Fieke Pannebaker

On November 1st, 2007, Fieke Pannebakker earned her PhD-degree at Leiden University.

The title of her thesis was: Morality from infancy to middle childhood.

She was supervised by Prof.Dr Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, and Prof.Dr Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg.

Summary

In the present thesis, a homogeneous upper-middle class sample of firstborn girls and their mothers were followed from infancy (18 and 24 months) to middle childhood (89 months) using questionnaires and observations. The focus of the study was on three components of moral behavior, i.e. empathy, compliance, and prosocial behavior. The longitudinal development and stability of empathy and compliance from infancy to middle childhood was described, and their relation to prosocial behavior in middle childhood. Empathic concern towards mother increased from 18 to 24 months, but strongly decreased from 24 to 89 months. Empathic concern towards an unfamiliar person decreased from 18 to 89 months. Compliance increased from 18 to 89 months. Only empathy towards mother seems to be fertile ground for donating to charitable organizations like UNICEF. Also, the role of antecedent and concurrent sensitivity and attachment security in prosocial, externalizing, and internalizing behavior in middle childhood was investigated. Results showed that, controlling for concurrent influences, maternal sensitivity and attachment security in infancy predicted prosocial and externalizing behavior.

More information

For more information regarding her scientific career, visit Fieke Pannebaker's personal webpage.