Abstract

Prosociality – i.e., acting to benefit others - is an important part of children’s positive development. Despite evidence that children respond to a diversity of needs (e.g., instrumental, material, emotional) in early childhood, different varieties of prosocial behavior frequently do not correlate. This thesis examines prosocial development through the lens of two complementary theoretical perspectives. The social-cognitive constraint framework contends that the ability to recognize and respond to diverse needs relies on distinct social-cognitive processes (Dunfield, 2014), suggesting that distinctiveness of responses should decrease as social-cognitive abilities mature. The motivation-based framework posits that unique motivations underlie different behaviors (Paulus, 2018), suggesting that responses remain distinct as children age. Despite considerable interest, it remains unclear how the associations between varieties of prosocial behavior change throughout childhood. This study aimed to further examine the interrelatedness of the three subtypes by exploring age-related differences in the associations across need and complexity. Overall, 189 3.5- to 7.5-year-old children participated in six prosocial tasks while parents completed the Childhood Prosocial Assessment questionnaire. Correlations and a principal component analysis provided evidence for partial convergence across subtypes. Three components were identified: 1) Parent-Reported, 2) Instrumental-Comforting, and 3) Costly. Multiple regressions demonstrated that age positively predicted scores on parent-reported and instrumental-comforting. The results suggest that prosocial subtypes are distinct in early childhood but may partially converge with age, highlighting that the social-cognitive constraint account alone cannot fully explain the lack of associations across subtypes. Responding to others’ distinct needs must also rely on unique motivations.