Empathy-related Responding: Associations with Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Intergroup Relations.

Empathy-related responding, including empathy, sympathy, and personal distress, has been implicated in conceptual models and theories about prosocial behavior and altruism, aggression and antisocial behavior, and intergroup relationships. Conceptual arguments and empirical findings related to each of these topics are reviewed. In general, there is evidence that empathy and/or sympathy are important correlates of, and likely contributors to, other-oriented prosocial behavior, the inhibition of aggression and antisocial behavior, and the quality of intergroup relationships. Applied implications of these findings, including preventative studies, are discussed, as are possible future directions.

[1]  G. Caprara,et al.  Counteracting depression and delinquency in late adolescence: The role of regulatory emotional and interpersonal self-efficacy beliefs , 2010 .

[2]  Juliana Raskauskas,et al.  Bullying among primary school children in New Zealand: relationships with prosocial behaviour and classroom climate , 2010 .

[3]  S. Stürmer,et al.  Helping "Us" versus "Them" , 2009 .

[4]  J. Pryor,et al.  Stigmas and Prosocial Behavior , 2009 .

[5]  Margaret Shih,et al.  Perspective Taking: Reducing Prejudice Towards General Outgroups and Specific Individuals , 2009 .

[6]  B. Bushman,et al.  Psychopathic traits, victim distress and aggression in children. , 2009, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[7]  T. Little,et al.  A cluster randomized controlled trial of child-focused psychiatric consultation and a school systems-focused intervention to reduce aggression. , 2009, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[8]  J. Griffiths,et al.  Group membership, group norms, empathy, and young children's intentions to aggress. , 2009, Aggressive behavior.

[9]  Aaron D. J. Frost,et al.  Learning to 'talk the talk: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy across childhood. , 2009, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[10]  A. Mechelli,et al.  Size matters: increased grey matter in boys with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. , 2009, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[11]  Sara D. Hodges,et al.  The Social Neuroscience of Empathy , 2022 .

[12]  Michael J Vitacco,et al.  Neurobiology of empathy and callousness: implications for the development of antisocial behavior. , 2009, Behavioral sciences & the law.

[13]  M. Gummerum,et al.  Children's moral motivation, sympathy, and prosocial behavior. , 2009, Child development.

[14]  M. Tomasello,et al.  Sympathy through Affective Perspective Taking and Its Relation to Prosocial Behavior in Toddlers Sachmerda for Help with Coding; Roger Mundry for Statistical Advice; And , 2022 .

[15]  Benjamin B. Lahey,et al.  Atypical empathic responses in adolescents with aggressive conduct disorder: A functional MRI investigation , 2009, Biological Psychology.

[16]  Stacey J. Sasaki,et al.  Helpful Only in the Abstract? , 2009, Psychological science.

[17]  Julia Schikora,et al.  Empathy and social desirability: a comparison of delinquent and non-delinquent participants using direct and indirect measures , 2009 .

[18]  Jeff Joireman,et al.  How can we promote behaviour that serves all of us in the future , 2008 .

[19]  Van Lange,et al.  Does empathy trigger only altruistic motivation? How about selflessness or justice? , 2008 .

[20]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  The developmental origins of a disposition toward empathy: Genetic and environmental contributions. , 2008, Emotion.

[21]  T. Kent,et al.  Empathic deficits and alexithymia in trauma-related impulsive aggression. , 2008, Behavioral sciences & the law.

[22]  Thomas F. Pettigrew,et al.  How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta‐analytic tests of three mediators , 2008 .

[23]  J. Gibbs,et al.  It's All About Me , 2008, Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment.

[24]  A. Beech,et al.  Empathy and adolescent sexual offenders: A review of the literature , 2008 .

[25]  Nadim Joni Shah,et al.  Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy , 2008, NeuroImage.

[26]  A. Lumb,et al.  Effects of school-based interventions on mental health stigmatization: a systematic review , 2008, Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health.

[27]  Jorge Moll,et al.  Psychopathy as a disorder of the moral brain: Fronto-temporo-limbic grey matter reductions demonstrated by voxel-based morphometry , 2008, NeuroImage.

[28]  David A. Wilder,et al.  Affect as a Cause of Intergroup Bias , 2008 .

[29]  P. Frick,et al.  Research review: the importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behavior. , 2008, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[30]  R. Hare,et al.  Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct. , 2008, Annual review of clinical psychology.

