Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Toddlers Help a Peer.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hepach, R; Kante, N; Tomasello, M
Published in: Child development
September 2017

Toddlers are remarkably prosocial toward adults, yet little is known about their helping behavior toward peers. In the present study with 18- and 30-month-old toddlers (n = 192, 48 dyads per age group), one child needed help reaching an object to continue a task that was engaging for both children. The object was within reach of the second child who helped significantly more often compared to a no-need control condition. The helper also fulfilled the peer's need when the task was engaging only for the child needing help. These findings suggest that toddlers' skills and motivations of helping do not depend on having a competent and helpful recipient, such as an adult, but rather they are much more flexible and general.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Child development

DOI

EISSN

1467-8624

ISSN

0009-3920

Publication Date

September 2017

Volume

88

Issue

5

Start / End Page

1642 / 1652

Related Subject Headings

  • Peer Group
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Helping Behavior
  • Female
  • Developmental & Child Psychology
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child Development
  • Child Behavior
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Hepach, R., Kante, N., & Tomasello, M. (2017). Toddlers Help a Peer. Child Development, 88(5), 1642–1652. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12686
Hepach, Robert, Nadine Kante, and Michael Tomasello. “Toddlers Help a Peer.Child Development 88, no. 5 (September 2017): 1642–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12686.
Hepach R, Kante N, Tomasello M. Toddlers Help a Peer. Child development. 2017 Sep;88(5):1642–52.
Hepach, Robert, et al. “Toddlers Help a Peer.Child Development, vol. 88, no. 5, Sept. 2017, pp. 1642–52. Epmc, doi:10.1111/cdev.12686.
Hepach R, Kante N, Tomasello M. Toddlers Help a Peer. Child development. 2017 Sep;88(5):1642–1652.
Journal cover image

Published In

Child development

DOI

EISSN

1467-8624

ISSN

0009-3920

Publication Date

September 2017

Volume

88

Issue

5

Start / End Page

1642 / 1652

Related Subject Headings

  • Peer Group
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Helping Behavior
  • Female
  • Developmental & Child Psychology
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child Development
  • Child Behavior