Are children capable of acting morally, disallowing any possibility of true altruism of selfless action? Many factors come into play when discussing the social development of children. Children are exposed to all types of cultural influences. Pure altruism is giving without regard to reward or the benefits of recognition. Children can develop this concerning perspective through many cognitive influences such as: Morality, kinship, biological factors, socialization, and cultural influences.
Alike, adults and children are both affected mostly in developing altruistic behavior through their surroundings in life. According to (Sorokin, 2002, pp.117-118) for an individual to improve altruistic integration, one must perform several operations in the mental and behavioral structure; as well as paralleling these operations in the totality of their cultural values and in that of the social groups of his affiliation. Personal, cultural and social aspects of sociocultural are inseparable from one another.
Psychology Professor J. Philippe Rushton (1984) stresses there are common levels of expectations for everyone’s social behavior situated before an “impact” and nearer to the “impact” of a certain situation. His distal-proximal explanation of social behavior is shown below. (p.37).
Impact of
Situation
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Evolutionary DNAInherited traits EnvironmentalEnduring Emotional PhenomenologicalBehavior
Biology and Structure (Genes) Factors in Characteristics Reactions Experience
Evolutionary Social (Traits) Non-Conscious
History of...