78 sixth and seventh graders (138-172 months in age), their mothers, and Our moral development includes our principles, how we behave and our sense of right and wrong. Yet parental expression of disappointed expectations might also foster in the child a sense of the relevance of morality to his or her self-concept (Patrick & Gibbs, 2007, 2012). ; Singer, 1981). Hoffman's model explains how empathy begins and how it develops in children. Hoffman suggested that reactive crying is less common by six months or so because other is increasingly differentiated. Haidt included empathy among his posited biological and affective foundations of morality. Rutland, Killen, & Abrams, 2010). Nor is the satisfaction of saving 150 lives 150 times more intense than that of saving one life. The common features of conflict (outer, inner) and influence (compliance, self-regulation) in the discipline encounter form the basis of Hoffmans (1983) argument for the importance of discipline practices to the outcome of moral socialization. These modes continue throughout life and give face-to-face empathic distress or joy an automatic, involuntary, or compelling quality. Consider, for example, the idea of "inductive discipline" that Slote (following Hoffman) emphasizes in his discussion of moral education. (Hoffman, 2000, p. 81, emphasis added). John Bowlby's attachment theory-John Bowlby's attachment theory suggests that it is important for a child to have an adult in their life that they have a close bond to, whether this be parents, grandparents or . The main concept is empathy - one feels what is appropriate for another person's situation, not one's own. What is empathy? In a broader context, however, construction in Piagetian theory refers to an interplay in which the person actively assimilates, transforms, and adapts to environmental information. Like Kohlbergs later moral judgment stages, Hoffmans later stages of empathy entail expansions in subtle or accurate discernment and social scope; e.g., an awareness that others (and oneself) have personal histories, identities, and lives beyond the immediate situation (p. 64). Hoffman (2000) suggested that mimicry may not only be a prosocial motive but also a prosocial act (p. 45) insofar as instant, ongoing nonverbal imitation can communicate emotional connection: By immediately displaying a reaction appropriate to the others situation (e.g., a wince for the others pain), the observer conveys precisely and eloquently both awareness of and involvement with the others situation (Bavelas, Black, Chovil, Lemery, & Mullett, 1988, p. 278). in particular situations is consistent with the greater sensitivity in our cognitive and perceptual systems to small changes [often signaling present, visible, and immediate danger] in our environment. Although adaptive at critical moments, this sensitivity comes at the expense of making us less able to detect and respond to large changes. Although empathic feelings affectively charge an airplane pilots knowledge of safe landing procedures, for example, those feelings must not be allowed to become disruptive. The intensity level of empathic distress, in other words, can be post-optimal: if emotions run too high, the perspective-taking may be lost in the process (de Waal, 2009, p. 100). This activation, however, renders self-focused perspective-taking vulnerable to what Hoffman calls egoistic drift, in which the observer becomes lost in egoistic concerns and the image of the victim that initiated the role-taking process skips out of focus and fades away (p. 56; cf. Generally speaking, however, Hoffman has emphasized reciprocitys mediating or shaping role: Beyond empathic anger, the reciprocity-based perception of an undeserved or unfair fate may transform [the viewers] empathic distress into an empathic feeling of injustice (p. 107). Empathy in the early stages is posited to be, as de Waal put it, a blind attraction rather than real [or mature] concern for the other person. Children who receive the most sensitive care and are most securely attached to caregivers demonstrate the most comforting of and giving to others In our usage of prosocial behavior, we imply further that the acts are altruistic; that is, motivated by a justice- and/or welfare-based concerns for others despite personal costs. Having discussed theory and established his vocabulary, Hoffman presents the crux of his argument: the dangers of empathy can be avoided if used in conjunction with moral principles, such as justice. The preadolescent responds, then, not only to immediate expressive or behavioral cues but also to information concerning the others life condition, knowing that momentary expressions can belie deeper emotions or mood states. Extending from Hoffman, de Waal (2009) argued in the affirmative, declaring that advanced empathy is unthinkable without a [distinct] sense of self (p. 122; cf. Prosocial behavior