Investigating Children's Perceptions and Experiences on Charity and Benevolent Behaviors
Subject Areas : Iranian Sociological Review
Elham
Shafaiimoghadam
1
(PhD in Social Issues of Iran)
Akbar
Zolfaghari
2
(add)
Keywords: Children, Charity, Development of Sympathy, Socialization.,
Abstract :
Objective: Recent studies to grow and strengthen the culture of charitable donations have focused on increasing people's willingness to donate and charitable donations and their reasons. However, very little attention has been paid to how people learn. Methods: In this research, by using the participatory action research method, while Checking children's perceptions and preferences on Charity and Benevolent Behaviors, the role of parents and school in learning and encouraging them to do good deeds has been investigated. Results: Based on the results of the research, the investigated children have a wide and diverse range of opportunities to participate in charity work through family and school. However, children have relatively limited spaces to participate in charitable behaviors, who often see forgiveness as an exchange process without critical engagement with the related cause. Whereas, if children are given an opportunity to meaningfully participate in decision-making, children show critical awareness and more desire to increase social justice in their decisions. Conclusions: Children as active and informed citizens, are empowered and competent to choose and evaluate the charities they want to support, and this in turn helps them gain a greater understanding of the world around them
References
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Arthur, J., Harrison, T., Taylor-Collins, E., & Moller, F. (2017). A habit of service. The Jubilee Centre, University of Birmingham. Available at: Jubileecentre. Ac. Uk/Userfiles/Jubileecentre/Pdf/Research% 20Reports/A_Habit_of_Service. Pdf (Accessed 30 June 2020).
Batson, C. D., & Coke, J. S. (1981). Empathy: A source of altruistic motivation for helping. Altruism and Helping Behavior: Social, Personality, and Developmental Perspectives, 167-187.
Batson, C. D., Van Lange, P. A., Ahmad, N., Lishner, D. A., Hogg, M., & Cooper, J. (2007). Altruism and helping behavior. In The Sage handbook of social psychology (pp. 241-258). Sage London, UK.
Bekkers, R., & Wiepking, P. (2011). A literature review of empirical studies of philanthropy: Eight mechanisms that drive charitable giving. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(5), 924-973.
Berliner, R., & Masterson, T. L. (2015). Review of research: Promoting empathy development in the early childhood and elementary classroom: April Bedford and Renée Casbergue, editors. Childhood Education, 91(1), 57-64.
Body, A., Lau, E., & Josephidou, J. (2020). Engaging children in meaningful charity: Opening‐up the spaces within which children learn to give. Children & Society, 34(3), 189-203.
Cohen-Malayev, M., Schachter, E. P., & Rich, Y. (2014). Teachers and the religious socialization of adolescents: Facilitation of meaningful religious identity formation processes. Journal of Adolescence, 37(2), 205-214.
Dahl, A., & Brownell, C. A. (2019). The social origins of human prosociality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(3), 274-279.
Darley, J. M. (1970). The unresponsive bystander: Why doesn’t he help?
Eisenberg, N. (1983). The socialization and development of empathy and prosocial behavior. USA: Arizona State University.
George, E., Schmidt, C., Vella, G., & McDonagh, I. (2017). Promoting the rights and responsibilities of children: a South Australian example. Global Health Promotion, 24(1), 53-57.
Himmelfarb, H. S. (1977). The interaction effects of parents, spouse and schooling: Comparing the impact of Jewish and Catholic schools. Sociological Quarterly, 18(4), 464-477.
Hoffman, M. (1970). Moral development In PH Mussen,(Ed.), Carmichael’s manual of child psychology (Vol. 2).
Hoffman, M. L. (1975). Altruistic behavior and the parent-child relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(5), 937.
Hoffman, M. L. (1982). Development of prosocial motivation: Empathy and guilt. In The development of prosocial behavior (pp. 281-313). Elsevier.
Hume, D. (1902). Enquiries concerning the human understanding: and concerning the principles of morals. Clarendon press.
Katz, S. N. (1999). Where did the serious study of philanthropy come from, anyway? Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 28(1), 74-82.
