Empathy, Emotional Expressiveness, and Prosocial Behavior

TLDR

Emotional expressiveness, empathy, and prosocial behavior are interrelated and important for theory and practice. The study examined emotional expressiveness, empathy, and prosocial behavior using multiple methods and informants. Seventy‑three children (ages 5, 9, and 13) were assessed via videotaped emotional stimuli, facial and verbal responses, and ratings from friends, parents, and teachers, along with measures of emotional insight, role‑taking, and laboratory prosocial tasks. Latent variable analysis showed that expressiveness, insight, and role‑taking strongly predicted empathy (R² = 0.60), and boys’ empathy strongly predicted prosocial behavior (R² = 0.55), whereas girls’ empathy predicted prosocial behavior only with friends (R² = 0.13) and not peer cooperation, confirming some theoretical expectations and highlighting unresolved questions.

Abstract

Relations between emotional expressiveness, empathy, and prosocial behaviors are important for theoretical and practical reasons. In this study, all 3 areas were assessed across methods and sources. Emotional expressiveness and empathy were evaluated in 73 children in 3 age groups (5-, 9-, and 13-year-olds) by measuring facial and verbal responses to emotionally evocative videotapes and by ratings from best friends, parents, and teachers. Measures of emotional insight and role taking were also obtained. Prosocial behaviors were assessed by 3 laboratory tasks and by ratings from best friends, parents, and teachers. Confirming expectations, latent variable path analyses (Lohmoller, 1984) indicated that emotional expressiveness, emotional insight, and role taking were strong predictors of latent empathy (multiple R2= .60). Boys' empathy, in turn, was a strong predictor of prosocial behavior, R2= .55. In contrast, girls' empathy was related to prosocial behaviors with friends, R2= .13, but not to cooperation with peers. Thus present findings provide important support and clarification for certain theoretical expectations, and also raise issues that need clarification.