Preface

Summary

In 1976 we wrote the book Caring, Sharing, and Helping: The Roots of Prosocial Behavior in Childre, which was published in 1977. The purpose of that book was to organize the limited work concerning the development of prosocial behavior, with the hope of stimulating further research in this nascent field. Now 12 years later, we have reviewed and organized this body of work again. In doing so, it has become strikingly clear how much the field has progressed in little more than a decade. Many issues about which there were few data in 1977 have become foci of interest for researchers; in addition, thinking about the development of prosocial behavior has become more complex and better differentiated in recent years. Thus, it has been exciting and rewarding to see how far the field has come in a relatively short period of time.

Our goals in writing this book are to communicate the advances in the study of prosocial development over the last decade, as well as to pinpoint areas in which more thinking and research are needed. As in 1977, it is our hope that this book will serve to attract attention to the study of prosocial development and will serve as a catalyst for further work. In addition, given the importance of prosocial behavior for interpersonal and intergroup harmony, we hope that this book will provide useful information regarding the enhancement of prosocial proclivities for students studying social development and for parents, teachers, and other potential socializers of children.