Promoting prosocial behaviours in pre-schoolers and young school children: developing new classroom techniques for promoting cooperation and helpfulne

人类在发育的早期就表现出对同类需求做出反应的能力。然而，研究表明，随着年龄的增长，孩子们在利他行为的目标上变得更有辨辨力，在亲社会行为上变得更有选择性。除了描述这一发展，当前文献中出现的一个重要领域涉及调节儿童合作和乐于助人的认知因素。有人提出，基于正念技术的短期心理训练可以增加亲社会性。这种影响已经在成人身上得到证实，在儿童身上也有一些证据，然而这些研究都是以间接的方式（自我报告、老师报告）来衡量亲社会性，或者关注心理训练对认知功能的整体影响。该项目的目的是系统地测量短期正念训练对4-8岁儿童实际亲社会行为的影响。获得的数据将用于制定长期促进儿童和社会亲社会行为的实践和培训方案的指导方针。

Humans appear exceptional in their ability to respond to the needs of their conspecifics, very early in development. Studies show, however, that with age, children become more discriminating regarding the targets of their altruistic acts and more selective in their prosocial behaviours. Beyond describing this development, an important field that emerges in current literature concerns the cognitive factors that modulate cooperation and helpfulness in children. It has been proposed that short-term mental training based on mindfulness techniques can increase prosociality. The effect has been shown in adults and some evidence exists in children, however these measured prosociality in an indirect way (self-reports, teacher reports) or focused on the overall effects of mental training on cognitive functioning. The project's aim will be to methodically measure the effects of short-term mindfulness training on actual prosocial behaviour in 4-8-year-old children. The data obtained will be used to develop guidelines for practices and training programs that promote prosocial behaviours in children and in society on the longer term.