g., stereotypic, internalized reasoning mode) and perspective-taking skills. At around selleckbio the same time, the development of perspective taking, role taking, and empathy enables young people to vicariously experience other people’s needs and distress [19]. This will lead to a stronger motivation to reduce the distress of others as well as the distress and guilt of oneself for not providing help��the empathy-altruism hypothesis [20]. The developmental approach assumes that the maturity of cognitive abilities will result in an increase of the ability to take perspective of others and to apply internalized moral reasoning and empathy. The approach has accumulated a wealth of evidence that the maturity of these interpersonal competencies is connected to prosocial orientation or behavior.

The developmental approach tends to pay less attention to how social cognitive factors and influence may alter the willingness to apply empathy or moral reasoning, especially when one’s peers are unsupportive of prosocial norms.Fourth, prosocial norms can be acquired and taught through social learning, including modeling, social reinforcement, and school socialization [21]. Children and adolescents can learn prosocial norms and behavior from their preferred role models who can demonstrate that how the adoption of prosocial norms and orientation can lead to appreciation, an increase in task-related self-efficacy, and favorable outcome expectancies. In the course of childhood, parents can model emotional expressivity, sympathy, and perspective taking, which can play an important part in the prosocial development among children [22].

Praise, affirmation, encouragement, and social pressure from teachers and peers can provide the incentive and support for adopting prosocial norms. In studies of the youth development and volunteerism, the ��foot-in-the-door�� socialization technique was found to be very useful in promoting prosocial reasoning [23]. Based on cognitive dissonance theory, the foot-in-the-door technique postulates that there is a strong tendency for us to adjust our attitude in order to make it consistent with what we have done; that is, we justify our choices of prosocial Batimastat actions after we are required to ��put our foot�� into it [24]. Parents, schools, or (and) youth centers can require adolescents to fulfill prosocial tasks and responsibilities, which will gradually help to modify their attitudes (become more positive) toward prosocial norms and behavior. On the whole, it is apparent that modeling, instructions, and discipline communication of parents may have an impact on prosocial development.