2-142 - Predictors and Outcomes of Early Empathy and Prosocial Development: Findings from Longitudinal Investigations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Empathy and prosociality are key features of harmonious, healthy social functioning, yet important gaps in knowledge still remain regarding their early development, particularly during infancy. The current symposium seeks to advance understanding of this topic. It consists of four presentations, all addressing longitudinal studies—beginning during the first year of life and extending into toddlerhood or early childhood—which examine processes of early empathy/prosociality. The papers cover versatile methods, address both child-related and environmental variables, and examine predictors as well as outcomes. Two of the presentation focus on early predictors (during the first year of life) of subsequent empathy/prosociality: Paper1 examines the quality of early maternal response to infant distress at 6-months using both interviews and observations, as predictors of subsequent empathy and prosociality; Paper2 examines attentional and brain processing of emotional stimuli, with an emphasis on fear, as predictors of subsequent prosociality in the second year. And two of the papers address the developmental consequences of empathy in the first year of life and beyond, by examining its links to subsequent outcomes: Paper3 looks at the links between empathic responses in the first year and subsequent externalizing behavior difficulties, with a consideration of gender as a moderator; Paper4 examines empathic/prosocial responses in the first and second years as predictors of children’s emerging values during early childhood. Together, the presentations shed new light on antecedents, consequences, and processes of infants’ and toddlers’ empathy and prosocial development, and point out promising avenues for future research of this important topic.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Maayan Davidov, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Responsiveness to Infant Distress and its Links to Early Empathy Development - Presenting Author: Tal Orlitsky, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Maayan Davidov, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Maja Ram Berger, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Yael Paz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Tal Tauber, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Ronit Roth-Hanania, Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College; Non-Presenting Author: Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Responding to Fear in Others Predicts Prosocial Behavior in Infancy - Presenting Author: Tobias Grossmann, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Manuela Missana, Leipzig University; Non-Presenting Author: Kathleen M Krol, University of Virginia

• Links between Early Individual Differences in Empathy and Externalizing Behavioral Problems in Toddlerhood - Presenting Author: Yael Paz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Tal Orlitsky, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Mor Hayut, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Ronit Roth-Hanania, Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College; Non-Presenting Author: Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Maayan Davidov, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• When Empathic Predispositions Integrate into the Self: Toddlers’ Empathic Responses Relate to their Childhood Values - Presenting Author: Lior Abramson, Hebrew university of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Adi Dan, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Non-Presenting Author: Ariel Knafo-Noam, Hebrew University of Jerusalem