Abstract
After a brief overview of recent research on early helping, outlining some central problems, and issues, this paper examines children’s early helping through the lens of Piagetian moral and developmental theory, drawing on Piaget’s “Moral Judgment of the Child” (Piaget, 1932/1997), “Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood” (Piaget, 1945/1951), and the “Grasp of Consciousness” (Piaget, 1976). Piaget refers to a level of moral development in action that precedes heteronomous and autonomous moral reasoning. This action level allows children to begin to interact with people and objects. In his later work, Piaget explores the gradual construction of understanding from this activity level. Taken together, these elements of Piagetian theory provide a promising conceptual framework for understanding the development of early helping.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Monika Wörle, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany Thomas Peter Kesselring, University of Berne, Switzerland
After a brief overview of recent research on early helping, outlining some central problems, and issues, this paper examines children’s early helping through the lens of Piagetian moral and developmental theory, drawing on Piaget’s “Moral Judgment of the Child” (Piaget, 1932/1997), “Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood” (Piaget, 1945/1951), and the “Grasp of Consciousness” (Piaget, 1976)
Socialization seems like a plausible route, Warneken and Tomasello (2013) found that instrumental helping is not influenced by social praise and reinforcement
Summary
Reviewed by: Monika Wörle, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany Thomas Peter Kesselring, University of Berne, Switzerland. FROM INSTRUMENTAL HELP TO EMPATHIC UNDERSTANDING: IMITATION AND SYMBOLIC UNDERSTANDING The picture presented by Piaget’s work on early morality is that of a child learning to engage collaboratively with others, without a full understanding of others’ goals.
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