CHILDREN MODELING THEIR PARENTS' PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR - Research Paper Example

According his first two stages: when the children are between 3 to 6 years old (Stage 1) they cannot distinguish between their own interpretation of the situation and the other person’s point of view clearly. In the next stage (Stage 2, from 5 – 9 years) the children do realize the difference between their own perception and others but they are unable to understand it. This means that from the very early age the moral development of the child starts and the children learn and imitate their adults, with whom they are emotionally attached with, in their own social life (White, Burnam, 1975).

Since from the recent years, the tradition of the families to live in isolation is becoming very common, therefore it is evident that most of the children, in the hope to be like them, are imitating their parents consciously or unconsciously (Schulman, & Mekler, 1994). The highest level of learning by a child is through modeled behavior. The chances of adoption will increase if the model is similar to the observer (child) and also share an admired status from him (Zohery, 1994). Children grow and discover best in the scenarios where they are appreciated and protected.

Their physical desires are satisfied and they experience psychological security (Preusse, 2008). Keeping this in mind, the children that are exposed to pro- social activities by parents being their models can learn more quickly and adapt those qualities very easily as they are provided with the direction within a security. It has also been seen in the research that the young children who are very much dependent on others, aging from three to five are influenced by the modeling more, as compared to the elder children (Eisenberg, & Mussen, 1989).

For this reason, they develop the psyche of the model and unconsciously they behave accordingly. Since in the childhood, the children are mostly associated with their parents so automatically they develop the habits of their