Concern for Others in the First Year of Life: Theory, Evidence, and Avenues for Research

TLDR

Concern for others has traditionally been thought to emerge only after the second year of life, based on assumptions that infants cannot distinguish self from other, cannot experience concern, and misinterpret others' distress as their own. This article reviews evidence that contradicts those assumptions and proposes an alternative view of early empathy development. The authors review relevant literature and propose a new theoretical framework for early empathy development. They conclude that empathic concern exists during the first year of life and does not depend on self‑reflective abilities, underscoring infants' inherent social nature.

Abstract

Abstract Concern for others has been thought to emerge in the 2nd year of life (Hoffman, , , ). Three related ideas underlying this view assume that younger infants cannot distinguish between self and other, cannot experience concern for others, and show self‐distress because they misinterpret others' distress as their own. In this article, we review evidence contradicting these assumptions and propose an alternative view of early empathy development. Specifically, we argue that empathic concern does not depend on self‐reflective abilities and exists during the 1st year of life, manifesting young infants' fundamental social nature. We also touch on avenues for research.