Empathy and Education in Infancy and Childhood: A Current State of the Art

Abstract

The growing interest in emotional education in childhood motivated this work, which seeks to examine the contributions of various investigations, based on a systematic review of documents indexed in Google Scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scielo and Dialnet. A total of 204 documents were considered, which are referenced in the narrative construction of this text; However, with the aim of determining its relevance and relevance, documentary content analysis matrices were used, from which 72 documents were given prevalence (from 1985 to 2021). The results are presented in 3 categories of analysis, which in turn guided the review: empathy and moral reasoning, empathy and child development; empathy in the educational field. Within the conclusions, it is possible to affirm that there is a tendency to focus this kind of studies on prosocial and disruptive behaviors in the educational field, in addition to their possible educational actions; On the other hand, these findings allow us to determine future lines of work around emotional education and empathy in childhood.

Keywords

childhood, early childhood education, empathy, school

Author Biography

Fausto Andrés Nuñez, M.Sc. (c)

Maestrante en Educación y Licenciado en Informática Educativa. Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia. Docente Institución Educativa Técnica Agropecuaria San Isidro de Boyacá-Boyacá. Tunja, Boyacá. +573204641320

References

Ahl, R. E., Dunham, Y. (2019). “Wealth makes many friends”: Children expect more giving from resource-rich than resource-poor individuals. Child Development, 90, 524–543. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12922

Angulo, B., Estévez, A., Iriarte, L., Troyas, I. (2019). Empatía y mindfulness como factores mentalizadores intervinientes en las relaciones entre el apego y la sensibilidad interpersonal en mujeres. Ansiedad y Estrés, 25(1), 42-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anyes.2019.04.004

Belacchi, C., Farina, E. (2012). Feeling and thinking of others: Affective and cognitive empathy and emotion comprehension in prosocial/hostile preschoolers. Aggressive behavior, 38(2), 150-165. https://doi.or/10.1002/ab.21415

Beschorner, B., Hall, A. (2021). Building Inclusivity and Empathy Through Writers' Workshop. The Reading Teacher. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1971

Bian, L., Leslie, S.-J., Cimpian, A. (2017). Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science, 355, 389–391.

Chlopan, B. E., McCain, M. L., Carbonell, J. L., Hagen, R. L. (1985). Empathy: Review of available measures. Journal of personality and social psychology, 48(3), 635. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.48.3.635

Chopik, W. J., O’Brien, E., Konrath, S. H. (2016). Differences in empathic concern and perspective taking across 63 countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48, 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022116673910

Cuff, B. M. P., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L., Howat, D. (2016). Empathy: A review of the concept. Emotion Review, 8, 144–153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073914558466

De Minzi, M. C. R., Lemos, V., Mesurado, B. (2011). Relaciones entre la percepción que tienen los niños de los estilos de relación y de la empatía de los padres y la conducta prosocial en la niñez media y tardía. Avances en psicología latinoamericana, 29(2), 330-343

Decety, J., Yoder, K. J. (2016). Empathy and motivation for justice: Cognitive empathy and concern, but not emotional empathy, predict sensitivity to injustice for others. Social Neuroscience, 11, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2015.1029593

Decety, J., Meidenbauer, K. L., Cowell, J. M. (2018). The development of cognitive empathy and concern in preschool children: A behavioural neuroscience investigation. Developmental Science, 21(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12570

Demedardi, M. J., Brechet, C., Gentaz, E., Monnier, C. (2021). Prosocial lying in children between 4 and 11 years of age: The role of emotional understanding and empathy. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203, 105045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105045

Di Martino, A., Ross, K., Uddin, L. Q., Sklar, A. B., Castellanos, F. X., Milham, M. P. (2009). Functional brain correlates of social and nonsocial processes in autism spectrum disorders: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Biological psychiatry, 65(1), 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.09.022

Díaz, M. S., Vega-Valdés, J. C. F. (2003). Algunos aspectos teórico-conceptuales sobre el análisis documental y el análisis de información. Ciencias de la Información, 34(2), 49-60

Eisenberg, N., Eggum, N. D. (2009). Empathic responding: Sympathy and personal distress. Decety, J., & Ickes, W. (Eds.). The social neuroscience of empathy. (pp. 71-83) Mit Press.

Eisenberg, N., Strayer, J. (1987). Critical issues in the study of empathy. En Eisenberg, N. & Strayer, J. (Eds.), Cambridge studies in social and emotional development. Empathy and its development (pp. 3–13). Cambridge University Press.

