Humans need empathy to promote social interactions and to display prosocial behavior. Therefore, it is not surprising that low empathy skills are commonly seen as diagnostic features in several mental disorders. Empathy is an interesting topic in autism, since low empathy skills are responsible for the social difficulties that individuals with…

Background: Attachment theory emphasizes that parents' responses to children's emotional distress might shape their ability to empathize with others. Previous research showed that securely attached preschoolers are prone to exhibiting more empathy towards others' distress compared to insecurely attached children, but less is known about the way…

Games enable children to practice emotions in spaces that are free from actualized consequences. With thoughtful guidance, games can help children manage emotions, perspective-take, demonstrate empathic concern, and exhibit prosocial behaviors. Emerging research suggests that these competencies--also known as social and emotional learning (SEL)…

Background: A deficit in empathy is discussed to underlie difficulties in social interaction of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and conduct disorder (CD). To date, no study has compared children with ASD and different subtypes of CD to describe disorder-specific empathy profiles in clinical samples. Furthermore, little is known about…

This study introduces the Satisfaction with Life Scale adapted for Children (SWLS-C) and presents psychometric findings regarding its validation. The SWLS-C was adapted from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al. 1985), which is one of the most commonly used measures to assess satisfaction with life in adults. Three subject matter…

Defining moral imagining as the ability to universalize and to understand a situation from another person's perspective, the author discusses the conditions of learning to be imaginative, as well as the relations of moral imagining to sympathy, compassion, and concern. (Author/SJL)

Examined the relationship between perspective taking in response to another's distress and prosocial behavior and dispositional affective empathy in late childhood. The tendency to reflect spontaneously on the inner experience of others who are unfortunate was positively related to prosocial behavior in boys and to affective empathy in both sexes.…

Concludes that there are reliable relationships between altruism and perceptual, social, and moral perspective taking. Results concerning the relationship between empathy and altruism are nonsignificant overall, but it is suggested that a reliable association between empathy and altruism develops over time and is found in adults. (Author/RH)

The effect of two types of role-taking training experiences on role taking, empathy, altruism, and aggression was investigated in 30 six- and 30 nine-year-old boys. (SS)

This paper reviews literature on conceptualizations of empathy, examining (1) whether empathetic response is an understanding or sharing of affect; (2) whether empathetic response is a response to an object, another's affect, and/or circumstance; (3) which mechanisms explain empathy; and (4) whether various definitions of empathy require…

Studies the relationship between egocentrism, empathy, and altruistic behavior in three- to nine-year-old children. (CM)

Empathic distress refers to the empathic response to another's pain, anxiety, or sadness. Empathic distress must be viewed as only one component of a person's response when observing someone in distress. Studies of empathy should be designed to rule out or control the non-empathic components insofar as possible. The importance of perception and…

Two studies with a total of 17 children (ages 5-18) with autism tested a picture-in-the-head strategy for dealing with thoughts and behavior using cartoon thought-bubbles to represent various mental states. The thought-bubble training led to the children passing not only false belief tests but also theory of mind tests. (Contains references.)…

When assessing the influence of empathy on prosocial motivation, analyzing empathy alone would lead to a misunderstanding. We must also assess other elements of the situation, such as the altruist's coping skills and situational constraints. In a similar manner empathy itself should be conceptualized as a process with many elements. One way to…

A developmental model for an empathy-based prosocial motive is presented. The framework of the model is presented in terms of three components of empathy. The first component, empathic affective arousal, is discussed and six involuntary psychological mechanisms which underlie it are described briefly. These mechanisms, in the order in which they…