Research in the lab examines prosocial behavior among children (from kindergarten to adolescence) and adults. We explore both environmental variables (such as the child’s educational environment and household background) and personal characteristics of the child (such as subjective well-being, perspective taking and empathic ability, positive emotions and social status) which may affect the decision to help. In addition, we take into consideration various relevant aspects of the helping situation (e.g. the recipient's level of neediness, his/her group affiliation, etc.).
We aim to investigate different motivational mechanisms behind prosocial behavior, from a developmental perspective, and to suggest strategies that may encourage prosociality in each developmental stage.