Poster #211 - Empathy-related behaviors in shy children: The role of physiological reactivity

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Shyness is defined as an anxious preoccupation with the self in real or perceived social situations (Cheek & Melchior, 1990). Although there has been considerable work examining emotional processes and problem behaviors in shy children, relatively few studies have examined prosocial behaviors and social cognitive processes such as empathy in children’s shyness. The current literature suggests an inverse relation between shyness and empathy (Findlay, Girardi, & Coplan, 2006; Robinson, 1994; Young, Fox, & Zahn-Waxler, 1999). However, it is important to note that, although these patterns appear to suggest that shy children might be experiencing a social cognitive deficit in understanding others’ feelings, some have argued that this relation is accounted for by a performance issue rather than a competence issue (Eisenberg et al., 1998; Findlay et al., 2006). To help clarify this relation, it may help to examine potential moderating factors such as such as physiological reactivity. Empathic response, like other behaviors, requires an optimal level of arousal (Hebb & Thompson, 1954). Eisenberg et al. (1996) have found that high reactivity interferes with empathic responding, since it results in distress being focused internally rather than externally, to the victim requiring an empathic response. The present study examined the relation between children’s shyness and empathy and whether physiological reactivity moderated this relation.

We assessed 80 typically-developing 4- and 6-year-old children (Mage = 68.8 months, SD = 12.2 months; 44 female). We used observational coding to attain measures of shyness and empathy. The empathy task involved a female experimenter feigning injury and expressing pain for a 35-second period. The child’s empathic concern was coded by evaluation of facial expression, body orientation, and comforting. Shyness was coded by assessing the child’s behavioural reaction to a self-presentation task in which they were asked to talk about their most recent birthday in front of video camera. Children were assessed for body avoidance and social gaze avoidance. Participants also supplied a baseline saliva sample, which was followed by two additional samples approximately 40 and 55 minutes following. Average cortisol output was calculated across the three samples.

We found that shyness and empathy were marginally, negatively correlated (r = -0.21, p = 0.06), replicating previous work. In addition, a multiple linear regression revealed a significant interaction between child shyness and average cortisol output to predict observed empathy, F(7, 64) = 2.8, p = 0.01, while controlling for time of day, age, sex, and family income. As presented in Figure 1, children who were relatively lower in shyness and had relatively lower cortisol levels had higher observed empathy than those with relatively higher cortisol output and who were relatively higher in shyness regardless of cortisol levels.

Our findings on the negative relation among shyness and empathy were consistent with prior literature. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of physiological stress reactivity in understanding the link between shyness and prosocial behaviors such as empathy in children.

Authors

• Taigan MacGowan, McMaster University
  Presenting Author

• Louis Schmidt, McMaster University
  Non-Presenting Author