Empathy as a buffer: How empathy moderates the emotional effects on Preschoolers’ sharing

This study experimentally investigated how empathy moderated the influence of external emotional stimuli on preschoolers’ subsequent sharing behaviour. Children aged 4–6 (N = 218) were randomly presented with one of the video clips that elicited sad, happy, or neutral emotion, and were then asked to play a dictator game with puppet partners. Results revealed that compared to the neutral condition, children with higher empathy increased sharing after induced happiness but did not change sharing after induced sadness; by contrast, children with lower empathy decreased sharing after induced sadness. It appears that empathy may enhance the positive effect of happiness while reducing the negative effect of sadness on sharing behaviour. These findings provide experimental evidence in early childhood to support approaches that emphasize the role of immediate emotions in moral decision-making; critically, such emotional effects vary with individual differences in dispositional empathy.     

From teachers’ implicit theories of intelligence to job stress: The mediating role of teachers’ causal attribution of students’ academic achievement

To better understand the cognitive antecedents of teachers’ stress in the school setting, the effects of teachers’ beliefs regarding intelligence and their causal attributions of students’ academic performance on teachers’ job stress were examined in the current study. We recruited 271 teachers who voluntarily filled out an anonymous questionnaire. Findings demonstrated that teachers who endorsed the entity theory of intelligence tended to attribute students’ poor performance to students’ inability but not lack of effort. Results showed a positive relationship between teachers’ fixed view of intelligence and job stress, and this relationship was mediated by teachers’ attributing students’ poor performance to students’ lack of ability, even after controlling for teacher efficacy. We suggest to promote the psychological health of teachers by incorporating intelligence mindset and attribution training programs in preservice teacher education, professional development, and cognitive behavioral stress intervention for in-service teachers.     

Actor–Partner Interdependence of Compassion toward Others with Qualities of Marital Relationship and Parent–Child Relationships in Chinese Families

Considering the nature of compassion and cultural and times characteristics of Chinese families, individuals' general dispositional compassion toward others may have potential benefits for relationship qualities in Chinese families. In this study, we explored how men's and women's compassion related to their own (actor effects) and the partners' (partner effects) marital relationship and parent–child relationships, respectively, using the Actor–Partner Interdependent Model. Participants were from a cross-sectional sample of 534 Chinese heterosexual married couples (females' mean age = 37.20, SD = 4.28; males' mean age = 40.29, SD = 5.39) whose biological children were pupils (mean age = 9.28, SD = 1.11). Results revealed that: (a) within marital relationships, couple members' actor effects and partner effects were found both significant; but (b) within parent–child relationships, couple members' actor effects were significant, whereas only mothers' partner effect of compassion on father–child relationship was significant. These findings support the benefits of couple members' individual compassion with respect to family relationship quality in contemporary China. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.