is also adaptive where the recipient may eventually reciprocate the help (Trivers, 1971). One of Hoffmans students, after hearing that a pregnant friends unborn child had Downs syndrome, became so engrossed in [her] own thoughts and fears that she forgot all about her friends specific circumstances (Hoffman, 2000, pp. moral emotions bystander guilt), Empathic anger (cause of victims distress attributed to another individual or group), Empathic injustice (inference that victim did not deserve distress). Given such a message, children may be induced to reflect on the kind of persons they wish to be, appropriate the parental values for themselves, feel a disappointment in themselves, and determine to be more honest or considerate toward others in the future. Executive function, language, and perspective-taking enhance and expand the range of behaviors that can be driven by empathy. This volume provides the first comprehensive account of prosocial moral development in children. A fundamental valuing of anothers welfare relates to the basic arousal modes in Hoffmans theory. Instead of support for exclusively affective primacy in morality, the more cautious conclusion from Damasios findings is simply that certain brain lesions can shut down both affective and cognitive sources of motivation needed for sociomoral and goal-directed behavior. Although early roots and sociocultural factors should be studied, cognitive development plays a major role in the substantial increase in acts of comforting and helping during the second year of life (Davidson et al., 2003, p. 3). Structure, stability, and longevity mean that the mature individual is less vulnerable not only to over-arousal but to under-arousal as well. A victim-blaming attribution also supports the belief in moral reciprocity (studied in social psychology as the motivated just world hypothesis or need to believe that the world is just; Lerner, 1980; see Hafer & Begue, 2005). And even highly empathic individuals must still interpret appropriately anothers distress. Such affective responsiveness is present at an early age, is involuntary, and relies on somato-sensorimotor resonance (Decety & Michalska, 2012, p. 171). A heightened self-identity allows a subject to relate to the objects emotional state without losing sight of the actual source of this state (de Waal, 2012, p. 94; cf. More specifically: Biologically normal, cognitively and verbally competent humans are likely to experience in bystander situations where no one else is around to help (or other situations where egoistic biases and motives are not strong) a multi-determined empathic distress that can generate sufficient motive power to elicit prosocial behavior. 7273). As first pointed out by Hoffman (1978), overly intense and salient or massive signs of distress can create an experience in the observer that is so aversive that the observers empathic distress transforms into a feeling of personal distress. He phoned my parents, told them what I had done, and sent me home. Jean Decety and Margarita Svetlova (2012) construed such modes as additions successively innovated in evolutionary history (p. 3; cf. Accordingly, empathy is a vicarious response to others: that is, an affective response appropriate to someone elses situation rather than ones own (Hoffman, 1981a, p. 128). the impact of that initial affect on behavior. By John C. Gibbs and Martin L. Hoffman. As is Kohlbergs, Hoffmans work is noted in virtually every developmental psychology textbook currently on the market. The limitations of empathy might not be all bad. Induction and power (which generate in the child anxiety about the parents approval) are the dimensions of any discipline initiative. We all know how joy spreads, or sadness, and how much we are affected by the moods of those around us (de Waal, 2013, p. 142). Decety & Jackson, 2004). Accordingly, arousal modes such as self-focused perspective-taking are more readily activated by the distress cues of someone perceived as similar to oneself. "Empathy is a building block of moralityfor people to follow the Golden Rule, it helps if they can put themselves in . I have for some time been working on a comprehensive theoretical model for empathy, and in this paper, I present the most recent version of this model. The connotations of empathy are emotionally neutral, lying between sympathy and antipathy but including the joyous emotions. Central to Hoffman's theory is the occurrence of empathic distress in response to another's distress where, 1) empathic distress is associated with helping, 2) empathic distress precedes helping, and 3) observers feel better after helping. Socialization is needed especially because many situations are more conflictual than is the simple bystander situation and, accordingly, elicit basic egoistic motives or desires (hunger, thirst, sex, safety, dominance, etc. Even though we would like to read real concern about the other into their behavior, the required understanding may not be there. 