[31]  R. Holmqvist.  Psychopathy and Affect Consciousness in Young Criminal Offenders , 2008, Journal of interpersonal violence.

[32]  J. Laurenceau,et al.  Accelerating the development of emotion competence in Head Start children: Effects on adaptive and maladaptive behavior , 2008, Development and Psychopathology.

[33]  M. Schlander.  Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health the Nice Adhd Health Technology Assessment: a Review and Critique , 2022 .

[34]  F. D. Waal.  Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy , 2008 .

[35]  S. Basow,et al.  College Students' Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: An Examination of the Stigma Process1 , 2007 .

[36]  R. Sandell,et al.  Social and emotional training in Swedish schools for the promotion of mental health: an effectiveness study of 5 years of intervention. , 2007, Health education research.

[37]  William L. Roberts,et al.  Empathy and Emotional Responsiveness in Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Adolescents. , 2007 .

[38]  I. Liberzon,et al.  Paralimbic and medial prefrontal cortical involvement in neuroendocrine responses to traumatic stimuli. , 2007, The American journal of psychiatry.

[39]  C. Batson,et al.  An additional antecedent of empathic concern: valuing the welfare of the person in need. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  K. Mickelson,et al.  Attributions of HIV onset controllability, emotional reactions, and helping intentions: Implicit effects of victim sexual orientation , 2007 .

[41]  Terry L. Howard,et al.  Mediators of the Development and Prevention of Violent Behavior , 2007, Prevention Science.

[42]  Donald R. Lynam,et al.  Aggression and Antisocial Behavior in Youth , 2007 .

[43]  G. Trommsdorff,et al.  Sympathy, distress, and prosocial behavior of preschool children in four cultures , 2007 .

[44]  M. Bäckström,et al.  Structural modeling of generalized prejudice: The role of social dominance, authoritarianism, and empathy , 2007 .

[45]  Geertjan Overbeek,et al.  Early Adolescent Empathy, Parental Support, and Antisocial Behavior , 2007, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[46]  M. Greenberg,et al.  Improving Young Children’s Social and Emotional Competence: A Randomized Trial of the Preschool “PATHS” Curriculum , 2007, The Journal of Primary Prevention.

[47]  N. Malamuth,et al.  Non-Sexual Delinquency in Juvenile Sexual Offenders: The Mediating and Moderating Influences of Emotional Empathy , 2007, Journal of Family Violence.

[48]  Richard E. Tremblay,et al.  Eysenck’s personality dimensions as predictors of male adolescent trajectories of physical aggression, theft and vandalism , 2006 .

[49]  D. Farrington,et al.  Examining the relationship between low empathy and bullying , 2006 .

[50]  N. Miller,et al.  The Application of the Personalization Model in Diversity Management , 2006 .

[51]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Empathy-Motivated Helping: The Moderating Role of Group Membership , 2006, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[52]  M. Greenberg,et al.  The Mediational Role of Neurocognition in the Behavioral Outcomes of a Social-Emotional Prevention Program in Elementary School Students: Effects of the PATHS Curriculum , 2006, Prevention Science.

[53]  Ruud Zaalberg,et al.  Facial EMG responses to dynamic emotional facial expressions in boys with disruptive behavior disorders. , 2006, Journal of psychiatric research.

[54]  Peter J. Lang,et al.  Affective reactions to pictures of ingroup and outgroup members , 2006, Biological Psychology.

[55]  R. Blair.  Responding to the emotions of others: Dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations , 2005, Consciousness and Cognition.

[56]  K. Durkin,et al.  Empathy, group norms and children's ethnic attitudes , 2005 .

[57]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Understanding and Addressing Contemporary Racism: From Aversive Racism to the Common Ingroup Identity Model , 2005 .

[58]  M. Dadds,et al.  The treatment of conduct problems in children with callous-unemotional traits. , 2005, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[59]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Prosocial emotions and helping: the moderating role of group membership. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[60]  Philipp Sterzer,et al.  Abnormal neural responses to emotional visual stimuli in adolescents with conduct disorder , 2005, Biological Psychiatry.

[61]  C. Patrick,et al.  Identifying psychopathy subtypes on the basis of personality structure. , 2004, Psychological assessment.

[62]  D. Farrington,et al.  Empathy and offending: a systematic review and meta-analysis , 2004 .

[63]  Steve Hinkle,et al.  The Social Identity Perspective , 2004 .

[64]  P. Frick,et al.  Temperament and Developmental Pathways to Conduct Problems , 2004, Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53.

