The Developmental Psychophysiology of Prosociality

For four decades, developmental scientists have been examining the links between children’s and adolescents’ prosociality and the activity of their peripheral physiological systems. In this chapter, we review the theories and studies that evaluate these links. In particular, we emphasize that the developmental psychophysiology of prosociality needs to be understood as involving dynamic and nonlinear processes occurring within the immediate contexts of evocative situations and shaped by the enduring contexts of close relationships.