By 18 months children demonstrate a range of social–cognitive skills that can be considered impor... more By 18 months children demonstrate a range of social–cognitive skills that can be considered important precursors to more advanced forms of social understanding such as theory of mind. Although individual differences in social cognition have been linked to neurocognitive maturation, sociocultural models of development suggest that environmental influences operate in the development of children's social–cognitive outcomes. In the current study of 501 children and their mothers, we tested and found support for a model in which distal environmental risk, assessed when children were newborns, was indirectly associated with children's social–cognitive competency at 18 months through mothers' responsivity at 18 months. Part of this effect also operated through children's concomitant language skills, suggesting both a language-mediated and a language-independent mechanism of social–cognitive development. These findings are discussed with respect to the Vygotskian themes of i...
This research examined disadvantageous inequality aversion in 4- and 6-year-old children. Using t... more This research examined disadvantageous inequality aversion in 4- and 6-year-old children. Using the resource allocation paradigm, we explored how inequality aversion was influenced by whether a cost was associated with the equitable choice. We also investigated whether preferences for equality differed depending on whether the inequitable choice presented a small or large discrepancy between the payoff of the participant and their partner. The results demonstrated that cost plays a large role in decision-making, as children preferred equality more when there was no cost associated with it compared to when there was a cost. Interestingly, the effect of cost also affected discrepancy, with children more likely to choose equality when the discrepancy was large as opposed to small, in cost trials but not in no cost trials. Finally, the effect of discrepancy also interacted with age, with older children being more sensitive to the discrepancy between themselves and their partner. Togethe...
When a participant views a rubber hand being stroked by a paintbrush while his/her real hand is u... more When a participant views a rubber hand being stroked by a paintbrush while his/her real hand is unseen and similarly stroked by another paintbrush, a misperception known as the rubber hand illusion occurs whereby tactile sensations are falsely referred to the non-body part. The purpose of the current study was to further examine the rubber hand illusion with conditions of movement. An apparatus was devised that would synchronise visual with felt movement in an active condition and a passive condition. An asynchronous condition was included as a control in which visual and felt movement were purposely disconnected. The three movement conditions (active, passive, and asynchronous) were statistically compared in order to assess our prediction that synchronous conditions of movement (especially active) would generate more reports of the illusion. The performance of the movement conditions was evaluated against a visual-tactile condition, which is a known contributor to the rubber hand i...
Little is known about how children develop or express their empathy for another individual's... more Little is known about how children develop or express their empathy for another individual's pain. The current study compared the behavioural expression of empathy for pain with that for emotion, specifically sadness, in children. One hundred twenty children (60 boys, 60 girls) between the ages of 18 and 36 months (M=26.44 months; SD=5.17) were assessed for their empathy-related behavioural responses to simulations of an adult's pain and sadness, each presented separately. Children were more likely to be distressed by, but also more likely to be prosocially responsive to, another's sadness. Conversely, children were more likely to actively play during another's pain. Despite these differences, principal component analyses conducted separately for pain and sadness revealed conceptual similarities across simulation type. Components labelled as Empathic Concern and Personal Distress emerged for both simulations. Hierarchical regression analyses examining the influen...
Cooperating with individuals whose altruism is not motivated by genuine prosocial emotions could ... more Cooperating with individuals whose altruism is not motivated by genuine prosocial emotions could have been costly in ancestral division of labour partnerships. How do humans 'know' whether or not an individual has the prosocial emotions committing future cooperation? Frank ...
By 18 months children demonstrate a range of social–cognitive skills that can be considered impor... more By 18 months children demonstrate a range of social–cognitive skills that can be considered important precursors to more advanced forms of social understanding such as theory of mind. Although individual differences in social cognition have been linked to neurocognitive maturation, sociocultural models of development suggest that environmental influences operate in the development of children's social–cognitive outcomes. In the current study of 501 children and their mothers, we tested and found support for a model in which distal environmental risk, assessed when children were newborns, was indirectly associated with children's social–cognitive competency at 18 months through mothers' responsivity at 18 months. Part of this effect also operated through children's concomitant language skills, suggesting both a language-mediated and a language-independent mechanism of social–cognitive development. These findings are discussed with respect to the Vygotskian themes of i...
This research examined disadvantageous inequality aversion in 4- and 6-year-old children. Using t... more This research examined disadvantageous inequality aversion in 4- and 6-year-old children. Using the resource allocation paradigm, we explored how inequality aversion was influenced by whether a cost was associated with the equitable choice. We also investigated whether preferences for equality differed depending on whether the inequitable choice presented a small or large discrepancy between the payoff of the participant and their partner. The results demonstrated that cost plays a large role in decision-making, as children preferred equality more when there was no cost associated with it compared to when there was a cost. Interestingly, the effect of cost also affected discrepancy, with children more likely to choose equality when the discrepancy was large as opposed to small, in cost trials but not in no cost trials. Finally, the effect of discrepancy also interacted with age, with older children being more sensitive to the discrepancy between themselves and their partner. Togethe...
When a participant views a rubber hand being stroked by a paintbrush while his/her real hand is u... more When a participant views a rubber hand being stroked by a paintbrush while his/her real hand is unseen and similarly stroked by another paintbrush, a misperception known as the rubber hand illusion occurs whereby tactile sensations are falsely referred to the non-body part. The purpose of the current study was to further examine the rubber hand illusion with conditions of movement. An apparatus was devised that would synchronise visual with felt movement in an active condition and a passive condition. An asynchronous condition was included as a control in which visual and felt movement were purposely disconnected. The three movement conditions (active, passive, and asynchronous) were statistically compared in order to assess our prediction that synchronous conditions of movement (especially active) would generate more reports of the illusion. The performance of the movement conditions was evaluated against a visual-tactile condition, which is a known contributor to the rubber hand i...
Little is known about how children develop or express their empathy for another individual's... more Little is known about how children develop or express their empathy for another individual's pain. The current study compared the behavioural expression of empathy for pain with that for emotion, specifically sadness, in children. One hundred twenty children (60 boys, 60 girls) between the ages of 18 and 36 months (M=26.44 months; SD=5.17) were assessed for their empathy-related behavioural responses to simulations of an adult's pain and sadness, each presented separately. Children were more likely to be distressed by, but also more likely to be prosocially responsive to, another's sadness. Conversely, children were more likely to actively play during another's pain. Despite these differences, principal component analyses conducted separately for pain and sadness revealed conceptual similarities across simulation type. Components labelled as Empathic Concern and Personal Distress emerged for both simulations. Hierarchical regression analyses examining the influen...
Cooperating with individuals whose altruism is not motivated by genuine prosocial emotions could ... more Cooperating with individuals whose altruism is not motivated by genuine prosocial emotions could have been costly in ancestral division of labour partnerships. How do humans 'know' whether or not an individual has the prosocial emotions committing future cooperation? Frank ...
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