Prosocial Behaviour And Parenting

1580 Words7 Pages
Table of contents Introduction 3 Cultural factors 3 ← South African Context 4 Family Context 4 Childs Individual Characteristics 6 Conclusion 6 Reference List 8 Introduction According to Einsberg & Fabes (1998) Prosocial behaviour - voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another – is of obvious importance to the quality of social interactions between individuals and among groups. This type of behaviour can be modeled or learned a children spend time with their parents and caregivers. It may also be an intrinsic value within us, values we are born with. Children have prosocial behaviour for number of reasons. It may be because they genuinely care or because they are receiving rewards for such behaviour. “Much of children’s behaviour is not altruistic or highly self- sacrificing, but consists merely of sharing and helping during social interactions.” (Einsberg et al, 1992, p.19). It is the objective of this essay to discuss the idea that prosocial behaviour is due to a number of factors, namely cultural, child’s characteristics and the family. In terms of cultural factors, we look at the differences between city living and rural living in the South African context. In the family factor, we look at the different family structures and how they affect the child in terms of prosocial behaviour. The child’s development too plays a role in their behaviour and the development of characteristics and personality. Cultural Factors It has been found that different cultures have different beliefs in terms of a child’s prosocial behaviour. In some instances it is an expected trait, which is valued in the community. In other cases there was hostility where empathetic behaviour is not of great importance. It seems it is dependent on the need of the cultural community as to whether they value prosocial
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