8485). just-world hypothesis), Sympathetic distress (cause of distress clearly not attributable to victim), Empathy-based or transgression guilt (cause of victims distress attributed to self; cf. Use a textbook if you have one, it may help. But given individual egoistic motives, how is that prosocial minimum attained? He first discusses how empathy can be used as a motivator because assisting those that one . Hoffman (2000, 2008) argued that the newborns innate reactive cry response is triggered by mimicry, conditioning, or both. Disappointment is an elusive construct. By the same token, others perceived as dissimilar (such as Edward in the camp incident; see Chapters 1, 2) are less likely to elicit empathyalthough some empathy may remain. Yes! (p. A21), guns, bombs, and tanks cannot defeat hatred. Learn why we feel empathy in some situations and not others, different types of empathy, and more. Owing to the powerful impact of conditioning, association, and mimicry, the pull of these cues may be powerful enough to capture a childs attention, with the result that his empathic response is based [exclusively] on these cues. The developing arousal modes interact with the childs growing understanding of the self and other to produce overlapping stages of increasingly discerning and subtle empathic emotion. Adult intervention, then, is often needed in child conflict situations. Martin L. Hoffman was an American psychologist and a professor emeritus of clinical and developmental psychology at New York University.. According to Hoffmans theory, other-oriented inductions specifically account for this relationship. They seem blindly attracted, like a moth to a flame. The latter sense of empathy relates to the mature stages. Veridical empathy has the basic features of mature empathy, but becomes more complex or profoundly discerning and flexible with cognitive development (Hoffman. In contrast, inductive discipline elicits empathic distress and empathy-based transgression guilt by directing the child to consider how his or her behavior has affected others. I resolved never to do it again, and didnt. Parents should bring to bear an optimal level of pressure: Too little pressure obviously gives children no reason to stop, attend, and process inductive messages. Robert Trivers described this reciprocal altruism in terms of the folk expression you scratch my backI scratch yours (de Waal, 1996, p. 25). Martin L. Hoffman aims to determine the extent of which empathy affects the creation, and execution of law through the writing "Empathy, Justice, and the Law." . Contemporary theories have generally focused on the behavioral, cognitive, or emotional dimensions of prosocial moral development. Little or no support was found, however, for a direct correlation between warmth per se and child prosocial behavior, suggesting that Hoffman is correct to view nurturance as a mediated or interactional more than main-effect variable in moral socialization. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. The mediational status of empathy-based guilt could not be adequately tested, because the component correlations using guilt were significant only for some of the measures of the variables. De Waal (1996) suggested that social perspective-taking and other cognitive processes permit humans to direct more appropriately and effectively (fine-tune) the empathic and helping tendencies shared with other cooperative animals: The cognitive dimension [has] to do with the precise channeling of [empathy]. M.L. Relationship can have no factor. In contrast, Hoffman consistently respects the hot in morality: the naturally hot desires of the ego (or the id in Freudian theory); the countervailing, naturally hot basic arousal modes of the empathic predisposition; and the role of empathy and evoked images in rendering hot various aspects of cognition (we have encountered, for example, self-recognition, cognitive development, scripts or heuristics, attributions, inferences, moral principles, internalized moral norms, and inductions). The collapse of decision-making, even in purely analytic and organizational tasks, was pervasive. In the first stage, the baby has no sense of separation between self and other, and its ability to empathize is limited to a general expression of distress on witnessing or hearing another's. Nonetheless, beyond that of any other species, humans have great imagination. Seeing anothers emotions arouses our own emotions, and from there we go on constructing a more advanced understanding of the others situation. Hoffman argued that parents judicious use of power can promote moral socialization. Warneken & Tomasello, 2010). Specifically, the empathic predisposition is seen as playing a key role in the contribution made by inductive discipline to childrens subsequent