Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers.

Full Abstract

In most research on the early ontogeny of sympathy, young children are presented with an overtly distressed person and their responses are observed. In the current study, the authors asked whether young children could also sympathize with a person to whom something negative had happened but who was expressing no emotion at all. They showed 18- and 25-month-olds an adult either harming another adult by destroying or taking away her possessions (harm condition) or else doing something similar that did not harm her (neutral condition). The "victim" expressed no emotions in either condition. Nevertheless, in the harm as compared with the neutral condition, children showed more concern and subsequent prosocial behavior toward the victim. Moreover, children's concerned looks during the harmful event were positively correlated with their subsequent prosocial behavior. Very young children can sympathize with a victim even in the absence of overt emotional signals, possibly by some form of affective perspective taking.

Author information

Author/s: Vaish, Amrisha (A); Carpenter, Malinda (M); Tomasello, Michael (M);

Affiliation: Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. vaish(-atsign-)eva.mpg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Developmental psychology (Dev Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 45 (issue 2) : pp 534-43

Dates: Created 2009/03/10; Completed 2009/05/11;

PMID: 19271837, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 5/11/2009, IMS Date: 11 May 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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