亲社会行为的数量和类型，这些发现增加了越来越多的证据证明幼儿亲社会行为的复杂性。