McHarg, G., Fink, E., & Hughes, C. (2019). Crying babies, empathic toddlers, responsive mothers and fathers: Exploring parent-toddler interactions in an empathy paradigm. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 179, 23-37.
Payton, R. L., & Moody, M. P. (2008). Understanding philanthropy: Its meaning and mission. Indiana University Press.
Piliavin, J. A., & Charng, H.-W. (1990). Altruism: A review of recent theory and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 16(1), 27-65.
Power, S., & Taylor, C. (2018). The mainstreaming of charities into schools. Oxford Review of Education, 44(6), 702-715.
Salehi Abarquee, M. A., & Alimohammadi, A. (2018). Recognising and prioritising factors affecting motivation of benevolents for financing defense and security. Defense Economics, 3(7), 54-78.
Schroeder, D. A., Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., & Piliavin, J. A. (1995). The psychology of helping and altruism: Problems and puzzles. McGraw-Hill.
Schwartz, S. (1975). The justice of need and the activation of humanitarian norms. Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 111-136.
Schwartz, S. H., & Howard, J. A. (1980). Explanations of the moderating effect of responsibility denial on the personal norm-behavior relationship. Social Psychology Quarterly, 441-446.
Sierksma, J., Thijs, J., & Verkuyten, M. (2014). Children’s intergroup helping: The role of empathy and peer group norms. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 126, 369-383.
Silke, C., Brady, B., Boylan, C., & Dolan, P. (2018). Factors influencing the development of empathy and pro-social behaviour among adolescents: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 94, 421-436.
Vaish, A., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 534.
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Extrinsic rewards undermine altruistic tendencies in 20-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 44(6), 1785.
Zareʻ Shahabadi, A., Asad-nejad, F., & Teymuri, F. (2020). Comparing the Role of Family and School in Religious Socialization of High School Female Students in Firoozabad. Journal of Islamic Education, 15(32), 93-116. https://doi.org/10.30471/edu.2018.3918.1757
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Iranian Sociological Review (ISR) Vol. 14, No. 1, 2024 |
Print ISSN: 2228-7221 |
Investigating Children's Perceptions and Experiences of Charity and Benevolent Behaviors
Elham Shafaiei Moghadam 1; Akbar Zolfaghari 2*
1. Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Law, Kashan University, Kashan, Iran.
2. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Received 17 February 2024 | Accepted 14 May 2024 |
Abstract:
Objective: Recent studies to grow and strengthen the culture of charitable donations have focused on increasing people's willingness to donate and charitable donations and their reasons. However, very little attention has been paid to how people learn.
Methods: In this research, by using the participatory action research method, while Checking children's perceptions and preferences of charity and benevolent behaviors, the role of parents and school in learning and encouraging them to do good deeds has been investigated.
Results: Based on the results of the research, the investigated children have a wide and diverse range of opportunities to participate in charity work through family and school. However, children have relatively limited spaces to participate in charitable behaviors, who often see forgiveness as an exchange process without critical engagement with the related cause. Whereas, if children are given an opportunity to meaningfully participate in decision-making, children show critical awareness and more desire to increase social justice in their decisions.
Conclusions: Children as active and informed citizens, are empowered and competent to choose and evaluate the charities they want to support, and this in turn helps them gain a greater understanding of the world around them.
Keywords: Children, Charity, Development of Sympathy, Socialization.
