Pro Social Reasoning

Nancy Eisenberg

• Positive behaviour and the reasoning behind it 
• She believed that pro social reasoning would involve empathy and her model involves the influence of feelings in relation to making moral decisions

To investigate the changes in pro-social reasoning with age through a longitudinal study

• American children were interviewed in 2 year intervals from 4-12
• The children were asked to decide whether or not to carry out a positive behaviour even when it was at a cost to themselves through the use of a moral dilemma

• Mary is on her way to a birthday party when she comes across an injured child 
• The child asks Mary to go to her parents' house so they can get a doctor 
• If Mary went to the house she would be late for the party and miss out on the ice cream, cake and games 
• Should Mary help the child or ignore them and why?

• Pre-schoolers and nursery students gave self-orientated or hedonistic answers, placing more importance on their own interests
• Older children gave more empathic answers, placing more importance on the feelings of others

• A series of 5 levels of pro social reasoning were proposed by Eisenberg 
• Development is less clear cut and more complicated than the stage theories would suggest
• Pro-social behaviour varies with culture and would be higher in cultures where said behaviour would be rewarded or valued

• Occurs up to age 7
• Known as the Hedonistic or self centred stage 
• The child only cares for itself, helping only takes place when it benefits the helper

• Occurs from 7-11
• Known as the Needs Orientation stage 
• Needs of others are recognised but to a limited extent 
• The needs of the specific situation are addressed rather than a genuine sense of empathy 
• Help is dependant on how much the recipient needs it and there has to be obvious distress 
• There is little guilt if help is not given

• Occurs from 11-14
• Known as the Approval Oriented stage 
• Helping is motivated by being praised for the action 
• The child acts in a way that will make them liked

• Occurs from 12 upwards
• Known as the empathic/self reflective stage 
• There is sympathy for others and guilt if help is not given

• Occurs from 12 upwards
• Know as the transitional level 
• Partial awareness of duties and principles 
• Actions are explained in terms of wider social values and the need to protect the dignity and self esteem of others

• Occurs from 16 onwards
• Known as the Internalised Orientation stage 
• Internal values such as responsibility and self respect are used to justify giving help 
• The person now has a full set of values and understands their responsibilities towards others
• They have self respect that they can only maintain by behaving with duty and care towards others 
• The person's desire to live up to their own set of principles is a motivating factor

• It is not a consistent characteristic 
• Children act differently towards different people
• People are more likely to help friends, family and those from their own ethnic or religious group

• Children did not mention punishment or reward 
• Kohlberg found that children often cited these as reasons for their negative behaviours

• Sharing was more common in children judged as being in stage 2 than their stage 1 counterparts 
• Children appeared to act according to their stage as well as verbally appearing to inhabit it

• Pro-social reasoning 
• This had previously been neglected by researchers despite playing a crucial role in everyday life

The reasoning is based on the moral understanding of the individual rather than legal constraints

• Despite Eisenberg's rejection of universality, evidence collected from German, Italian and Polish children showed evidence of pro-social reasoning levels 
• This gives PSR cross cultural support

• Kohlberg stated that children moved through stages without regression or skipping of stages 
• Eisenberg argues that there are stages in which children adopt lower levels of morality, especially when choosing not to help someone

• They all believed it is crucial in guiding moral development 
• A person's ability to make moral decisions is based on their ability to think

• Eisenberg believed that 'primitive empathy' can be found in children as young as 4 
• Kohlberg recognises empathy much later (stage 5)

• The importance of emotion in moral development
• Upon seeing someone in distress, people are more likely to help if the victim arouses sympathy (low heart rate) than distress (high heart rate)
• This indicates a movement away from Kohlberg philosophy and towards Piaget

• Eisenberg found that the pro social reasoning of children is slightly ahead of their Kohlberg reasoning 
• Children's reasoning about pro social dilemmas and their reasoning about Kohlberg's justice and fairness dilemmas are only moderately correlated