[65]  William L. Roberts,et al.  Empathy and Observed Anger and Aggression in Five-Year-Olds , 2004 .

[66]  Sheri L. Robinson,et al.  Relational aggression in college students: Examining the roles of social anxiety and empathy , 2003 .

[67]  S. McMahon,et al.  Violence Prevention: An Evaluation of Program Effects with Urban African American Students , 2003, Journal of Primary Prevention.

[68]  David Warden,et al.  Prosocial children, bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies , 2003 .

[69]  P. Corrigan,et al.  An attribution model of public discrimination towards persons with mental illness. , 2003, Journal of health and social behavior.

[70]  Claudio Barbaranelli,et al.  Role of affective self-regulatory efficacy in diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning. , 2003, Child development.

[71]  C. Daniel Batson,et al.  Altruism and Prosocial Behavior , 2003 .

[72]  J. Lochman,et al.  Callous/unemotional traits and social-cognitive processes in adjudicated youths. , 2003, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[73]  S. Calkins,et al.  Do aggressive/destructive toddlers lack concern for others? Behavioral and physiological indicators of empathic responding in 2-year-old children , 2003, Development and Psychopathology.

[74]  G. Carlo,et al.  Sociocognitive and Behavioral Correlates of a Measure of Prosocial Tendencies for Adolescents , 2003 .

[75]  W. Marshall,et al.  Victim Empathy, Social Self-Esteem, and Psychopathy in Rapists , 2003, Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment.

[76]  S. Smallbone,et al.  Trait Empathy and Criminal Versatility in Sexual Offenders , 2003, Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment.

[77]  C. Batson,et al.  Empathy, Attitudes, and Action: Can Feeling for a Member of a Stigmatized Group Motivate One to Help the Group? , 2002 .

[78]  A. Mayer,et al.  Facial affect recognition in criminal psychopaths. , 2002, Emotion.

[79]  C. Izard,et al.  Emotion processes in normal and abnormal development and preventive intervention , 2002, Development and Psychopathology.

[80]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Why can't we just get along? Interpersonal biases and interracial distrust. , 2002, Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology.

[81]  M. Reiser,et al.  The relations of parental warmth and positive expressiveness to children's empathy-related responding and social functioning: a longitudinal study. , 2002, Child development.

[82]  G. Carlo,et al.  The Development of a Measure of Prosocial Behaviors for Late Adolescents , 2002 .

[83]  R. Blair,et al.  A Selective Impairment in the Processing of Sad and Fearful Expressions in Children with Psychopathic Tendencies , 2001, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[84]  P. Ekman,et al.  Linkages between facial expressions of anger and transient myocardial ischemia in men with coronary artery disease. , 2001, Emotion.

[85]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  The relations of parental emotional expressivity with quality of Indonesian children's social functioning. , 2001, Emotion.

[86]  B. Volling.  Early Attachment Relationships as Predictors of Preschool Children's Emotion Regulation with a Distressed Sibling , 2001 .

[87]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Brazilian adolescents' prosocial moral judgment and behavior: relations to sympathy, perspective taking, gender-role orientation, and demographic characteristics. , 2001, Child development.

[88]  Rupert Brown.  Social identity theory: past achievements, current problems and future challenges , 2000 .

[89]  R. Blair,et al.  Expression recognition and behavioural problems in early adolescence , 2000 .

[90]  C. Lewis,et al.  Effects of the Child Development Project on Students' Drug Use and Other Problem Behaviors , 2000, Journal of Primary Prevention.

[91]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  The development of concern for others in children with behavior problems. , 2000, Developmental psychology.

[92]  Richard E. Tremblay,et al.  The development of aggressive behaviour during childhood: What have we learned in the past century? , 2000 .

[93]  M. Hoffman.  Empathy and moral development : implications for caring and justice , 2000 .

[94]  K. Björkqvist,et al.  Social intelligence - empathy = aggression? , 2000 .

[95]  C. Lewis,et al.  A six-district study of educational change: direct and mediated effects of the child development project , 2000 .

[96]  A. Beech,et al.  Comparison of Sex Offenders to Nonoffenders on Selected Psychological Measures , 1999 .

[97]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Consistency and development of prosocial dispositions: a longitudinal study. , 1999, Child development.

[98]  N. Fox,et al.  The relations between temperament and empathy in 2-year-olds. , 1999, Developmental psychology.

