Children's Causal Attributions regarding Help Giving

Abstract

SMrrH, CATHLEEN L.; GELFAND, DONNA M.; HARTMANN, DONALD P.; and PARTLOW, MARJORIE E. Y. Children's Causal Attributions regarding Help Giving. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 203-210. This experiment examined the conditions under which children attribute their helpgiving behavior to external sources rather than to a personal disposition to help. Secondand third-grade children earned pennies which could be saved to purchase a prize or donated to help a needy peer. Children who received only social consequences (praise or rebuke) or no consequences for donating attributed their behavior to a desire to help or a concern for the other child. In contrast, children who were given material consequences (penny rewards for donating or fines for not donating) together with social consequences were more likely to attribute their help giving to external sources. Those given material consequences and informed of the contingency offered the most extrinsic attributions. Children remembered the material consequences more accurately than the social consequences. Method of training had no effect on later donating during unconsequated test trials.

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