Reflecting on emotions through stories helps girls and boys to build their ability to understand and comfort others
Recognize the feelings of others, to be close to them, make gestures that can be of comfort in situations of suffering: These are very important skills for relationship lifewhich contribute to making social relationships more serene and constructive, increasing the well -being of all people. They are fundamental skills that human beings learn to build throughout life and who are part of a set of behaviors, defined “prosociali“, Subject to numerous studies by development and learning psychology.
With this definition, psychologists indicate those behaviors that contribute to the well -being of others, without that we expect a direct and immediate personal benefit. Of course, make others feel good and promote positive relationships, as well as preventing and diliting conflicts, increases the sense of well -being of the entire social group and therefore, also reflected, that of individual people. In a previous article, we indicated the prosocial skills such as Skills to be promoted also at schoolwithin a project that rethinking school education from the foundations. A recent study from the University of Milan-Bicocca offers some interesting ideas on how to encourage these attitudes from early childhood (1).
Research
The study was conducted by a research group of the Department of Human Sciences for the “R. they developed a program called Yoles – Toddler Empathy and Prosociality Program (Program for the empathy and prosocyrity of the child or girl). The study involved 142 girls and boys attending ten nests of Lombard provinces, aged between 21 and 36 months, and their parents, who compiled questionnaires on the basis of their observations.
In a first phase, of pre-test, The data relating to the starting situation were collectedwith the administration of evidence to children and questionnaires to parents. The intervention phase, which lasted about two months, took place in small groups and was conducted by the educators with the coordination of researchers. Stories in which prosocial behaviors appeared were read to girls and boysand the reading followed differentiated activities: a first group was involved in conversations on the emotions and prosocial behaviors of the protagonists of the narrated stories; A second group spoke of the physical states and concrete actions told in the stories, and finally a third group dedicated himself to free game. In the final phase, post-test, the same skills measured during the pre-test were re-evaluated in the children of the three groups.
The conversation on emotions
Significant results in improving prosocial skills were recorded in girls and boys of the first group, who were guided to talk about the “altruistic” emotions and behaviors starting from the stories they had listened to. Both from the questionnaires compiled by the parents and from the experimental tasks in which the children were involved, a refinement of the competence in this type of behavior clearly emerged. For example, they had become more attentive to the emotions of the other children, more often assumed attitudes of emotional participation, more willingly shared material and games or were more predisposed to console or comfort others.
Telling and telling each other
Underlines Elisa Brazzelli: «Research shows us how the ability to help others contributes to psychological well -being and, at the same time, to the creation of satisfactory social relationships. Promote empathic and prosocial skills from early childhood allowsIndeed, children to acquire a better understanding of the other point of view and to experience effective methods to respond to the needs of othersoffering help, sharing and consolation ».
As the researchers have highlighted, it is therefore possible to promote this type of behavior in the little ones, through two simple, economic and ancient tools: narration and conversation. Human beings have always used the narrative of stories as a means of transmitting cultural content and as a pedagogical tool. Parents know well the value of the stories to accompany boys and girls in the exploration of the world through identification in different characters. This research highlights how important something is that many educators and parents have always do while reading or telling a story to children: talking to them, solicit reflections and facilitate the story of oneself, of one’s own experience and relationships with others through the protagonists of the fairy tale. Reflecting on one’s emotions helps to understand those of others and is one of the many skills that narrative helps to consolidate.