[99]  R. Blair,et al.  Responsiveness to distress cues in the child with psychopathic tendencies , 1999 .

[100]  G. Trommsdorff,et al.  Motivational Conflict and Prosocial Behaviour of Kindergarten Children , 1999 .

[101]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Contemporaneous and Longitudinal Relations of Dispositional Sympathy to Emotionality, Regulation, and Social Functioning , 1999 .

[102]  W L Marshall,et al.  The Child Molester Empathy Measure: Description and Examination of Its Reliability and Validity , 1999, Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment.

[103]  A. Greenwald,et al.  Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[104]  M. Monto,et al.  Empathy, Self-Esteem, and the Adolescent Sexual Offender , 1998 .

[105]  R. Loeber,et al.  Development of juvenile aggression and violence. Some common misconceptions and controversies. , 1998, The American psychologist.

[106]  M. McGrath,et al.  New Measures of Defensiveness, Empathy, and Cognitive Distortions for Sexual Offenders Against Children , 1998 .

[107]  I. Sigel,et al.  HANDBOOK OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY , 2006 .

[108]  Steven L. Neuberg,et al.  Reinterpreting the empathy-altruism relationship: when one into one equals oneness. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[109]  C. Daniel Batson,et al.  Is Empathy-Induced Helping Due to Self–Other Merging? , 1997 .

[110]  D. Romney,et al.  The structure of empathy during middle childhood and its relationship to prosocial behavior. , 1997, Genetic Social and General Psychology Monographs.

[111]  C. Batson,et al.  Perspective Taking: Imagining How Another Feels Versus Imaging How You Would Feel , 1997 .

[112]  Daniel Solomon,et al.  Caring school communities , 1997 .

[113]  P. Frick,et al.  Ineffective parenting and childhood conduct problems : The moderating role of callous-unemotional traits , 1997 .

[114]  Saul Shiffman,et al.  Remember that? A comparison of real-time versus retrospective recall of smoking lapses. , 1997, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[115]  R. Blair,et al.  The psychopathic individual: a lack of responsiveness to distress cues? , 1997, Psychophysiology.

[116]  F. Ascione,et al.  Children'S Attitudes About the Humane Treatment of Animals and Empathy: One-Year Follow up of a School-Based Intervention , 1996 .

[117]  J. Strayer,et al.  Empathy in Conduct-Disordered and Comparison Youth. , 1996 .

[118]  J. Strayer,et al.  Empathy, emotional expressiveness, and prosocial behavior , 1996 .

[119]  Richard A. Fabes,et al.  The relations of children's dispositional empathy-related responding to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. , 1996 .

[120]  J. D. Welsh,et al.  Psychophysiological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviors in preschool children with behavior problems , 1995, Development and Psychopathology.

[121]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Prosocial development in late adolescence: a longitudinal study. , 1995, Child development.

[122]  Peggy Estrada.  Adolescents' Self-Report of Prosocial Responses to Friends and Acquaintances: The Role of Sympathy-Related Cognitive, Affective, and Motivational Processes , 1995 .

[123]  L. L. Shaw,et al.  Empathy and the collective good: Caring for one of the others in a social dilemma. , 1995 .

[124]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  The relations of children's emotion regulation to their vicarious emotional responses and comforting behaviors. , 1994, Child development.

[125]  Mark H. Davis.  Empathy: A Social Psychological Approach , 1994 .

[126]  D. Solomon.  A Longitudinal Investigation of the Effects of a School Intervention Program on Children's Social Development. , 1993 .

[127]  F. Ascione.  Enhancing Children's Attitudes About the Humane Treatment of Animals: Generalization to Human-Directed Empathy , 1992 .

[128]  K. Delucchi,et al.  Effects of Two Contrasting School Task and Incentive Structures on Children's Social Development , 1991, The Elementary School Journal.

[129]  Nancy Eisenberg,et al.  Prosocial Development in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study , 1991 .

[130]  C. Batson.  The Altruism Question: Toward A Social-psychological Answer , 1991 .

[131]  N. Eisenberg.  Preschoolers' vicarious emotional responding and their situational and dispositional prosocial behavior. , 1990 .

[132]  Richard A. Fabes,et al.  Empathy: Conceptualization, measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior , 1990 .

[133]  R. R. Reno,et al.  Relation of sympathy and personal distress to prosocial behavior: a multimethod study. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[134]  M. Hogg,et al.  Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. , 1989 .

