Summer Camps Promote Altruism in Children

Definition

Altruism

Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in both material and spiritual quality of life. The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences defines psychological altruism as "a motivational state to increase another's welfare." Psychological altruism is contrasted with psychological egoism, which refers to the motivation to increase one's own welfare.

Main Digest

Be able to control oneself, cooperate, or help others: having socio-emotional abilities is essential for those who wish to interact positively with their peers. These skills are largely acquired during childhood and can be trained in different contexts, such as school, family, or leisure. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has shown that holiday camps favor their development. They found an increase in altruism among children returning from camps, unlike those who did not participate in this type of stay during their holidays. These results can be found in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Knowing how to recognize and manage our own emotions and those of others and adapting our behavior accordingly: socio-emotional abilities play a key role in our daily lives. They enable us to make decisions that benefit our own well-being and that of our peers and establish quality relationships with them. Fostering their development in children from an early age is therefore essential.

These skills can be acquired and trained directly or indirectly. They can also be learned in various contexts, such as school, family, or leisure. By stimulating prosocial acts such as altruistic behavior, they are a prime target for preventing antisocial behavior, i.e., aggressive behavior towards others and society. A team from the UNIGE has studied the development of these abilities in a specific context: holiday camps.

"These overnight camps are spaces of socialization and experimentation outside the family, which take place over a more or less long period and integrate all daily life. They involve permanent interactions with adults and other children, rich in informal learning. We wanted to show that such a context is favorable to the development of socio-emotional skills", explains Edouard Gentaz, full professor at the UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences.

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Altruism Peak

More specifically, the UNIGE team wanted to determine how much participation in these camps could increase children's altruism and self-esteem. The researchers also wanted to identify whether specific elements - such as going with friends - could make participation more or less beneficial. To find out, they used a sample of 256 children aged 6 to 16 - both camp and non-camp participants - who were asked to complete a standardized questionnaire.

"Among the questions asked were, for example, 'to what extent would you help a stranger find his way?' or 'to what extent would you help a friend with his homework?'. The possible answers ranged from 'never' to 'very often on a five-point scale", explains Yves Gerber, Research and Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. Student at the Section of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the UNIGE and first author of the study.

The children had to answer these questions on two occasions: at the beginning and end of the camp period.

"The answers of the 145 children who took part in the camps were compared with those of the 111 children in the 'control' group who did not participate in this type of activity. These revealed an increase in the level of altruism in the former and a decrease in the latter", says Jennifer Malsert, Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Associate at the Psychology Section of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the UNIGE, Lecturer in the Teaching and Research Unit Special Education at the University of Teacher Education, State of Vaud, and co-author of the study.

Stable Self-esteem

These answers also show that having had a positive camp experience in the past, or participating in this type of activity with friends, favors the development of altruism in this context.

"As for the level of self-esteem, we observe that it remained stable in both groups of children. It is possible that this element is more stable than altruism and that its modulations are less apparent. The response scale we used may not be specific enough to assess this," explains Yves Gerber.

The results of this exploratory study demonstrate the usefulness of summer camps as a tool for developing socio-emotional abilities. They indicate that the context of these camps, even over stays of 10 to 15 days, influences these skills by increasing altruistic intentions.

"The next step will be to study the duration of the benefits obtained. It will also be a question of evaluating whether there is a correlation between the duration of the stay and the level of these benefits," concludes Edouard Gentaz.

Altruism and Brain Wiring: Treating Empathically Challenged

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed article relating to our Disability Camps section was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its likely interest to our disability community readers. Though the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article "Summer Camps Promote Altruism in Children" was originally written by University of Geneva (UNIGE), and published by Disabled-World.com on 2022-11-08 (Updated: 2023-01-04). Should you require further information or clarification, University of Geneva (UNIGE) can be contacted at unige.ch/en/. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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