Introduction and Problem Statement
Since the 1980s, humanitarian studies have emerged as a new and multidisciplinary field in social sciences(Katz, 1999). Previous humanitarian studies are mainly limited to a specific discipline with a cross-sectional course. In this field, social psychology studies generally deal with helping behaviors(Batson et al., 2007; Piliavin & Charng, 1990; Schroeder, Penner, Dovidio, & Piliavin, 1995; S. Schwartz, 1975). Helping behaviors include a wide range of actions-from helping a stranger in an emergency, such as saving someone's life from a fire(Darley, 1970), to donating an organ to another, such as donating bone marrow to a relative(S. H. Schwartz & Howard, 1980). Meanwhile, charitable giving has been studied as an example of helping behavior in social psychology literature. This subject became popular in the discipline in the late 1970s and continued in applied social psychology in the 1980s. Philanthropy and helping behavior, defined as "voluntary action for the common good"(Payton & Moody, 2008), is widely recognized as a mechanism by that, citizens can help to fight against poverty and the challenges arising from it in the future. As a result, there is a lot of focus on teenagers as future political and social actors and many programs to increase their voluntary activities in civil society in terms of time (taking time to do good deed) and money (giving money to others). Although there is a lot of research on adolescents and youth as political and social actors, less attention has been paid to children and young adults. While recent research indicates that the political and social opinions of Children are formed before they reach the teenage years, and they can understand its basic concepts, and these attitudes It remains relatively stable in their orientation(Body, Lau, & Josephidou, 2020, p. 189). In fact, social actions and participation and having positive experiences in the early years of life help children to develop ownership and personal identity in their beliefs, actions and responsibilities(George, Schmidt, Vella, & McDonagh, 2017, p. 148). In this context, the research results of Arthur and his colleagues(2017), show that if children participate in philanthropy before the age of 10, they are twice as likely to maintain philanthropy throughout their lives compared to youth who only started philanthropic activities between 16 and 18 years of age. However, how can children be taught to be empathetic and altruistic towards others? It is an important question for parents, teachers and other members of society. The answer to this question is not simple, because not all positive behaviors are the same. In fact, different positive behaviors may be performed by the same individual for very different reasons, and the underlying motivations of a single social action may vary dramatically among the activists. Most sociability agents that tend to promote positive behaviors want to reinforce only one type of positive response, altruistic behavior. According to many psychologists, altruistic behaviors are voluntary and intentional actions that are for the benefit of another, and the individual's motivation is not to obtain external rewards such as material or social rewards(Eisenberg, 1983, p. 1). According to the above topics, in this research, charitable contributions are considered an important part of civil society and citizenship, and for that, the term "doing good deeds" has been used as an altruistic behavior in a broad sense, including collecting financial aid, giving gifts and volunteering for charities and various charitable purposes to achieve social and public good. Based on this, the main goal of this study is to answer the question, what are the perceptions and experiences of Children as socially active citizens on Charity and Benevolent Behaviors? And what is the role of socialization factors in the formation of these behaviors?
Fundamentals and Theoretical Approaches
In many studies on charitable activities, literature related to why donors donate has been addressed and less attention has been paid to how people learn, especially from pre-teen ages. Bekkers and Wiepking(2011) reviewed the literature of empirical studies of more than five hundred philanthropy articles on charitable giving. They have focused their investigation around the question of why people donate to charitable organizations. The obtained results indicate the 8 factors of awareness of need, request, costs and benefits, altruism, reputation, psychological benefits, values and beliefs, and the effectiveness of charity that guide giving and charitable behaviors. Based on the results of the research of Salehi Abargoui and Alimohammadi(2018), the factors affecting the willingness of donors to provide financial support can be divided into 7 general groups. have categorized 1. A set of economic factors (factors such as lack of desire to save money, income and good economic status that are related to the economic status of the present and the good future); 2. A set of individual factors (factors such as good interest in a specific area, desire to perpetuate the name, history and past good and reputation that have a personal aspect); 3. The set of social factors (factors including patriotism, responsibility, and current issues of the society that exist in the structure of the society); 4. The set of political factors (factors such as tax incentives, non-confiscation of property and appreciation related to the behavior of the government and its incentive policies); 5. The set of cultural factors (factors such as the desire to receive quick feedback, being influenced by others, compassion and the arousal of emotions that exist in the cultural structure of good or society); 6. The set of religious factors (factors such as learning rewards, following God and imams, achieving inner peace that are rooted in benevolent religious beliefs and ideas) and 7. The set of organizational indicators (factors such as the transparency and performance of the organization, its reputation and popularity Ensuring the correct use of property by the organization, which are related to the performance of the organization in charge of collecting donations and endowments). The above discussions show that in the literature related to philanthropy and charitable giving, there is a lot of focus on the reasons and how to encourage people to give more and more often, while less attention has been paid to how people develop philanthropic behavior, especially during adolescence and even before that. In this context, most of the studies have investigated the effect of socialization on children's sense of empathy, i.e. establishing emotional connection, sympathy and concern with others both at home and in their educational environments. From the point of view of psychologists such as Batson & Coke(1981), Aronfreed(1970), Hoffman(1982), Hume(1902), Sympathy is an important determinant of positive behaviors at least in some situations. Accordingly, socialization techniques that promote social action are often practices that emphasize the child's capacity for Sympathy(Eisenberg, 1983, p. 1).
