Cognitive and emotional constructs and their relation to empathy in young children

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
James Benjamin Hinnant (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Marion O'Brien

Abstract: "The relations among psychological constructs and empathy were examined using a social information processing perspective. Data were collected on 5-year-old children's emotion regulation, cognitive inhibition, affective perspective-taking, conceptual perspective-taking, and empathy. It was hypothesized that perspective-taking mediates the relation between control processes and empathy and that conceptual perspective taking moderates the relation between affective perspective taking and empathy. Emotional control was related to mothers' reports of their children's empathy. Emotional perspective-taking was related to mothers' reports of their children's empathy, and cognitive perspective-taking was related to children's best score in reaction to emotionally eliciting videos. The mediating hypothesis was not supported. There was a marginal interaction between the two forms of perspective-taking, providing some support for the idea that conceptual perspective-taking may moderate the relation between emotional perspective-taking and children's empathy. Results are discussed in the context of an integrated model of psychological processes that are related to empathy."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2005
Keywords
psychological constructs, empathy, social information processing, children, emotion regulation, cognitive inhibition
Subjects
Mother and child-- Psychological aspects
Empathy
Emotions in children

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