Skip to main content

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

Publication ,  Journal Article
Vaish, A; Carpenter, M; Tomasello, M
Published in: Developmental psychology
March 2009

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.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Developmental psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-0599

ISSN

0012-1649

Publication Date

March 2009

Volume

45

Issue

2

Start / End Page

534 / 543

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Behavior
  • Reaction Time
  • Personality Development
  • Personal Construct Theory
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Empathy
  • Emotions
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Vaish, A., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 534–543. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014322
Vaish, Amrisha, Malinda Carpenter, and Michael Tomasello. “Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers.Developmental Psychology 45, no. 2 (March 2009): 534–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014322.
Vaish A, Carpenter M, Tomasello M. Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental psychology. 2009 Mar;45(2):534–43.
Vaish, Amrisha, et al. “Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers.Developmental Psychology, vol. 45, no. 2, Mar. 2009, pp. 534–43. Epmc, doi:10.1037/a0014322.
Vaish A, Carpenter M, Tomasello M. Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental psychology. 2009 Mar;45(2):534–543.

Published In

Developmental psychology

DOI

EISSN

1939-0599

ISSN

0012-1649

Publication Date

March 2009

Volume

45

Issue

2

Start / End Page

534 / 543

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Behavior
  • Reaction Time
  • Personality Development
  • Personal Construct Theory
  • Male
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Empathy
  • Emotions