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BABY EMPATHY: INFANT DISTRESS AND PEER PROSOCIAL RESPONSES

Mitzi-Jane E Liddle1, Ben S Bradley1, Andrew Mcgrath1

  • 1Charles Sturt University.

Infant Mental Health Journal
|June 27, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Eight-month-old infants show early signs of empathy and prosocial behavior when witnessing peer distress. Maternal presence did not influence these infant responses to distress.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Neuroscience

Background:

  • Empathy is crucial for social functioning and prosocial behavior.
  • Empathy is traditionally believed to develop later in infancy, around the second year of life.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate early markers of empathy and prosocial behavior in infants.
  • To examine infant responses to naturalistic peer distress.

Main Methods:

  • Seventeen 8-month-old infants participated in a repeated measures design.
  • The "babies-in-groups" paradigm was used, with maternal presence as a variable.
  • Infants' responses to peer distress were observed and categorized.

Main Results:

  • Gaze was the most common response to peer distress, followed by social behaviors and affect.
  • Self-distress was rare; maternal presence did not significantly alter responses.
  • Infants looked more at the distressed peer and other mothers than their own.
  • Infant responses successfully ceased peer distress over one-third of the time.

Conclusions:

  • Evidence suggests empathic concern and prosocial behavior emerge in the first year of life.
  • Findings challenge existing developmental theories of empathy.
  • Infant social understanding and responsiveness are present earlier than previously thought.

Keywords:
Babys in GruppenBébéEmpathieInfanteSäuglingbabies in groupsbebés en gruposbébés en groupescomportement prosocialconducta prosocialempathieempathyempatíainfantprosocial behaviorprosoziales Verhalten乳児共感利社會行為同理心向社会的行動嬰兒在團體幼兒集団の中の赤ちゃん

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