In this connection, the research results of Eisenberg(1983), Warneken & Tomasello(2008), Sierrksma et al(2014), Berliner and Masterson(2015), and Dahl and Brownell(2019), indicate that parents and educators can influence children's tendency to empathic thinking about others and subsequent social behaviors. For example, Warneken and Tomasello’s(2008) research results showed that under the influence of the above factors, children between 12 and 18 months in a wide range of fields begin to express a variety of positive social behaviors, they comfort friends or family members who are upset and disturbed. They give and help them. Therefore, it is hypothesized that if Sympathy is taught, it will lead to altruistic caring actions by children. Although carrying out empathic actions is a more complex process and in order for a child to be able to empathize, he needs to correctly recognize and identify his own feelings, distinguish between his own feelings and those of others, and also interpret their possible reasons, but regardless of this, evidence shows that 18-month-old children. They can show concern and subsequent behavior with their emotional perspective(Vaish, Carpenter, & Tomasello, 2009) and children at the age of 2 years show empathic and compassionate actions towards crying babies (McHarg, Fink, & Hughes, 2019). Although these early social skills may lead one to assume that socialization does not play a significant role in children's social development, the above research suggests that if parents respond to their child's empathic curiosity about a crying child, they are more likely to If the child shows empathic caring behaviors, it increases. This highlights the importance of parental socialization in the development of Sympathy in Children. In fact, the most important function of the family, as the first social institution where a person spends the most sensitive years of his life, is socialization, which can have a great impact on the religious socialization of children. Compliance with religious norms of the family, especially the religious behavior of parents, is considered an essential factor in the religious socialization of children(Himmelfarb, 1977; Zareʻ Shahabadi, Asad-nejad, & Teymuri, 2020, p. 95). In this regard, Eisenberg(1983), states that spaces and places that encourage this type of empathic behavior can be a home or a more formal environment such as school, where an adult, parent or teacher guides children in identifying and expressing emotions. They support different but it is important to note that prosocial behavior does not always indicate true altruism. Different people perform social behaviors for different reasons, and a person's behaviors may be caused by different concerns at different times. Even such behavior can have a selfish motive. Accordingly, Sympathy does not always lead to altruistic action, and in fact, it can get away from it. Because the origin of altruism is the desire to interact and cooperate with others(Dahl & Brownell, 2019, p. 274). In addition to the importance of parents' socialization, social and environmental factors play an important role in the formation of children's social behaviors. In this connection, the research results of Silke et al(2018), indicate the influence of a person's charitable experiences on social factors, including the charitable behavior of parents, the attitude of peers towards charitable activities, school and community participation with charitable institutions, as well as exposure to media programs. School is one of the most important spaces where children participate in charity work. Citizenship education in schools has a potentially important role in this matter. Because children should have opportunities to help improve society. Schools play a great role in promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students. Encouraging and involving students in doing charity, philanthropy and social justice works is included in a wide range of activities that schools can offer to facilitate the development of students' character and virtues. In other words, the school has a significant modeling and stabilization role in students' learning. The results of the study by Cohen-Malayev and et al,(2014) show that after the influence of parents' socialization, teachers and schools have a great influence on students' religious identity. The results of Zare Shahabadi et al.'s research (2020), also indicate that the family plays a greater role in the religious socialization of students than the school, with its two functions of religious model and parenting. Also, the exemplary role of the teacher is greater than the role of the content of textbooks and the role of the coach and manager in the religious socialization of students. The results of studies by Power and Taylor (2018), show that charities are increasingly becoming mainstream in schools, and most of the large charities have established funds for student fundraising in schools. This has been exemplified in Iran with charity funds affiliated to the Relief Committee. Although this increases children's experiences of charitable fundraising and volunteering, this type of participation brings with it the criticism that students, especially at a younger age, may only engage in this in a purely transactional way in exchange for a pleasurable or fun experience. Become a charity. In fact, students seek to support them without research, discussion and debate regarding the cause of aid and with a limited view of the charity's purpose(Body, Lau, & Josephidou, 2020, pp. 190-193). This is despite the fact that one