Sociocultural Approach - Empathy

Question 1

what is empathy?

Answer 1

being able to feel what another person is feeling, regardless of whether or not you have shared their experience

Question 2

why do children lack empathy?

Answer 2

their cognitive and social development have not reached that level of maturity or sophistication

Question 3

why is empathy important?

Answer 3

humans are social creatures so creating learning to live in a social group and community

Question 4

what is the first study?

Answer 4

Borke (1973)

Question 5

what is Borke (1973) aim?

Answer 5

to investigate possible class and cultural differences in the development of empathy

Question 6

what is Borke (1973) sample?

Answer 6

288 American & 288 Chinese children between the ages of 3 and 6. Half of each group were from middle class families and the other half were from disadvantaged families

Question 7

what is Borke (1973) method?

Answer 7

• Children were told 2 sets of stories which described scenarios in which the children may feel one of four basic emotions: happy, afraid, sad or angry
• Each scenario was accompanied by a picture of a child with a blank face
• The children had to complete the picture with the face that that best showed how the children in the story felt

Question 8

what is Borke (1973) results?

Answer 8

• Basic similarities between American and Chinese even from young ages
• 3-3.5 years olds could identify happy and sad
• middle class chinese children could identify fearful situations more accurately than chinese lower class or american middle class children
• all children were slow to identify anger

Question 9

what is Borke (1973) conclusion?

Answer 9

Very young children are capable of showing empathy and this might need to be a basic human response which crosses cultures as it could be necessary to our continued survival

Question 10

what is Borke (1973) strengths?

Answer 10

1) cross sectional design and relatively large cross sectional sample - representative and generalisable
2) standardised procedure
3) results point towards to there being universal situations which are not defined by culture, highlighting an important idea that empathy may be an adoptive beahviour

Question 11

what is Borke (1973) limitations?

Answer 11

1) artificial way of measuring empathy

2) confirmation bias or research bias confounding results if they misinterpret the childrens answers

Question 12

critical thinking of Borke (1973)

Answer 12

more of a reflection of cross-cultural parenting styles rather than empathy development

Question 13

what is a false belief task?

Answer 13

a type of task used in theory of mind studies in which children must infer that another person does not possess knowledge that they possess.

Question 14

what is theory of mind?

Answer 14

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others, serving as one of the foundational elements for social interaction. Having a theory of mind is important as it provides the ability to predict and interpret the behaviour of others.

Question 15

what is the second study?

Answer 15

Baron-Cohen et al (1985)

Question 16

what is Baron-Cohen et al (1985) aim?

Answer 16

to investigate theory of mind in autistic people

Question 17

what is Baron-Cohen et al (1985) sample?

Answer 17

20 children with ASD with a mean age of 11
14 children with down’s syndrome with a mean age of 10.5
27 ‘normal’ children with a mean age of 4.5

Question 18

what is Baron-Cohen et al (1985) method?

Answer 18

• Each child was given the false belief Sally-Anne task

- Their belief response was the dependent variable (i.e. where they believed sally would look for the marble)

Question 19

what is Baron-Cohen et al (1985) results?

Answer 19

• 23 out of 27 normal children, 12 out of 14 down’s syndrome children correctly answered
• Only 4 out of 20 ASD children passed the test

Question 20

what is Baron-Cohen et al (1985) conclusions?

Answer 20

Children with ASD may lack theory of mind