Developmental differences in empathy with a television protagonist's fear |
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Authors: | B J Wilson J Cantor |
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Institution: | Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin USA |
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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. |
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Keywords: | Requests for reprints should be sent to Joanne Cantor Department of Communication Arts 6150 Vilas Hall University of Wisconsin Madison WI 53706 |
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