[135]  J. Strayer,et al.  Children's empathy and role taking: Child and parental factors, and relations to prosocial behavior , 1989 .

[136]  C. Batson,et al.  Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[137]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Vicarious Emotional Responsiveness and Prosocial Behavior , 1988, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[138]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  The relation of empathy to aggressive and externalizing/antisocial behavior. , 1988, Psychological bulletin.

[139]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  Prosocial Development in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study. , 1987 .

[140]  P. Mussen,et al.  Some Personality and Motivational Correlates of Children's Prosocial Behavior , 1986 .

[141]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  The Relation of Quantity and Mode of Prosocial Behavior to Moral Cognitions and Social Style. , 1984 .

[142]  J. L. Carroll,et al.  The assessment of empathy in early childhood , 1983 .

[143]  Nancy Eisenberg,et al.  Sex Differences in Empathy and Related Capacities , 1983 .

[144]  N. Feshbach,et al.  Empathy training and the regulation of aggression: Potentialities and limitations. , 1982 .

[145]  R. A. Duff,et al.  Friendship, altruism, and morality , 1982 .

[146]  Brenda K. Bryant,et al.  An Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents. , 1982 .

[147]  C. Edelbrock,et al.  The Child Behavior Profile: II. Boys aged 12-16 and girls aged 6-11 and 12-16. , 1979, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[148]  Ezra Stotland,et al.  Empathy Fantasy and Helping , 1978 .

[149]  M. Hoffman,et al.  Developmental synthesis of affect and cognition and its implications for altruistic motivation. , 1975 .

[150]  A. Mehrabian,et al.  A measure of emotional empathy. , 1972, Journal of personality.

[151]  N. Feshbach,et al.  The relationship between empathy and aggression in two age groups. , 1969 .

[152]  G. Āllport.  The Nature of Prejudice , 1954 .

[153]  Herbert Scheithauer,et al.  Social-Behavioral Correlates of Cyberbullying in a German Student Sample , 2009 .

[154]  Benjamin J. Lovett,et al.  Affective empathy deficits in aggressive children and adolescents: a critical review. , 2007, Clinical psychology review.

[155]  M. Moretti,et al.  The relation of psychopathy to concurrent aggression and antisocial behavior in high-risk adolescent girls and boys. , 2007, Behavioral sciences & the law.

[156]  B. Major,et al.  The social psychology of stigma. , 2005, Annual review of psychology.

[157]  E. Aronson.  Reducing hostility and building compassion: Lessons from the jigsaw classroom. , 2004 .

[158]  Qing Zhou,et al.  Prosocial development in early adulthood: a longitudinal study. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[159]  Paolo Albiero,et al.  Designing a method to assess empathy in Italian children. , 2001 .

[160]  G. Evelyn LeSure-Lester,et al.  Relation Between Empathy and Aggression and Behavior Compliance Among Abused Group Home Youth , 2000, Child psychiatry and human development.

[161]  K. A. Finlay,et al.  The role of empathy in improving intergroup relations. , 1999 .

[162]  C. Salmivalli,et al.  The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression , 1999 .

[163]  M. Brewer.  The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love and Outgroup Hate? , 1999 .

[164]  W. Damon,et al.  Social, emotional, and personality development , 1998 .

[165]  Albert Mehrabian,et al.  Relations among personality scales of aggression, violence, and empathy: Validational evidence bearing on the risk of eruptive violence scale , 1997 .

[166]  E. Harmon-Jones,et al.  Empathy and attitudes: can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group? , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[167]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  Development of concern for others. , 1992 .

[168]  V. Battistich,et al.  The Child Development Project: A comprehensive program for the development of prosocial character. , 1991 .

[169]  K. Delucchi,et al.  Enhancing Children’s Prosocial Behavior in the Classroom , 1988 .

[170]  Barry Glick,et al.  Aggression replacement training , 1987 .

[171]  N. Eisenberg,et al.  The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. , 1987, Psychological bulletin.

[172]  Nancy Eisenberg,et al.  Altruistic emotion, cognition, and behavior , 1986 .

[173]  N. Feshbach.  Empathy, Empathy Training and the Regulation of Aggression in Elementary School Children , 1984 .

[174]  S. Worchel,et al.  The Social psychology of intergroup relations , 1979 .

[175]  E. Aronson.  The Jigsaw Classroom , 1978 .

[176]  P. Nidditch,et al.  Enquiries: Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals , 1966 .