Elenbaas, L. (2019). Against unfairness: Young children’s judgements about merit, equity, and equality. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 186, 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.05.009

Esquivel, M. F., Cabrero, B. G., Lena, M. M. Y. L., Cruz, A. V. (2013). Regulación materna y esfuerzo de control emocional en niños pequeños. International Journal of Psychological Research, 6(1), 30-40.

Fausto‐Sterling, A. (2016). How else can we study sex differences in early infancy? Developmental Psychobiology, 58(1), 5-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21345

Fernández-Pinto, I., López-Pérez, B., Márquez, M. (2008). Empatía: Medidas, teorías y aplicaciones en revisión. Anales de Psicología, 24(2), 284-298.

Gazzola, V., Aziz-Zadeh, L., Keysers, C. (2006). Empathy and the somatotopic auditory mirror system in humans. Current biology, 16(18), 1824-1829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.072

Gevaux, N. S., Nilsen, E. S., Bobocel, D. R., Gault, S. F. (2020). Children's reactions to inequality: Associations with empathy and parental teaching. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 70, 101189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2020.101189

Herrera, L., Buitrago, R. E. (2015). Educación rural en Boyacá, fortalezas y debilidades desde la perspectiva del profesorado. Praxis & Saber, 6(12), 169-190.

Javakhishvili, M., Vazsonyi, A. T. (2021). Empathy, self-control, callous-unemotionality, and delinquency: unique and shared developmental antecedents. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01137-2

Jenkins, L. N., Fredrick, S. S. (2017). Social capital and bystander behavior in bullying: internalizing problems as a barrier to prosocial intervention. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(4), 757-771. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0637-0

Kalliopuska, M., Ruokonen, I. (1993). A study with a follow-up of the effects of music education on holistic development of empathy. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76(1), 131-137. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1993.76.1.131

Kalliopuska, M., Tiitinen, U. (1991). Influence of two developmental programmes on the empathy and prosociability of preschool children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 72(1), 323-328. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1991.72.1.323

Kim, S., Kochanska, G. (2017). Relational antecedents and social implications of the emotion of empathy: Evidence from three studies. Emotion, 17(6), 981–992. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000297

Kunzmann, U., Wieck, C., Dietzel, C. (2018). Empathic accuracy: Age differences from adolescence into middle childhood. Cognition and Emotion, 32, 1611–1624. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1433128

Lee, J. J., Hardin, A. E., Parmar, B., Gino, F. (2019). The interpersonal costs of dishonesty: How dishonest behavior reduces individuals’ ability to read others’ emotions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(9), 1557-1574. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000639

Levy, J., Yirmiya, K., Goldstein, A., Feldman, R. (2019). Chronic trauma impairs the neural basis of empathy in mothers: relations to parenting and children’s empathic abilities. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 38, 100658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100658

López-Pérez, B., Fernández-Pinto, I., García, F. J. A. (2008). TECA: Test de Empatía Cognitiva y Afectiva. Tea.

Malti, T., Gasser, L., Gutzwiller‐Helfenfinger, E. (2010). Children's interpretive understanding, moral judgments, and emotion attributions: Relations to social behaviour. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 275-292. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151009X403838

Miller, S. A. (2009). Children’s understanding of second-order mental states. Psychological Bulletin, 135(5), 749–773.

Misailidi, P., Tsiara, E. (2021). Conscience and theory of mind in children aged 4 to 7 years. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203, 105007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105007

Montgomery, C. B., Allison, C., Lai, M. C., Cassidy, S., Langdon, P. E., Baron-Cohen, S. (2016). Do adults with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome differ in empathy and emotion recognition?. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 46(6), 1931-1940. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2698-4

Nickerson, A. B., Mele-Taylor, D. (2014). Empathetic responsiveness, group norms, and prosocial affiliations in bullying roles. School Psychology Quarterly, 29(1), 99. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000052

Nielsen, M., Haun, D., Kartner, J., Legare, C. H. (2017). The persistent sampling bias in developmental psychology: A call to action. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 162, 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.017

Nilsen, E., Valcke, A. (2018). Children's sharing with collaborators versus competitors: The impact of theory of mind and executive functioning. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 58, 38–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2018.08.001

Paulus, M., Leitherer, M. (2017). Preschoolers’ social experiences and empathy-based responding relate to their fair resource allocation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 161, 202–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.03.005

Pavarino, M. G., Del Prette, A., Del Prette, Z. A. P. (2005). O desenvolvimento da empatia como prevenção da agressividade na infância. Psico, 36(2), 3.

