The Relation of Altruistic Orientation to Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior of Chinese Children

Abstract

Few studies in literature have explored the relation of altruistic orientation with prosocial and antisocial behavior of primary school and junior high school students in a single design. The present study attempted to fill this research gap. In particular, the present study also investigates the relation of human relationships and altruism with prosocial and delinquent behavior across different situations. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) Delinquent behavior increased with age but prosocial behavior did not change significantly with age. (2) The tendency of an actor to sacrifice his or her life for a recipient decreased with age, and it associated negatively with delinquent behavior. (3) The tendency of an actor to give up rescuing a stranger and turn to rescue another stranger or an enemy in danger decreased with age, and it associated negatively with delinquent behavior. (4) The tendency of an actor to help a recipient by covering up his or her crime increased with age, and it associated positively with delinquent behavior. (5) The altruistic orientation did not correlate significantly with prosocial behavior.Key words: altruistic orientation, prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior Do moral orientations in hypothetical dilemmas predict real-life prosocial and antisocial behavior? If the measures of moral orientation do predict effectively the social behavior of children, then it may be possible to foster the development of moral orientation in order to increase the frequency of prosocial behavior and to decrease or prevent the occurrence of antisocial behavior. The present study investigates the relation of altruistic orientation to prosocial and antisocial behavior. The findings may provide some insights for educators and psychologists to help children develop a positive social behavior pattern.Generally speaking, the altruistic orientation is concerned with some important features of the affective and motivational aspects of moral development. In this study, the altruistic orientations were studied by using a set of hypothetical moral dilemmas. The present study focuses on the altruistic orientation toward people of different relationships in different dilemma situations. The following Hierarchy of Human Relationships is hypothetically constructed for the present study: R1 = First kin, close relatives; R2 = Best friends or intimates; R3 = Strangers who are very weak (e.g., a blind person) or very young (e.g., a small child of six years old), or who are elites of the society (e.g., a famous

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