Can Adversity Create Alturism? How "Troubled" Teens and Empathic Mothers May Be Leading the Way

Wake Up Call Segment Host/Producer MK Mendoza interviews Assistant Professor and lead researcher at the The University of New Mexico's College of Education Alexandra Davis about the impacts of pro-social behavior on not just babies but even teenagers. It's not just the impacts of empathic and nurturing mothers on their babies nor positive reward alone but relationship building between parent and child that is the critical component to creating children who are driven to do good, selflessly. In fact, monetary reward may work against enabling more alturistic children, and de-incentivize them toward a greater sense of entitlement. And it may not just be the family unit where children find the infrastructure they need to rise above adversity at any age, but their larger social environment from relatives to social environment to even social media where kids often find support they might not within the limited scope of their realities. Tune in to find out more about her breakthrough research that gives numbers and measurement to things we've suspected all along demonstrating that relationships really do matter in making this world a better place.