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Open AccessArticle
The Factors Influencing Children’s Helping Behavior: The Roles of Cognition and Empathy Concern
by
Mingyue Liang
Mingyue Liang
,
Hongfang Mo
Hongfang Mo
Jipeng Duan
Jipeng Duan
1
Faculty of Teacher Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
2
Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050689 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 3 March 2025
/
Revised: 30 April 2025
/
Accepted: 14 May 2025
/
Published: 16 May 2025
Abstract
Helping behavior plays an important role in children’s social interaction and personality development. This study used a situational test method to investigate the effects of cognition and empathy concern on helping behavior in children aged 6–12. The results revealed that empathy concern had a significant effect on children’s helping behavior compared to cognition. By inducing varying levels of empathy concern through prosocial songs, the subjects exhibited significant differences in helping behavior, with children in the high empathy concern group demonstrating significantly higher levels of helping behavior. Therefore, as for the education on children’s helping behavior, teachers should pay special attention to the factor of empathy concern, and the educational strategy of activating empathy concern can improve the effectiveness of children’s helping behavior education.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Liang, M.; Mo, H.; Duan, J.
The Factors Influencing Children’s Helping Behavior: The Roles of Cognition and Empathy Concern. Behav. Sci. 2025, 15, 689.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050689
AMA Style
Liang M, Mo H, Duan J.
The Factors Influencing Children’s Helping Behavior: The Roles of Cognition and Empathy Concern. Behavioral Sciences. 2025; 15(5):689.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050689
Chicago/Turabian Style
Liang, Mingyue, Hongfang Mo, and Jipeng Duan.
2025. "The Factors Influencing Children’s Helping Behavior: The Roles of Cognition and Empathy Concern" Behavioral Sciences 15, no. 5: 689.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050689
APA Style
Liang, M., Mo, H., & Duan, J.
(2025). The Factors Influencing Children’s Helping Behavior: The Roles of Cognition and Empathy Concern. Behavioral Sciences, 15(5), 689.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050689
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