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Adolfo De Anda
Professor Chris Gade
Social Psychology
12 December 2013
Childhood Memories Promote Pro-social Behavior
The main focus of the experiment was to further uncover the link between morality and
the possibility a person will engage in pro-social behavior. Researchers believe moral purity
derives from childhood memories. People perceive children as innocent and pure and not
contaminated in any form. They believe that when people are reminded of their childhood
experiences the memories retrieved will ignite the concept of moral purity. Thus the person is
experiencing a heighten psychological state. This is believed to cause people to act more prosocially and help those in need.
The initial experiment started with an experimental group and a control group. The experimental
group was asked to write a brief essay about their childhood memories. The control group was
asked to write about their last visit to the supermarket. Lastly after they were finished writing the
essay they were asked to help with a voluntary task. The experimental groups recalled thinking
about their childhood significantly more and were also more willing to help with the voluntary
task at the end.
The second experiment put the concept of moral purity to work. Researchers added different
techniques one is a word completion task that allowed researchers to measure the influence of
moral purity. The control group writing prompt was changed to have participants remember
memories from when they were in high school. They wanted to see if this change had any effect.
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In addition they wanted to test their emotional state so the measure of nostalgia was
implemented. Lastly participants were asked to donate to a relief fund. The participants in the
experimental group recalling childhood memories said that they thought about their childhood
significantly more. The control group did not, when asked to donate to the relief fund the
experiment group donated significantly more as well. In two experiments so far the association
of childhood memories and moral purity is becoming established.
Experiment 3 is intended to manipulate and moderate moral purity. Consistent with previous
experiments participants asked to recall childhood memories made them think about their
childhood more than participants in the control group. Interestingly enough when the control
group was primed with moral purity it increased the association linked to pro-social behavior.
Therefore differences were minimal in the word completion in the two groups. Participant’s
selections of the white lamb doll were also similar. Lastly since the control groups were exposed
to moral purity there was no major significance in donations in the two groups. Moderation
proved to be effective when the control group was primed. Experiment 4 uses pro-social
behavior as a punishment technique. Experimenters are interested in finding a relationship
between the two suggesting that pro-social behavior will lead participants to judge unethical
behavior more negatively.
Experiment 4 changed a few methods that were previously used in past experiments. Firstly they
used a completely different group instead of college student they used participants that had
children. Experimenters believe that people living with children may not be prone to the same
effects experienced by participants without children. The initial experiment used the previous
writing task regarding childhood memories. Following the word completion task as well as
deciding between the stuff animals. Participants were also asked to complete a short version of
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“PANAS” and previous questions about nostalgia. The participants were then asked to assess and
determine how harshly they will punish the person acting unethical. Participants recalling
childhood memories proved to be yet again effective as well as used more words that related to
moral purity. They also chose the white lamb doll which represents moral purity. Lastly
participants recalling childhood memories remained consistent as participants experienced moral
purity. Furthermore researchers were unable to distinguish notable difference between
participants with children and participants without children. Participants asked to recall
childhood memories harshly judged unethical behavior a bit more.
Experiment 5, the manipulation check has remained consistent through experiments 1-4 which
consisted of participants that were asked to recall bad childhood memories. Both experimental
groups used more words that related with moral purity. In the control group this was not the case.
PANAS separated the similarity between the two groups as Participants that recalled good
memories scored significantly higher than the group that was asked to recall bad memories.
Finally when participants were asked to help with the supplementary task the differences were
minimal as participants recalling bad memories were also willing to help as opposed to the
control group.
In experiment 1 researchers asked participants to recall childhood memories which made them
think about think about the time they were a children much significant. This activated Moral
purity which was manipulated to show what effects it had on pro-social behavior. Participants
were much more willing to help with the last voluntary task.
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Experiment 2 altered the experiment which added an implicit measure which had participants
complete a word completion task. In addition to an explicit task which had participant’s
voluntary donates to a relief fund. Furthermore the relationship between moral purity and prosocial behavior is becoming established.
In experiment 3 researchers primed the control group with moral purity to see if it had an effect
on their behavior. They used the two stuffed animals the white lamb that represents moral purity
or the black teddy bear, which was considered immoral. The purpose was to prime the control
group and to see if they were more likely to donate significantly more. The researchers
successfully moderated the effect of moral purity.
Experiment 4 researched brought in participants that had a children and participants that did not.
They were interested in seeing how the participant’s reaction differed. Researchers believed that
participants with a child might experience a corroded feeling when recalling their childhood
memories. Participants that recalled their childhood memories judged Steve’s behavior more
harshly. Researchers did not find sufficient evidence to prove that participants with children did
not experience moral purity the same. ‘Lastly experiment 5 asked participants to recall good and
bad childhood experiences. Both experience moral purity. Although participants that were more
likely to help were the participants recalling good childhood memories slightly more than the
participants recalling a bad childhood experience. Researched suggest that recalling childhood
memories whether good or bad had little effect on their pro- social behavior. In conclusion
research does provide a good insight on moral purity and the association to childhood memories
which in turn lead to pro-social.
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However I think that they should definitely expands their research. Aside from recalling
childhood memories what else increases moral purity. What other associations lead to people to
engage in pro-social behavior. I believe that the concepts and associations mentioned in this
article can be applied to day to day life experiences. One good example is rescuing a child from
great danger. Which again when I see a child I do associate them with being innocent and
delicate. I believe pro- social behavior in general varies. One example is when other people are
around; a person might not act in the same manner as if they were alone. Also depending on the
type of exposures a person experienced during their lifetime that can desensitize and impact their
reaction to helping other in normal and extreme conditions. I enjoyed reading the article and
understanding how a research experiment is conducted. I had somewhat of a difficult time
figuring out specific details in the experiments. I do however have an overall understanding of
the experiment. I am fascinated by social psychology so it made easy and enjoyable to read.