Tasimi Arber, Young Liane
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2016 Jul;147:159-66. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2016.03.001. Epub 2016 Mar 29.
Does considering one's past prosociality affect future behavior? Prior research has revealed instances in which adults engage in additional prosocial behavior-moral reinforcement-as well as instances in which adults engage in worse behavior-moral licensing. The current study examined the developmental origins of these effects by testing whether 6- to 8-year-old children (N=225) are more or less generous after recalling their own good deeds. Children were asked to recount a time when they were nice, were mean, or watched a movie. Children behaved more generously after recalling a time when they were nice. We show that this boost in generosity was not simply the result of instructing children to consider nice behavior; children's giving did not increase after recalling others' good deeds. We also show that, even after recounting multiple instances of their past goodness, children continue to behave more generously. These findings suggest that doing good leads to more good in children.
回想自己过去的亲社会行为会影响未来的行为吗？先前的研究揭示了成年人会做出更多亲社会行为（道德强化）的情况，以及成年人会做出更恶劣行为（道德许可）的情况。当前的研究通过测试6至8岁的儿童（N = 225）在回忆自己的善举后是否会变得更慷慨或更吝啬，来探究这些影响的发展起源。孩子们被要求讲述一次他们表现友善、表现刻薄或观看电影的经历。在回忆起自己表现友善的经历后，孩子们表现得更加慷慨。我们发现，这种慷慨程度的提升不仅仅是因为指导孩子们去思考友善行为；在回忆他人的善举后，孩子们的给予并没有增加。我们还发现，即使在讲述了自己过去多次的善举之后，孩子们仍然会表现得更加慷慨。这些发现表明，做好事会让孩子们做出更多的好事。
