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Role Clarification and Helping Behavior in Kindergarten Children
Author(s) -
Strattner Mary Jane,
Brandt Melda M.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x7600500102
Subject(s) - psychology , task (project management) , developmental psychology , peabody picture vocabulary test , vocabulary , expression (computer science) , test (biology) , helping behavior , cognitive psychology , social psychology , cognition , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , management , neuroscience , computer science , economics , biology , programming language
The study explored the effect on kindergarten children of four different presentations of an opportunity to help an adult with a simple task. Subjects were observed under one of four conditions which varied in explicitness of the need for help expressed by the adult and in the amount of clarification of the child's role in the situation: expressed need, expressed need and suggestion, expressed need and pressure, no expression of need. The “suggestion” and “pressure” conditions were perceived similarly by the children and yielded signifi cantly more helping behavior than the other conditions. IQ (as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) was correlated with helping only in the expressed need condition. Helping behavior was also considered in relation to responses on a picture instrument used to assess the child's ability to recognize and respond to a need for help in several hypotheti cal situations. Responses on the picture instrument were not correlated with behavior in the task situation. The need for further study of role clarification as it affects helping behav ior is discussed.