The concept of the possibility of helping kids to become warm and more caring people is intriguing. PsychCentral reports neural markers may actually predict childhood generosity. Certain neural markers which can predict childhood generosity have been discovered by researchers.
It appears that these neural markers are associated with the child’s observation of another’s prosocial or antisocial behaviors. In this study neuroscientists at the University of Chicago had an interest in discovering how young kid’s brains evaluate whether or not to share something with others based on generosity. Generosity was used as a proxy in dealing with moral behavior in this study. This study has been published in the journal Current Biology.
Dr. Jean Decety says we understand that generosity in kids increases as they grow older. He has pointed out that neuroscientists have not yet examined the mechanisms which guide the increase in generosity. Decety says the findings from this study demonstrate that kids exhibit both distinct early automatic and later more controlled patterns of neural responses when they view scenarios which show helping and harmful behaviors. The later more controlled neural response has been observed to be predictive of generosity.
The findings from this study provide an interesting idea wherein by encouraging kids to reflect upon the moral behavior of others it may be possible to nurture caring and sharing behavior in kids. These kids could take such positive character traits into their adult lives. This understanding that it may be possible to nurture moral behavior in kids is really fascinating. There is a lot of positive potential for individuals and society from such an understanding.