of the disciplinary techniques that has proven to be the most useful in improving social behavior is the use of reasoning. Reasoning in the service of discipline is often referred to as "induction"(M. Hoffman, 1970; M. L. Hoffman, 1975). When using induction, adults often point out the consequences of the child's behavior to others (e.g. look how happy/upset you made him/her), thereby increasing the likelihood that the child will empathize with others. Using cues that address the needs of others is more effective in promoting positive social behaviors. In addition, the use of cues that focus attention on the harm caused by the child to others or encourage the child to consider and compensate for the feelings of others is associated with more attention and help from the child. Because inductive techniques are associated with directing the child's attention to the emotional states of others and the consequences of their behavior for others. Therefore, socialization agents who use induction may encourage the child to cognitively accept the role of others and put themselves in their shoes and empathize with others. Also, these people provide a reasonable role model for children. In addition, inductive techniques, unlike power tool techniques (corporal punishment, deprivation of privileges, and threats), implicitly inform the child that he is responsible for his behavior and that moral behavior becomes intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically motivated(Eisenberg, 1983, p. 3). In general, philanthropy, benevolent behaviors and social justice are controversial topics, but if we want to recognize children as social actors and active citizens, we need to provide them with an opportunity to explore the challenges and debates around charity and equality. Although school and education play an important role in children's understanding and participation in charity, the saying "charity begins at home" is never far from our minds. When we consider how children learn through socialization and exposure to different learning opportunities, we understand the importance of involving children in decision-making throughout their daily lives.
Methodology
This research seeks to collect data research and children's lived experiences to answer the research question: "What are the perceptions, experiences and preferences of Children about charity and benevolent behaviors?". In order to get the answer to this question, children's participation in a collaborative action research project has been used. As an educational approach, participatory action research recognizes participants as experts in their own experiences. When it comes to children, children as actors capable and powerful socialites who are experts in their experiences and lives are introduced. In collecting information in the current research, semi-structured interview technique with open questions such as "What does good work mean?" and..." has been used. In order to determine the saturation sample size, the results in the interview with the target group people have been considered. In this research, there were 9 children (5 girls and 4 boys) aged 7 to 13 years who expressed their willingness to answer the interview questions and audio recording with their personal consent. Considering the vulnerable nature of children and the sensitivity of ethical considerations in this group, in addition to obtaining the code of ethics for conducting the research, informed consent was obtained from the children's parents and the consent and willingness of the children to respond, and the interviews were conducted in a safe and friendly atmosphere.
Results
To start the conversation with the children about their view of charity, they were first asked about the definition of charity. The children had a lot of understanding about the meaning of charity and good deeds, some of them did what they did to help others, including the poor, friends and classmates, and some of them defined untangling the work of others, and others defined charity as a good deed.
"Good work means helping others" (9-year-old Omidreza, 12-year-old Hossein and 11-year-old Fatemeh)
"A good deed means untying the work of others" (9-year-old Hasti)
"A good deed means doing a good deed for God's reward and satisfaction" (Zeinab, 11 years old)
"A good deed means being nice and kind to people" (Ali, 8 years old)
Some children also associate charity with the idea of place and often associate it with charity places to donate or collect donations from people. for example:
"Places that provide money and food for poor people are doing good". (Zahra, 11 years old)
And some introduce:
"giving an offering in the delegation" as a good deed (Fatemeh, 8 years old).
When asked if they had ever done a good deed, children gave a range of answers:
"I help my friends to read the Qur'an so that they don't feel embarrassed and read the Qur'an in public" (Hossein, 12 years old). "I helped my parents in giving offerings and cleaning the Hosseinieh" (Zeinab, 10 years old). "At the sports club, I gave some money to my friend who wanted to participate in the competition but had no money" (9-year-old Hasti). "I had some new clothes that were too small for me, I gave them to our neighbor" (8-year-old Ali and 11-year-old Fatemeh). "Some time ago, my friend lost his father in an accident, I often went to their house and talked with my friend, played with him so that he would be less sad and sad" (Zahra, 11 years old). "At school, they collected money for children who were not in a good financial situation, and I also helped" (Omidreza, 9 years old).
