Kindness in the Kindergarten: The Relative Influence of Role Playing and Prosocial Television in Facilitating Altruism

Abstract

The effectiveness of four training programs designed to foster altruism was examined with 97 four-to-five-year-old preschool children. It was assumed that role taking skills would be a necessary and/or sufficient condition for altruistic behavior. Thus, training programs centering on cognitive perceptual and affective role taking (empathy) respectively were compared to programs in which altruistic behavior was either watched on TV or enacted (role played) by the children. Children watching 'neutral' TV episodes, or experiencing a regular preschool program, served as controls. Training lasted for four weeks I h daily training. Altruism was significantly enhanced in the three role playing programs, whereas prosocial TV viewing - while less effective than the role play conditions was marginally superior to neutral TV viewing. Cognitive/perceptual role taking was clearly implicated in the enactment of altruistic behavior while the role of affective role taking was less consistent.