Eighty-five children between 7 and 12 years of age were asked to discuss happy, sad, or affectively neutral incidents that had been experienced either by themselves or by another child. Each child received prize chips for participating in the study. Then the children were given the opportunity to share their experimental earnings with some less…

This study examined the interactive role of empathic disposition and affective perspective-taking ability (APT) in children's machiavellianism, prosocial behavior, and motive for helping. Children demonstrating low empathy and high APT were expected to be highly machiavellian and to cite self-oriented reasons for helping more frequently than would…