About this session

Saturday, 10:20 AM - 11:50 AM

Emotion Regulation and Prosociality: Mechanisms and Developmental Pathways from Early Childhood to Emerging Adulthood

Prosociality is a hallmark of positive social and emotional functioning throughout the lifespan. A growing body of research has highlighted the efficacy of emotion regulation to diminish personal distress responses and shift attention from one’s own emotional state to attend to the needs of others. Therefore, to further advance our understanding of the role that emotion regulation plays in fostering prosocial outcomes across development. In addition, the four papers in this symposium explore the multifaceted processes of emotion regulation (cognitive, behavioral, and physiological) that underlie the complex, multidimensional forms of prosociality across development from early childhood to emerging adulthood. Within two samples, Paper 1 demonstrated that cognitive control abilities buffer the extent to which discrete forms of temperamental reactivity relate to antisocial and prosocial behavioral outcomes in early childhood. Paper 2 experimentally tested how emotion regulation strategies uniquely alter the links between adolescents’ autonomic nervous system activity and dimensions of emotional and behavioral prosocial responding. Moreover, Paper 3 found that adolescents’ regulation longitudinally mediated the relationship between earlier parental warmth and five forms of prosocial behaviors later in development. Finally, in a sample of U.S. Latine emerging adults, Paper 4 revealed how experiences of discrimination impact different forms of prosocial tendencies, and the ability for short-term regulation to mediate these associations. Together, these papers showcase how emotion regulation may function across different abilities, strategies, and contexts to foster prosociality. Importantly, they provide novel insights into how regulation can be leveraged to promote diverse prosocial outcomes across development.

Paper #1
Title	Cognitive Control Moderates Links Between Temperament and Prosocial Behavior in Preschool
Presenting author	Rebecca J. Brooker, Ph.D., Texas A&M University, United States

Paper #2
Title	The Effect of Emotion Regulation on Adolescents’ Autonomic Functioning and Prosocial Responding
Presenting author	Ryan Hodge, Ph.D., University of Southern California, United States

Paper #3
Title	Longitudinal Relations between Parenting and Adolescent’s Prosocial Tendencies: Self-Regulation as a Mediating Mechanism
Presenting author	Zili Zhong, Northern Arizona University, United States

Paper #4
Title	Discrimination Links to Prosocial Behaviors via Self-Regulation and Empathy in U.S. Latine Youth
Presenting author	Sahitya Maiya, Ph.D., University of New Hampshire, United States

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Session chair
Ryan Hodge, University of Southern California, United States

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