Presenter(s): Courtne Daum − Psychology
Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow, Jeffrey Measelle
Poster 100
Research Area: Psychology
Researchers examining the developmental origins of empathy report that infants as young as 17 months show early indices of empathic behavior in the form of concern for others, positive affect, and emotional distress (Zahn-Waxler, & Robinson, 2005). In turn, a vast amount of research demonstrates the long-term outcomes of empathic children, such as prosocial development, high self-esteem, few externalizing problems and a positive disposition (Eisenberg, Fabes & Spinard, 2015). In addition, early empathic tendencies predict earlier onset of Theory of Mind, which is the ability to attribute beliefs and desires to self and others (Laranjo et al., 2010). Evidence suggests that ToM develops within the context of the parenting relationship during infancy (Laranjo et al., 2010), through parenting mechanisms such as Maternal Mind-mindedness, which is the ability to treat children as their own entities’ with minds through appropriate mind related language. Though there is vast literature on the outcomes of early indices of empathy expressed in infancy, there is little research on the development of empathy prior to 17 months. Given links between Maternal Mind-mindedness in infancy and early onset of ToM, and links between early indices of empathy and ToM, this study examines Maternal Mind Mindedness at 5 months predicting indices of infant empathy at 17 months, which in turn predicts ToM, empathy, and prosocial behaviors at 5 years.