In a prior review involving a meta-analysis (Underwood & Moore, 1982), no relation between affective empathy and prosocial behavior was found. In this article, the literature relevant to this issue is reexamined. The studies were organized according to the method used to assess empathy. When appropriate, meta-analyses were computed. In contrast to the earlier review, low to moderate positive relations generally were found between empathy and both prosocial behavior and cooperative/socially competent behavior. The method of assessing empathy did influence the strength of the relations; picture/story measures of empathy were not associated with prosocial behavior, whereas nearly all other measures were. Several possible explanations for the pattern of findings are discussed, as are the implications of the findings.

The Relation of Empathy to Prosocial and Related Behaviors

The literature on altruism in social psychology, and to a lesser degree in sociology, economics, political behavior and sociobiology since the early 1980’s is reviewed. The authors take the position that in all of these areas, there appears to be a “paradigm shift” away from the earlier position that behavior that appears to be altruistic must, under closer scrutiny, be revealed as reflecting egoistic motives. Rather, theory and data now being advanced are more compatible with the view that true altruism—acting with the goal of benefitting another—does exist and is a part of human nature. Research in social psychology during the 80’s had a decreased emphasis on situational determinants of helping. Rather, it has focussed mainly on the following topics: the existence and nature of the altruistic personality, the debate concerning the nature of the motivation underlying helping behavior, and the nature of the process of the development of altruism in children and adults. During this time there has also been...

Altruism: A Review of Recent Theory and Research

and distant from their actions. Children will not only match or imitate the pretend acts of other children but also attempt to recruit the partner to join their pretend play. These efforts are not routinely successful, but it is clear that children are beginning to understand that nonliteral meanings can be shared by partners. From 21 to 24 months, children engage in similar pretend actions in the context of broader joint activity. Attempts to recruit others into pretense are more frequent and more successful. Although children organize materials for sociodramatic play, there is little or no joint organization of the pretend play itself. Scripted joint play emerges from 25 to 30 months, and the assignment of social roles in play (e.g., doctor, mother, father, police officer) emerges shortly thereafter, from 31 to 36 months. At this point, children understand that nonliteral meaning can be shared and they can communicate these meanings effectively during pretense with partners.

Peer Relationships, Child Development, and Adjustment: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

The correlates and structure of prosocial behaviors in late adolescents were examined using a newly constructed, multidimensional measure. In Study 1, 249 college students (145 women; M age = 19.9 years) were administered the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) which assesses 6 types of prosocial behaviors: altruistic, compliant, emotional, dire, public, and anonymous. Measures of sympathy, perspective taking, personal distress, social desirability, global prosocial behaviors, social responsibility, ascription of responsibility, vocabulary skills, and prosocial moral reasoning were also completed. Test-retest reliability and further validity of the PTM were demonstrated in Study 2 with a sample of 40 college students (28 women; M age = 22.9 years). Results from both studies yielded evidence of adequate reliability and validity of the PTM and support the notion of differentiated forms of helping.

/pdf/the-development-of-a-measure-of-prosocial-behaviors-for-late-22u2q3kgg6.pdf

The Development of a Measure of Prosocial Behaviors for Late Adolescents

Empathy, sympathy, and related vicarious emotional responses are important concepts in developmental, social, and clinical psychology. The purpose of this paper is to examine conceptual and methodological issues concerning the assessment of vicarious emotional responding and to present data from a series of multimethod studies on the assessment of empathy-related reactions and their association with prosocial behavior. The findings presented are consistent with several conclusions: (a) In some contexts, physiological, facial, and self-report indexes can be useful markers of vicarious emotional responses, (b) other-oriented sympathetic responding is positively related to prosocial behavior (particularly altruism) whereas personal distress reactions sometimes are associated with low levels of helping, and (c) physiological arousal is higher for personal distress than sympathetic reactions.

Empathy: Conceptualization, measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior

Socialization of prosocial behavior in the preschool classroom

EISENBERG, NANCY; PASTERNACK, JEANNETTE FLOM; CAMERON, ELLEN; and TRYON, KELLY The Relation of Quantity and Mode of Prosocial Behavior to Moral Cognitions and Social Style CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1479-1485 Researchers have seldom differentiated between 2 types of moral cognitions: moral judgments and self-attributions Thus, the primary purposes of the present study were (a) to examine the relation of preschoolers' self-attributions about their naturally occurring prosocial behaviors to frequency of prosocial responding, and (b) to determine if different types of prosocial behaviors are associated with different configurations of moral judgments, self-attributions, and social behaviors The prosocial and social behaviors of 44 preschoolers were observed in their classrooms over approximately 9 weeks, and their self-attributions about prosocial acts were elicited Moreover, for a subsample, moral judgment was assessed In general, there was some relation of spontaneously emitted prosocial behaviors to both self-attributions and moral judgment, as well as to general sociability Frequency of requested prosocial behaviors was unrelated to self-attributions or moral judgments, but was associated with low sociability and low assertiveness with peers Self-attributions were unrelated to moral judgment The results are discussed in terms of the psychological significance of various types of prosocial actions and the role of both moral cognitions and social style in children's prosocial responding

The Relation of Quantity and Mode of Prosocial Behavior to Moral Cognitions and Social Style.

EISENBERG, NANCY; TRYON, KELLY; and CAMERON, ELLEN. The Relation of Preschoolers' Peer Interaction to Their Sex-typed Toy Choices. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1044-1050. The purpose of the present research was to examine the processes that might influence the degree of association between preschoolers' sex-role stereotypic toy choices and their choice of same-sex versus opposite-sex playmates. 51 children in preschool classes for 4-year-olds were observed during free play over 9 weeks. Variables relating to peer interaction were coded both immediately prior to toy play (who possessed a toy when a child approached it, who a child was with immediately before approaching a toy, who initiated movement toward a toy) and during play (who a child interacted with, and who initiated the interaction). There was a moderate negative relation between opposite-sex peer interaction and preference for same-sex toy play. Sex of playmate prior to contact with a toy was unrelated to the sex-typing of subsequent toy use. Moreover (especially for boys), there was a match between peer interaction during play and the sex-typing of the ongoing toy play. Possible explanations for the pattern of data are discussed.

The relation of preschoolers peer interaction to their sex typed toy choices

Although peers' and teachers' evaluations of children's prosocial behavior and peers' sociometric ratings frequently have been used in studies of social development, the validity of young children's ratings of others has been questioned, as has that for teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior. In this study, preschoolers' ratings of peers' sociometric status and prosocial behavior, as well as teachers' ratings of children's prosocial dispositions, were obtained. These were correlated with children's naturally occurring prosocial or social behavior; ratings of prosocial behavior also were correlated with children's prosocial moral reasoning and prosocial self-attributions. Peers' sociometric ratings were positively related to children's sociability whereas prosocial ratings were related to helping (but not sharing) behavior. Teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior were not related to frequency of prosocial behaviors, but were positively related to developmentally mature moral judgments and self-re...

Behavioral and sociocognitive correlates of ratings of prosocial behavior and sociometric status

Behavioral and sociocognitive correlates of ratings of prosocial behavior and sociometric status.

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