Discrete emotions convey distinct relational meanings that inform the response of a social partner, such as how to help. Although prosocial behaviors can take different forms and are observed in a variety of contexts across development, distinct forms of helping are often studied in forced‐choice settings in limited emotional contexts. This study examined the prevalence of three prosocial behaviors (instrumental helping, comforting, and indirect helping) by 16‐, 19‐, and 24‐month‐old infants in response to situations involving an experimenter reacting emotionally (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and joy) to an event (a broken toy; an unknown object). Instrumental helping was more prevalent in response to sadness than fear, anger, disgust, and joy, with instrumental helping in joy contexts emerging at 24 months. Conversely, comforting was largely absent in joy and disgust contexts in comparison to the other emotional contexts and increased overall with age. Indirect helping was rarely observed in response to disgust and joy and was most frequent in response to sadness. Furthermore, both 24‐ and 19‐month‐olds were more likely to engage in indirect helping compared with 16‐month‐olds. This study supports the view that infant prosocial behavior is influenced by emotional cues and that distinct forms of helping emerge gradually in infancy.

中文翻译：

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情感交流对婴儿独特的亲社会行为的影响

离散的情绪传达出不同的关系含义，这些含义可以告知社会伴侣的反应，例如如何帮助。尽管亲社会行为可以采取不同的形式，并且在整个发展过程中的各种情况下都可以观察到，但是通常在有限的情感背景下的强迫选择环境中研究不同形式的帮助。这项研究调查了16、19和24个月大婴儿应对实验者在情绪上做出反应（愤怒，厌恶，恐惧，悲伤）的三种亲社会行为（仪器帮助，安慰和间接帮助）的普遍性和欢乐）到一个事件（一个破损的玩具；一个未知的物体）。在应对悲伤时，工具性帮助比恐惧，愤怒，厌恶和欢乐更为普遍，而在24个月内出现喜乐的情况下，工具性帮助更为普遍。反过来，与其他情绪情境相比，在欢乐和厌恶情境中基本上没有安慰，并且随着年龄的增长总体上有所增加。间接帮助很少反映出对厌恶和喜悦的反应，而最常见的是对悲伤的反应。此外，与16个月大的孩子相比，24个月和19个月大的孩子都更可能从事间接帮助。这项研究支持这样的观点，即婴儿亲社会行为受情绪暗示的影响，婴儿期逐渐出现的各种帮助形式。与16个月大的孩子相比，24个月和19个月大的孩子更有可能从事间接帮助。这项研究支持这样的观点，即婴儿亲社会行为受情绪暗示的影响，婴儿期逐渐出现的各种帮助形式。与16个月大的孩子相比，24个月和19个月大的孩子更有可能从事间接帮助。这项研究支持这样的观点，即婴儿亲社会行为受情绪暗示的影响，婴儿期逐渐出现的各种帮助形式。