This book is a primer for practitioners and researchers striving to incorporate the assessment of human strengths, resources, and fulfillment into their work. Contributors examine the scientific underpinnings and practical applications of measures of hope, optimism, self-efficacy, problem-solving, locus of control, creativity, wisdom, courage,…

Examines the theories of Aronfreed, Bandura, Berger, and Hygge. Also reviews experimental evidence published since 1962 which supports theories of observational learning of emotional behavior. While the theories posit that different conditions are necessary to vicarious instigation, most research does not test the theories in any direct way.…

Developmental changes in the conceptualization of empathy were studied by testing and interviewing kindergartners, first graders, and fourth graders in Sweden. (PCB)

The construct of empathy may be located conceptually at several different points in a network of social cognition and vicarious emotion. This paper discusses one specific form of emotional empathy, empathy in response to perceiving another person in need. First, evidence is reviewed suggesting that there are at least two distinct types of…

This paper explores important conceptual issues that confront researchers who wish to study the role of empathy in parent-child interaction. Part I reviews the major existing theories of parent empathy offered by the psychoanalytic-object relations and the client-centered schools of thought. In part II, a new processing model derived from the…

To investigate affective and dispositional factors in the motivation of children's helping, 60 children ranging from preschool to sixth grade were observed in laboratory distress incidents. Results indicated that helping tended to be positively correlated with positive affect and negatively correlated with negative and neutral affect. (Author/RH)

To investigate the effects of mutual perceived understanding on the communicators, 86 undergraduate students in a speech communication course were asked to use a 382 item checklist to identify those feelings and sensations that described their own experiences of intense communication. Analysis of subjects' responses showed that 63 items were…

Research has shown that observers' vicarious emotional reactions to an in-group member's facial display of pleasure and pain are highly differentiated and empathetic, while responses to the expressive displays of an out-group member are relatively undifferentiated and indifferent. This study examines the effects of perceived group membership on…

Involving 82 preschool children and grade 2 students, a study was conducted to (1) determine whether heart rate, facial, and self-report indices could be used to differentiate between different vicariously induced negative emotional states; (2) examine developmental differences in the degree of differentiation; and (3) assess the pattern of…

Subjects, ages 3 to 5 and 9 to 11, were shown a videotape that presented either a frightening stimulus directly or a character's fearful response to a threatening stimulus that was suggested rather than shown directly. Both self-reported emotional reactions and physiological responses were consistent with a cognitive-developmental view of the…

A series of studies are underway at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Audience Research Facility to examine the impact of interactivity on informational and entertainment based television viewing. In order to examine the learning of spatial skills from videogames, the first study compared the learning of spatial content from interactive…