Mohammad Javad (13 years old) mentions environmentally friendly behavior as the good deeds he has done so far:
"My friends and I collected the garbage that some people threw in the street during the Imam's birthday celebrations and we cleaned the tables around the trees".
We find that being good from children's point of view includes a multitude of social actions and behaviors. These actions include helping others when they are poor or sad, giving offerings, protecting nature, etc. They have done good deeds usually with the knowledge and help of their parents, such as Omidreza who helped in collecting financial aid for needy students, or Zeinab who cleaned Hosseinieh with her parents, and Hasti, who asked her mother to give her money to help her friend. However, the results show that most children do good deeds by themselves to please God and get rewards. In fact, it is a kind of exchange approach, but of the spiritual type they are considering. According to them, people's help to others is because of gaining God's satisfaction and meeting the needs of the needy and benefiting them from more facilities. Hossein (12 years old) says about this:
"God likes this kind of work and it is pleasing to Him".
Hasti (9 years old):
"To make the needy happy and that, by God's hope, there will be no poor people in our country".
Each of the children has been involved in fundraising and supporting the needy. But the only reason for it is God's will. This shows that their help is sincere and at the same time passive, they do not expect anything in return. A focus on transactional involvement in giving hinders children's understanding of charitable giving and, in turn, may inhibit their long-term willingness to engage in prosocial behavior. Because all the children have stated that they like the good deeds they do to be different from the good deeds they have done in the past and to be a new thing. They prefer that if they are going to help someone, it is a person they know and they choose him themselves, rather than being introduced by others or giving their help to a charity organization. In this case most of the children have acknowledged the existence of the charity fund in the school, but they have stated that no one puts money in it. But Hossein says contrary to the opinion of others:
"I help someone that the elders introduce to me, because they have more experience and know them better than I do"
Although most of the children, in response to whether they know a charity organization, pointed to the relief committee and charity funds that they have seen at home or school with the relief Committee's logo engraved on it. Meanwhile, teachers continue to maintain the status quo by promoting a limited number of charities such as the Relief Committee. Philanthropy, charitable giving, and social justice are controversial topics, and indeed, they should be. Recognizing children as social actors and current citizens means that it is essential that they too have the opportunity to critically examine these challenges and debates around forgiveness and equality. The current research showed that even the youngest children can participate in these discussions in an appropriate and meaningful way. When asked if they know someone who does good deeds and is famous, a number of children pointed to Riz Ali Khajawi (devoted peasant). Omidreza says in response to this question:
"In our book, we have read about the sacrifice of the devoted peasant. Hossein Fahmideh is one of those I know".
Hossein (12 years old) and Mohammad Javad (13 years old) have mentioned Imams (a.s.), especially Imam Ali (a.s.) and his nightly help to the needy, and 11-year-old Fatemeh mentions her friends who help each other in school that they do. They mentioned their parents and teachers, especially the Qur'an teacher, as incentives to do work, and in this case, they mentioned the good deeds done by their parents. Such as giving a vow, helping a poor person who came to the door, collecting money to buy a girl's dowry, preparing clothes and donating them on the day of the charity festival, and giving alms to the poor on Eid al-Fitr. Based on these results, it can be said that not all children experience fundraising and charitable donations in the same way, and there is no single place where children can learn about charity. Their opinions and experiences are communicated through multiple interconnected spaces, including home, school, and extracurricular classes. Schools and parents often strive to encourage, support, and involve children of all ages in charities and charitable giving, and develop a passion for giving and supporting others. However, a deeper and more critical engagement with the causes of this volunteering and fundraising activity and the cause. The issues behind this forgiveness were less common. This granting of an adult-directed and decided surface is seen as fun, but rarely serves as a space where children can explore their own ideas and values in a more democratic way. Instead, this activity encourages more transactional giving, a sense of giving in return. As most kids answer the question, what would you do with a lot of money? They said that I will buy everything I need for myself first and then I will help others. In this case, Hossein (12 years old) says:
"It depends on my situation. If I need it, I spend it on myself first, and if there is anything left, I give it to others".
