The Role of Reciprocal Play in Fostering Early Altruism

该奖项是美国国家科学基金会社会、行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界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奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行为期两年的培训，并鼓励博士后进行独立研究。美国国家科学基金会寻求促进科学界各阶层的科学家，包括那些未被充分代表的群体的科学家，参与其研究项目和活动；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的一个重要的专业发展阶段。每个博士后必须解决各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在华盛顿大学学习与脑科学研究所的Andrew N. Meltzoff博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖支持一位研究社会互动和互惠作用在培养早期利他主义中的作用的早期职业科学家。互惠游戏是一种特殊形式的社会游戏，包括轮流进行。研究员之前的工作表明，互惠游戏可以在即时环境中激发幼儿的利他主义。这个项目将研究互惠游戏如何在不同的背景和时间里培养利他主义。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。这些结果可以传播，以帮助早期教育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从业人员特别有用，他们通常寻求促进儿童的积极社会发展。这项研究包括四项相互关联的研究，它们将：(a)检查互惠游戏如何促进利他主义在不同情境中的传播，(b)检查互惠游戏如何随着时间的推移维持利他主义，(c)评估其他类型的游戏是否表现出类似的效果，(d)检查仅仅观察他人之间的互惠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，儿童早期的积极互动对于促进一般的亲社会互动很重要，但本研究将研究儿童社会经验的具体日常方面如何塑造利他主义。这些发现有望对发展理论和教育实践产生影响。这项提议的工作也为未来干预研究的设计奠定了基础，这可以为教育工作者和科学家提供有关如何培养和促进幼儿的社会技能（包括利他行为）的信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.