prosocial behavior. Morally mature or exemplary individuals may be especially prone to discern such universal qualities and act accordingly (cf. In the process, some psychological distance is introduced between observer and victim (Hoffman, 2000, p. 50). Empathy is generally taken to mean that one retains some awareness that one is feeling and responding to the suffering of the other person. The book's focus is empathy's contribution to altruism and compassion for others in physical, psychological, or economic distress. From this reflection emerged a sense of self-disappointment (I, too, was disappointed in myself). At its most basic level, empathy is an emotional connection between self and other. If the victim is viewed as bad, immoral, or lazy, observers may conclude that his or her fate was deserved and their empathic/sympathetic distress may decrease. As noted, there is a temptation to view the victim in precisely this way. Indeed, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith (1759/1976) even regarded empathy or benevolence as feeble relative to the corrective power of reason, justice, or the third-person point of view: It is not that feeble spark of benevolence that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. Scheler's inquiry and phenomenological analysis of vicarious feeling and experience is especially penetrating as Scheler explicitly raises the philosophical problem of other minds and criticizes the approaches of the argument from analogy and Theodor Lipps' "projective empathy." The construction of ideal and necessary moral reciprocity, for example, has a place in moral motivation that affective primacy fails to capture. (pp. The optimal regulation of affect is seen not only in terms of the stabilizing role of moral principles but also broadly in moral or rational decision-making. More relevant to human empathy is the cooperative or prosocial behavior observed among social groups of mammalian and especially primate species. Indeed, caring seems like a natural extension of empathic distress in specific situations to the general idea that one should always help people in need (Hoffman, 2000, p. 225). Hoffman discusses empathy's role in five moral situations. Cognitive reasoning and justice are especially integrated into Hoffman's theory in the more advanced stages of empathy development. Go to our diagnostics page to see what's wrong. The indirect affectionate response. Extending from Hoffmans work, de Waal (2009) concluded: I rate humans among the most aggressive of primates but also believe that were masters at connecting and that social ties constrain competition. The airplane pilot in charge of landing his aircraft in bad weather at a busy airport must not allow feelings to perturb attention to the details on which his decisions depend. Instead, the results indicated the opposite: The disappointment subscale was the stronger component factor. This bias pertains to the difficulty of identifying with people whom we see as different or belonging to another group. By the same token, we find it easier to identify with those like uswith the same cultural background, ethnic features, age, gender, job, and so onand even more so with those close to us, such as spouses, children, and friends (de Waal, 2009, p. 80; cf. This cry is global insofar as the infant may not clearly recognize whose feelings belong to whom (Decety & Jackson, 2004, p. 71). Martin Hoffman has studied the development of empathy and moral reasoning in children. Hence, Hoffman (personal communication, September 19, 2002), since the publication of his book (Hoffman, 2000) has dropped the role-taking term and uses perspective-taking exclusively (e.g., Hoffman, 2008). Put positively, moral socialization and internalization must have help from a biological readiness or receptivity to altruistic appeals in socialization; that is, a predisposition to accept prosocial norms. Empathy. In this neo-nativist view, developmentincluding moral developmentmeans merely an increasing sophistication built upon modular activation, skill (including self-regulatory skill) acquisition, verbal articulation, and socialization in a particular culture. As persons perceive anothers distress, they bring to that perception not only their empathic predisposition but their tendencies to make causal attributions and inferential judgments as well (Hickling & Wellman, 2001; Weiner, 1985). 