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Cognitions related to empathy in five- to eleven-year-old children.

Bengtsson, Hans LU and Johnson, Lena (1987) In Child Development 58(4). p.1001-1012
Abstract
Studied developmental changes in the conceptualization of empathy by testing and interviewing 16 kindergartners, 16 1st graders, and 16 4th graders. All age groups expected a child to empathize with liked peers more than with disliked peers. Whereas kindergartners expected emotional reactions to be equally strong in response to both types of peers, older Ss predicted weak and qualified empathic reactions to disliked peers. Taken in conjunction with the Ss' explanations of their emotion choices, this result suggests age differences with regard to the integration of separate items of information; few kindergartners knew how to control empathic arousal purely by means of thoughts. Mentalistic strategies used by older Ss to maximize or... (More)
Studied developmental changes in the conceptualization of empathy by testing and interviewing 16 kindergartners, 16 1st graders, and 16 4th graders. All age groups expected a child to empathize with liked peers more than with disliked peers. Whereas kindergartners expected emotional reactions to be equally strong in response to both types of peers, older Ss predicted weak and qualified empathic reactions to disliked peers. Taken in conjunction with the Ss' explanations of their emotion choices, this result suggests age differences with regard to the integration of separate items of information; few kindergartners knew how to control empathic arousal purely by means of thoughts. Mentalistic strategies used by older Ss to maximize or minimize empathic arousal are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Empathy, Social cognition, social development, early and middle childhood
in
Child Development
volume
58
issue
4
pages
1001 - 1012
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6206ac28-9305-4279-a9b4-d3bc95a1cb28
date added to LUP
2016-08-20 17:40:34
date last changed
2021-03-22 18:28:23
@article{6206ac28-9305-4279-a9b4-d3bc95a1cb28,
  abstract     = {{Studied developmental changes in the conceptualization of empathy by testing and interviewing 16 kindergartners, 16 1st graders, and 16 4th graders. All age groups expected a child to empathize with liked peers more than with disliked peers. Whereas kindergartners expected emotional reactions to be equally strong in response to both types of peers, older Ss predicted weak and qualified empathic reactions to disliked peers. Taken in conjunction with the Ss' explanations of their emotion choices, this result suggests age differences with regard to the integration of separate items of information; few kindergartners knew how to control empathic arousal purely by means of thoughts. Mentalistic strategies used by older Ss to maximize or minimize empathic arousal are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Hans and Johnson, Lena}},
  keywords     = {{Empathy; Social cognition; social development; early and middle childhood}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1001--1012}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Child Development}},
  title        = {{Cognitions related to empathy in five- to eleven-year-old children.}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{1987}},
}