Or Fatemeh (12 years old) says:
"First I will go to Mecca with that money and then I will give a part of it to others".
Hasti (9 years old) In this case, says:
"I will build places with that money so that people who don't have a home will not be homeless in the streets and alleys".
And Omidreza (9 years old) and Fatemeh (8 years old) say:
"I help everyone with it".
In response to the question, when do you want to help others the most? they said:
Hasti (9 years old), Zeinab (10 years old), Zahra (11 years old):
"When I have money".
Omidreza (9 years old) and Fatemeh (8 years old):
"When I know someone is in need, I help them".
Fatemeh (11 years old):
"When I am needless".
Hossein (12 years old):
"When someone asks me to help him, I help him".
Mohammad Javad (13 years old):
"When I see that I can help others, I do it".
But in response to the question that if you could talk to one of the officials of charitable institutions like the Relief Committee, what questions would you ask him, they had different conversations. for example; Fatemeh (11 years old):
"I ask them; how do you find the people you help?"
Omidreza (9 years old):
"I ask him how many good deeds have you done so far?"
Zeinab (10 years old):
"How many people have they helped so far?"
Hasti (9 years old):
"Do you enjoy helping others? And what do you do to make others happy?"
Hossein (12 years old):
"I ask him, who do you give the most of the charity donations you collect?" to cancer? to the poor or..."
The above questions in children's minds indicate that although children often participate in helping others, they have very little knowledge of why and how. This doesn't mean that giving shouldn't be fun and engaging for children, or that giving is a wrong deal. Rather, this type of helping restricts children from getting involved in the fields behind charitable giving. While the main purpose of giving charity and humanitarian aid in society requires the active and conscious participation of people in voluntary action for the public good.
Discussion and Conclusion
Based on the results of the research, the investigated children showed high levels of altruism and understanding of benevolent behaviors and considered it as a space to achieve divine reward and satisfaction. But the results revealed two key and contradictory features that somehow appear as two sides of the same coin. First, children introduce adults, including parents and teachers, as people who encourage and provide a charitable environment for them. But the next point is the unwanted effect of adults who can close the space of children to explore and search for charitable ideas and charitable contributions. In other words, children encounter social actions in different ways, such as modeling adults and peers, guiding and rewarding pro-social behaviors. Therefore, despite intrinsic motivation and natural development, socialization plays an important role in the development of early Sympathy and social behaviors of children. Accordingly, parents and educators should try to rely more on this internal motivation and the natural course of its development and strengthen the sense of independence and competence in children as much as possible, rather than providing material incentives that can have harmful effects. The results of the study have been certified by many researches su as (Batson & Coke, 1981; Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011; Dahl & Brownell, 2019; Eisenberg, 1983; Hume, 1902; Salehi Abarquee & Alimohammadi, 2018; Warneken & Tomasello, 2008). Bekkers and Wiepking(2011) reviewed the literature of empirical studies of more than five hundred philanthropy articles on charitable giving. They have focused their investigation around the question of why people donate to charitable organizations. The obtained results indicate the 8 factors of awareness of need, request, costs and benefits, altruism, reputation, psychological benefits, values and beliefs, and the effectiveness of charity that guide giving and charitable behaviors. Based on the results of the research of Salehi Abargoui and Alimohammadi(2018), the factors affecting the willingness of donors to provide financial support can be divided into 7 general group. From the point of view of psychologists such as Batson & Coke(1981), Aronfreed(1970), Hoffman(1982), Hume(1902), Sympathy is an important determinant of positive behaviors at least in some situations. Accordingly, socialization techniques that promote social action are often practices that emphasize the child's capacity for Sympathy(Eisenberg, 1983, p. 1). In this connection, the research results of Eisenberg(1983), Warneken & Tomasello(2008), Sierrksma et al(2014), Berliner and Masterson(2015), and Dahl and Brownell(2019), indicate that parents and educators can influence children's tendency to empathic thinking about others and subsequent social behaviors. Warneken and Tomasello’s(2008) research results showed that under the influence of the above factors, children between 12 and 18 months in a wide range of fields begin to express a variety of positive social behaviors, they comfort friends or family members who are upset and disturbed. They give and help them. Therefore, it is hypothesized that if Sympathy is