The research examined factors promoting prosocial behavior among preschool children. The purpose of the first study was to classify prosocial behavior of preschool children according to their motives. Accordingly, three categories of behavior were found: extrinsic prosocial behavior, intrinsic prosocial behavior, and prosocial behavior with conflicts. There were several indications that conflict situations play an important role in the development of prosociality in preschool children. The second study probed the effects of differences in words used by adults in the promotion of prosocial behavior in conflict situations. Two types of adult verbal communication were classified: "empathic communication", which signaled empathy with a child’s feeling, and "instructive communication", which called for a child to follow a request made by adult. It was found that all the children showed positive emotions towards "empathic communication", whereas a child who was known for his prosocial behavior did not show positive emotions towards the "instructive communication". The results of this study suggest that empathic verbal communication could promote prosocial behavior.
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