Helping the One You Hurt: Toddlers’ Rudimentary Guilt, Shame, and Prosocial Behavior After Harming Another

Abstract

The current study explored the role of guilt and shame in early prosocial behavior by extending previous findings that guilt- and shame-like responses can be distinguished in toddlers and, for the first time, examining their associations with helping. Toddlers (n=32; mean age = 28.9 months) were led to believe they broke an adult’s toy, after which they exhibited either a guilt-like response that included frequently confessing their behavior and trying to repair the toy; or a shame-like response that included frequently avoiding the adult and seldom confessing or attempting to repair the toy. In subsequent prosocial tasks, children showing a guilt-like response helped an adult in emotional distress significantly faster and more frequently than did children showing a shame-like response.

Developmental delays in emotion regulation strategies in preschoolers with autism

“…Elemental associations support this process; for example, a 4 month old may be soothed even by hearing his/her mother's nearing footsteps [Kopp, ]. Emerging in toddlerhood, struggles of autonomy (e.g., “me do it”) and a capacity to experience self‐reflective emotions such as shame and pride [Drummond, Hammond, Satlof‐Bedrick, Waugh, & Brownell, ; Lewis, ] marks the emergence of the self [Sroufe, ].…”

Individual differences in toddlers’ social understanding and prosocial behavior: disposition or socialization?

“…Study 3 ( Drummond et al, 2014a ) included 45 30-months-old ( M = 28.73, SD = 1.136) who were administered two instrumental and two empathic helping tasks. Two of these were identical to the tasks in Studies 1 and 2 (dropped sticks; cold) and two were unique to this study.…”

The Development of Prosocial Emotions

“…Yet newer work suggests that shame may predict reparative effort under some circumstances, such as when the perceived failure seems more reparable (Leach & Cidam, 2015). Children begin to show shame-like responses by age 2 (e.g., avoiding the victim, withdrawing; Barrett, Zahn-Waxler, & Cole, 1993; Drummond et al, 2017). Whether early shame also sometimes promotes repair remains unknown, however (though see Ross, 2017).…”

“…The experience of guilt serves these prosocial functions from early on. By as early as 2 years of age, children who accidentally cause minor harm (e.g., break a person’s favorite toy) show signs of experiencing guilt such as accepting responsibility and trying to repair the damage (Drummond, Hammond, Satlof-Bedrick, Waugh, & Brownell, 2017; Kochanska, Casey, & Fukumoto, 1995; Zahn-Waxler & Kochanska, 1990). However, it is unclear whether these studies measured guilt or only one of its components.…”