Much of developmental science aims to explain how or whether children's experiences
influence their thoughts and actions. Developmental theories make assumptions and claims …

Highlights•Studies reported no relations between different prosocial behaviors early in
development.•Different prosocial behaviors have unique antecedents and …

Winner of the William James Book Award “Magisterial... Makes an impressive argument that
most distinctly human traits are established early in childhood and that the general …

The first 4 years of moral development are perhaps the most transformative. Helpless
neonates become infants who routinely help and harm others; infants develop into …

Moral reasoning plays a central role in psychological functioning throughout the life span.
From Aristotle, to Darwin, to Durkheim, and to Freud, theorists have viewed morality as …

Altruistic behavior is considered a key feature of the human cooperative makeup, with deep
ontogenetic roots. The tendency to engage in altruistic behavior varies between individuals …

Children are motivated to help others from an early age. However, little is known about the
internal biological mechanisms underlying their motivation to help. Here, we compiled data …

Humans rely heavily on their prosocial relationships. We propose that the experience and
display of prosocial emotions evolved to regulate such relationships through inhibiting …

From early in life, children help, comfort, and share with other people. Recent research has
deepened scientific understanding of the development of prosociality—efforts to promote the …

We investigated children's positive emotions as an indicator of their underlying prosocial
motivation. In Study 1, 2‐, and 5‐year‐old children (N= 64) could either help an individual or …