Journal article
Developmental differences in empathy with a television protagonist's fear
Journal of experimental child psychology, Vol.39(2), pp.284-299
1985
DOI: 10.1016/0022-0965(85)90042-6
PMID: 3989466
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to determine whether children at different ages (3–5 vs 9–11) differ in their tendency to share the emotion of a television character. Subjects were shown a videotape of either a frightening stimulus alone or a character's fear in response to a threatening stimulus that was suggested rather than shown directly. Contrasting predictions were made based on a cognitive-developmental view of the process of empathy vs an automatic conception. Both self-reported emotional reactions and physiological responses were consistent with the cognitive-developmental approach: The younger children were less emotionally aroused by the character's fear than by the fear-provoking stimulus, while the older children responded emotionally to both versions of the videotape. The younger children's lack of empathy was not due to a failure to recognize the nature of the character's emotion. There was some evidence that the older children exhibited a greater tendency to role take than did the younger children.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Developmental differences in empathy with a television protagonist's fear
- Creators
- Barbara J WilsonJoanne Cantor
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of experimental child psychology, Vol.39(2), pp.284-299
- DOI
- 10.1016/0022-0965(85)90042-6
- PMID
- 3989466
- NLM abbreviation
- J Exp Child Psychol
- ISSN
- 0022-0965
- eISSN
- 1096-0457
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1985
- Academic Unit
- President; Communication Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984105918602771
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