taught, it will lead to altruistic caring actions by children. Although carrying out empathic actions is a more complex process and in order for a child to be able to empathize, he needs to correctly recognize and identify his own feelings, distinguish between his own feelings and those of others, and also interpret their possible reasons, but regardless of this, evidence shows that 18-month-old children. They can show concern and subsequent behavior with their emotional perspective(Vaish et al., 2009) and children at the age of 2 years show empathic and compassionate actions towards crying babies (McHarg et al., 2019). Although these early social skills may lead one to assume that socialization does not play a significant role in children's social development, the above research suggests that if parents respond to their child's empathic curiosity about a crying child, they are more likely to If the child shows empathic caring behaviors, it increases. This highlights the importance of parental socialization in the development of Sympathy in Children. In fact, the most important function of the family, as the first social institution where a person spends the most sensitive years of his life, is socialization, which can have a great impact on the religious socialization of children. Compliance with religious norms of the family, especially the religious behavior of parents, is considered an essential factor in the religious socialization of children(Himmelfarb, 1977; Zareʻ Shahabadi et al., 2020, p. 95). In this regard, Eisenberg(1983), states that spaces and places that encourage this type of empathic behavior can be a home or a more formal environment such as school, where an adult, parent or teacher guides children in identifying and expressing emotions. They support different but it is important to note that prosocial behavior does not always indicate true altruism. Different people perform social behaviors for different reasons, and a person's behaviors may be caused by different concerns at different times. Even such behavior can have a selfish motive. Accordingly, Sympathy does not always lead to altruistic action, and in fact, it can get away from it. Because the origin of altruism is the desire to interact and cooperate with others(Dahl & Brownell, 2019, p. 274). In addition to the importance of parents' socialization, social and environmental factors play an important role in the formation of children's social behaviors. In this connection, the research results of Silke et al (2018), indicate the influence of a person's charitable experiences on social factors, including the charitable behavior of parents, the attitude of peers towards charitable activities, school and community participation with charitable institutions, as well as exposure to media programs. School is one of the most important spaces where children participate in charity work. Citizenship education in schools has a potentially important role in this matter. Because children should have opportunities to help improve society. Schools play a great role in promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of students. Encouraging and involving students in doing charity, philanthropy and social justice works is included in a wide range of activities that schools can offer to facilitate the development of students' character and virtues. In other words, the school has a significant modeling and stabilization role in students' learning. The results of the study by Cohen-Malayev and et al,(2014) show that after the influence of parents' socialization, teachers and schools have a great influence on students' religious identity. The results of Zare Shahabadi et al.'s research (2020), also indicate that the family plays a greater role in the religious socialization of students than the school, with its two functions of religious model and parenting. Also, the exemplary role of the teacher is greater than the role of the content of textbooks and the role of the coach and manager in the religious socialization of students. The results of studies by Power and Taylor (2018), show that charities are increasingly becoming mainstream in schools, and most of the large charities have established funds for student fundraising in schools. Therefore, it is suggested that the teaching of benevolent behaviors, both at school and at home and even in other social environments, instead of becoming part of a prescriptive moral education, should rely on internal motivations and the development of caring for others. Overall, engaging with cause and effect and exploring debates allows children to engage in benevolent and altruistic behaviors through critical awareness rather than passive engagement. Such an approach can strengthen children's active citizenship and their broad participation in civil society.
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Zareʻ Shahabadi, A., Asad-nejad, F., & Teymuri, F. (2020). Comparing the Role of Family and School in Religious Socialization of High School Female Students in Firoozabad. Journal of Islamic Education, 15(32), 93-116. https://doi.org/10.30471/edu.2018.3918.1757
[1] Email: e.shafaii@grad.kashanu.ac.ir
[2] Email: Fathi. soroush@gmail.com (Corresponding Author)
