The Role of Reciprocal Play in Fostering Early Altruism

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在Andrew N. Meltzoff博士在华盛顿大学学习脑科学研究所，这个博士后奖学金支持早期职业科学家调查社会互动和互惠行为在培养早期利他主义中的作用。互惠游戏是涉及话轮转换的社交游戏的一种特殊形式。研究员先前的工作表明，互惠游戏可以在直接的背景下引发幼儿的利他主义。这个项目将研究互惠游戏如何在不同的环境和时间促进利他主义。促进儿童的利他主义是一个理想的社会目标，因此这项研究有可能产生广泛的影响。这一结果可以传播，以帮助早期教育工作者和处于危险中的儿童。这些资料对父母、教师和其他从事儿童工作的人员特别有用，他们通常都在努力促进儿童的积极社会发展。这项研究涉及四个相互关联的研究，将：（a）检查互惠游戏如何鼓励利他主义在不同环境中的传播，（B）检查互惠游戏如何随着时间的推移保持利他主义，（c）评估其他类型的游戏是否显示出类似的效果，（d）检查仅仅观察其他类型的游戏如何可能鼓励利他主义。虽然发展心理学长期以来一直认为，积极的互动在幼儿期是重要的，促进一般的亲社会互动，这项研究将探讨如何具体的日常方面，儿童的社会经验，可以塑造利他主义。这些发现有望对发展理论和教育实践产生影响。这项工作也为未来的干预研究设计奠定了基础，可以为教育工作者和科学家提供关于如何在幼儿中培养和促进社会技能（包括利他行为）的信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Andrew N. Meltzoff at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of social interaction and reciprocal play in fostering early altruism. Reciprocal play is a specific form of social play involving turn-taking. The Fellow's prior work showed that reciprocal play can trigger young children's altruism in the immediate context. This project will examine how reciprocal play may foster altruism across contexts and time. Promoting altruism in children is a desirable societal goal, and thus the research has potential to have a broad impact. This results can be disseminated to help early educators and children at risk. Such information would be especially useful for parents, teachers and other practitioners working with children who commonly seek to promote positive social development in children. The research involves four interlocking studies that will: (a) examine how reciprocal play can encourage the spread of altruism across contexts, (b) examine how reciprocal play may maintain altruism over time, (c) assess whether other types of play show similar effects, and (d) examine how merely observing reciprocal play among others might potentially encourage altruism. Although developmental psychology has long held that positive interactions in early childhood are important in promoting a general prosocial interaction, this research will examine how specific everyday aspects of childrens' social experience that can shape altruism. The findings promise to have impact on developmental theory as well educational practice. The proposed work also sets the stage for the future design of intervention studies, which could provide information to educators and scientists on how to engender and promote social skills, including altruistic behavior, in young children.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.