Published on November 30, 2009, Nicholas Wade writes an article about a recent research study. It appears that biologists are beginning to learn more about the development of humankind. Biologists are discovering that babies “are innately sociable and helpful to others.” Dr. Tomasello, a developmental psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, writes “when infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult whose hands are full and who needs assistance opening a door or picking up a dropped clothespin, they will immediately help.” Dr. Elizabeth Spelke, a developmental psychologist at Harvard, feels that this behavior may not be innate but drawn from explicit acts they have experienced and been taught. “I think the jury is out on the innateness question.”
In the article, we learn that children from the age of 12 months will point to objects when an adult pretends to have lost something. At the age of 3, children will be more generous with a child who has been nice to them. Dr. Tomasello advocates an approach known as inductive parenting. “Inductive parenting is simply communicating with children about the effect of their actions on others and emphasizing the logic of social cooperation.”
While this article was geared toward parents, I believe that teachers can learn from this information as well.
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