Are Children Intrinsicly Motivated
Question The goal of this experiment was to find the answer to the question, ‘Are young children intrinsically motivated to see others be helped?’. The broad question gathered from this experiment is, ‘Do humans have an innate, genuine concern for the well-being of others?’. These questions are meaningful as this investigation could prove the existence of a distinctly human, nurture characteristic, that all share.
Alternatives
The experiment will likely have one of two outcomes, either young children are intrinsically motivated to see others helped or they are not. It is probable that young children are intrinsically motivated to see others helped as they tend to do so without instruction and rely on instinct to help people. It is also …show more content…
Therefore, children are intrinsically motivated to see others be helped. The findings of this experiment could still lead to some other possible conclusions. The children could have been reacting to positive or negative valence or the body language of the experimenter and this also elicit the same rates of pupil diameter measurement. A potential confounding variable could be the presence of the subject’s parent. It is a known phenomenon that children act more correctly while they are being watched. Thus, the children could have had a physiological response that reflects the correct action to carry out, and not what they wanted to do. The same results could have been gathered if children are not intrinsically motivated to see others helped, as sympathetic arousal could occur when one is experiencing any sort of strong feeling. The internal drive to help others is developed once humans can understand the repercussions of not helping and the positives of taking action. Future studies should focus on emotional response, as the behaviour of helping is brought about by
Alternatives
The experiment will likely have one of two outcomes, either young children are intrinsically motivated to see others helped or they are not. It is probable that young children are intrinsically motivated to see others helped as they tend to do so without instruction and rely on instinct to help people. It is also …show more content…
Therefore, children are intrinsically motivated to see others be helped. The findings of this experiment could still lead to some other possible conclusions. The children could have been reacting to positive or negative valence or the body language of the experimenter and this also elicit the same rates of pupil diameter measurement. A potential confounding variable could be the presence of the subject’s parent. It is a known phenomenon that children act more correctly while they are being watched. Thus, the children could have had a physiological response that reflects the correct action to carry out, and not what they wanted to do. The same results could have been gathered if children are not intrinsically motivated to see others helped, as sympathetic arousal could occur when one is experiencing any sort of strong feeling. The internal drive to help others is developed once humans can understand the repercussions of not helping and the positives of taking action. Future studies should focus on emotional response, as the behaviour of helping is brought about by