Children's evaluations of empathizers

Abstract

Children’s evaluations of empathizers were examined using vignette-based tasks (N = 159 4- to 7-year-old U.S. children, 82 girls). Similar to adults, children typically evaluated empathizers positively compared to less empathic others. They rated empathic responses as more appropriate, selected empathizers as nicer, and inferred positive relationships between empathizers and the targets of empathy. However, when empathy was contrasted with helping behavior, or when empathy was directed toward an immoral actor, children’s evaluations of empathy were more negative. Older children weighed helping and empathy more equally and shifted their evaluations more when considering responses to immoral acts. These results show that children use empathy in their social evaluations and that contextual influences on these evaluations strengthen with age.