Jellie Sierksma

Introduction

PhD-project:

Bounded Helping: The Development of Out-Group Helping Among Children

An understanding of the processes and causes of prosocial behavior among children is important for improving peer relations and for social relations more generally. Prosocial behavior is generally defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit another, such as sharing and helping. Children’s prosocial tendencies and behavior have been examined predominantly in terms of individual predispositions and little attention has been paid to the intergroup context. This research aims at extending research by explaining when and why children (7-12 years) tend to help out-group members and how this kind of behavior can be stimulated. Questions to be answered are: (1) To what extent do children’s helping intentions differ towards in-group and out-group members? (2) Do prosocial in-group norms positively affect children’s helping towards out-group members? (3) Does re-categorization into a common ‘we’ positively affects children’s out-group helping? These questions will be answered by the use of experimental designs and by considering individual and age related differences in multiple classification ability, social perspective taking, and empathy.

Key publications

Sierksma, J., Thijs, J., & Verkuyten, M. (2011). ‘Bounded Helping: Group Boundaries and Helping Behavior in Early Adolescents’. Paper presented at Society for Research in Child Development Biennial meeting, Montreal, Canada, April 2, 2011.

Sierksma, J., Thijs, J., & Verkuyten, M. (2012). ‘Interethnic helping, Morality, and Group Identity'. Poster presented at Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial meeting, Vancouver, Canada, March 10, 2012.

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