Portillo, M., Barajas, C. (2016). Teoría de la mente, aceptación entre iguales y auto-percepción social. Apuntes de psicología, 34(1), 47-58.

Reese, E., Bird, A., Tripp, G. (2007). Children's self‐esteem and moral self: Links to parent–child conversations regarding emotion. Social Development, 16(3), 460-478. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00393.x

Ruggieri, V. L. (2013). Empathy, social cognition and autism spectrum disorders. Revista de neurologia, 56, 13-21.

Şahin, M. (2012). An investigation into the efficiency of empathy training program on preventing bullying in primary schools. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(7), 1325-1330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.03.013

Schwenck, C., Mergenthaler, J., Keller, K., Zech, J., Salehi, S., Taurines, R., Freitag, C. M. (2012). Empathy in children with autism and conduct disorder: Group‐specific profiles and developmental aspects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(6), 651-659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02499.x

Shamay-Tsoory, S. G, Aharon-Peretz, J., Perry, D. (2009). Two systems for empathy: a double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions, Brain, 32, (3), 617–627, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awn279

Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tormer, R., Goldsher, D., Berger, B. D. Aharon-Peretz, J. (2005). Impaired “Affective Theory of Mind” Is Associated with Right Ventromedial Prefrontal Damage. Cognitive Behavioral Neurology, 18(1), 55-67. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnn.0000152228.90129.99

Shoshani, A., Braverman, S., Meirow, G. (2021). Video games and close relations: Attachment and empathy as predictors of children's and adolescents' video game social play and socio-emotional functioning. Computers in Human Behavior, 114, 106578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106578

Smetana, J. G., Ball, C. L. (2019). Heterogeneity in children’s developing moral judgments about different types of harm. Developmental Psychology, 55, 1150–1163. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000718

Smetana, J. G., Rote, W. M., Jambon, M., Tasopoulos‐Chan, M., Villalobos, M., Comer, J. (2012). Developmental changes and individual differences in young children’s moral judgments. Child development, 83(2), 683-696. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01714.x

Steger, A., Evans, E., Wee, B. (2021). Emotional cartography as a window into children's well-being: Visualizing the felt geographies of place. Emotion, Space and Society, 39, 100772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2021.100772

Taylor, Z. E., Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., Eggum, N. D., Sulik, M. J. (2013). The relations of ego-resiliency and emotion socialization to the development of empathy and prosocial behavior across early childhood. Emotion, 13(5), 822. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032894

Van der Graaff, J., Branje, S., De Wied, M., Hawk, S., Van Lier, P., Meeus, W. (2014). Perspective taking and empathic concern in adolescence: gender differences in developmental changes. Developmental psychology, 50(3), 881. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034325

Van-Rijn, J., Quiñones, E. J., Barham, B. L. (2019). Empathic concern for children and the gender-donations gap. Journal of behavioral and experimental economics, 82, 101462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.101462

Wang, S., Hu, H., Wang, X., Dong, B., Zhang, T. (2021). The Hidden Danger in Family Environment: The Role of Self-Reported Parenting Style in Cognitive and Affective Empathy Among Offenders. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 167. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.588993

Wee, S. J., Kim, S. J., Chung, K., Kim, M. (2021). Development of Children’s Perspective-Taking and Empathy through Bullying-Themed Books and Role-Playing. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2020.1864523

Wispé, L. (1986). The distinction between sympathy and empathy: To call forth a concept, a word is needed. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50(2), 314.

Wong, W. I., Yeung, S. P. (2019). Early gender differences in spatial and social skills and their relations to play and parental socialization in Hong Kong Chinese children. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48, 1589–1602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-1415-8

Wong, W. I., Tsui, W. B. P., Siu, T. S. C. (2021). Empathic accuracy of young boys and girls in ongoing parent–child interactions: Performance and (mis) perception. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203, 105042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105042

Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M. (1990). The origins of empathic concern. Motivation and emotion, 14(2), 107-130. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00991639

Zhang, R., Wang, Z. (2019). The mediating effect of empathy in the quadratic relationship between children's resting RSA and sharing behavior. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 140, 8-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.03.012