A Study Of 4-5 Year Olds’ Helping Tendency

Socialization is a process in which an individual gradually understands and adapts to society and transforms from a "natural person" to a "social person".Early childhood is a critical period for socialization,and learning to help others is an important content of socialization for young children.In this study,104 children aged 4-5 years were selected to examine their helping tendencies in situations of conflicting and non-conflicting group identity and responsibility attributions by creating a virtual helping situation.Study 1 by creating a situation in which group identity and attribution of responsibility are not in conflict,and Study 2 by creating a situation in which group identity and attribution of responsibility are in conflict,exploring the developmental characteristics of 4-5 year olds’ helping tendencies in a situation with or without conflicting group identity and responsibility attributions based on their helping performance and reason attributions.The results of the study showed that:(1)There is no significant gender difference in the propensity to help among 4-5year olds,but there is a significant age difference.The older they are,the more they are able to think multidimensionally,and the easier it is for them to exclude the interference of irrelevant factors in choosing the object of their inclination to help and to make correct attributions,and they are less likely to make attribution errors in intergroup attributions.(2)In the situation where there is no conflict between group identity and responsibility attribution,4-5 year olds’ helping tendencies are generally consistent with those described by in-group preference theory and attribution theory.When group identities were the same but responsibility attributions were different,most toddlers preferred to help out-attributed recipients and chose to give more help to out-attributed recipients;when responsibility attributions were the same but group identities were different,most toddlers preferred to help in-group recipients and chose to give more help to in-group recipients.However,the helping tendencies of 4-year-olds in out-group and in-attribution contexts,which are influenced by the limitations of thinking,contradict the results of previous studies.(3)In the situation where there is a conflict between group identity and responsibility attribution,4-year-olds preferred to help in-group recipients and chose to give more help to in-group recipients,while 5-year-olds preferred to help out-attributed recipients and chose to give more help to out-attributed recipients.That is,when making intergroup attributions,4-year-olds valued the group identity of the recipient more,while5-year-olds valued the recipient’s responsibility attribution more.This indicates that as children grow older,they become more mature in their helping mentality.In addition,this study also analyzed in depth the possible reasons for the developmental characteristics of 4-5 year olds’ helping tendencies with the help of interviews.It was also found that 4-5 year olds’ helping perceptions were shallow,their helping preferences were not clear,and their helping tendencies were not cultivated sufficiently and in a somewhat one-sided manner.Based on the above findings,this study proposes educational suggestions in two aspects: in terms of family education and training,parents should establish the correct awareness and strengthen the importance of helping children;improve children’s concepts and guide them to form the correct cognitive view of helping people;and educate them according to their psychological characteristics of helping people with the help of specific situations.In terms of teachers’ educational activities,teachers should enrich teaching forms to enhance children’s awareness of helping others from all aspects and angles;make use of game activities to deepen children’s correct understanding and cognition of helping others;and create a relaxed atmosphere to promote the high-level development of children’s helping tendencies.