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Empathy, Perspective Taking and Prosocial Behaviour: The Importance of Parenting Practices
Author(s) -
Farrant Brad M.,
Devine Tara A. J.,
Maybery Murray T.,
Fletcher Janet
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
infant and child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1522-7219
pISSN - 1522-7227
DOI - 10.1002/icd.740
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , empathy , psychology , perspective (graphical) , developmental psychology , perspective taking , cognition , child development , social psychology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science
The current study analyzed the relationships among maternal empathy (emotional and cognitive), parenting that encourages the child to take the perspective of others, child cognitive empathy and child prosocial behaviour. Participants were 72 typically developing children (66 Caucasian, six Asian) aged between 47 and 76 months ( M = 61.5 months, SD = 8.3 months). Results support the facilitative effect of parenting that encourages the child to take the perspective of others. Thus, the role played by parents in the development of prosocial behaviour extends beyond warm/sensitive/responsive parenting in infancy. Together these forms of parenting are key factors that facilitate the development of prosocial behaviour. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.