238239). You can read more about it in this Parenting Science article. Hoffmans later rendition of his model (Hoffman, 2008) posits six stages (see Table 5.1), from immature (Stages 13) to mature (Stages 46). Research empathy theories and provide a summary of each one. *Examine the ethical issues involved when providing care and support to meet individual needs. Much more than did Haidt, Hoffman has focused our attention on the role of empathy in moral development. In the past empathy has been regarded as 'wishy washy', unnecessary even. Hoffman suggested that moral educational or cognitive behavioral programs (see Chapter 8) make prominent use of a technique that, ironically, recruits our empathic bias to the service of its own reduction. This result pointed to the importance of Hoffmans empathy-based guilt construct and to the need to develop more valid measures that target specifically this type of guilt. Such interventions in the midst of or following transgression are discipline encounters. Eisenberg & Spinrad, 2004). Extending from the modes, we now describe Hoffmans immature and mature stages of empathy development. In fact, females are often found to be more advanced than males in moral judgment during early adolescence (e.g., Garmon, Basinger, Gregg, & Gibbs, 1996; Gibbs et al., 2007; Silberman & Snarey, 1993). Intervention programs designed to promote empathy and prosocial behavior can do more harm than good. Although other-focused perspective-taking is more readily sustained, self-focused perspective-taking tends to be more intense, probably because it activates ones own personal need system (Hoffman, 2000, p. 56). Severe levels of power assertion, or physical child abuse, can inculcate in the child a schema or internal working model of the world as dangerous and threatening, of others as having hostile intentions; such biased or distorted social information processing has been linked to subsequent antisocial behavior (Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, 2006). Similarly, Hoffman (2000) suggested that egocentric empathic distress could be called a precursor of prosocial motivation (p. 70). Especially in ambiguous circumstances, observers may be motivated to make precisely that causal appraisal to reduce empathic over-arousal (discussed later). Mathabanes moral development was also in part a cognitive-developmental story, one of an appreciation and reflection that grew his moral judgment from Stage 2 retaliation to Stage 3 reconciliation and forgiveness in an expanded moral sphere (Kane, 1994; cf. As did Haidt, Hoffman found inspiration in the writings of Hume, who was at times explicit about giving primacy to affect over cognition. In general, children typically do grow in self-awareness, social perspective-taking, and appropriate concern for diverse others in various situations of distress. . If members of disparate groups find themselves working together to achieve a superordinate goal, the respective group members may begin to redefine themselves as common members of a single superordinate group (e.g., Dovidio, Gaertner, Shnabel, Saguy, & Johnson, 2010; Echols & Correll, 2012). These motives and biasesespecially pronounced during the childhood yearscan override empathy (cf. Its all a matter of balance (p. 45). His theory includes five mechanisms to explain how an observer becomes distressed when observing a target's distress. Decety (2007) attributed such responses to a basic arousal mode, namely, mimicry or emotional contagion, perhaps the first step on the road toward full-blown empathy (de Waal, 2009, p. 74). Childrens transition from compliance with parental discipline to acceptance of parental induction constitutes, then, moral socialization or the internalization of a societys prosocial norms. Do Kohlbergs and Hoffmans theories of moral development enable an adequate understanding of prosocial and antisocial behavior? Besides reframing and other cognitive strategies, the activation of moral principles or philosophical ideals (Hoffman, 2000, p. 223) can also serve to remedy the limitations of empathynot only empathic over-arousal but also empathic bias. For example, it can be argued that high empathy in children leads not only to prosocial behavior but also to inductive discipline in the first place: After all, the responsiveness of such children to inductions (they might already be noticing their acts consequences for their victim) would presumably encourage parents to use this discipline technique. According to Hoffman (2000; cf. Batson, 2011). More than a century ago, the sociologist George Simmel (1902) depicted the indispensable role of moral self-reward in the regulatory functioning of society: The tendency of a society to satisfy itself as cheaply as possible results in appeals to good conscience, through which the individual pays to himself the wages for his righteousness, which would otherwise have to be assured to him through law or custom. Socialization support for decentration is necessary if each child is to understand the others perspective and realize it is like his own (He expects to be given a reason, not a flat refusal, just as I do). This partial transformation of egocentric empathy into sympathetic empathy means that, from early childhood on, people want to help because they feel sorry for the victim, not just to relieve their own empathic distress (Hoffman, 2000, p. 88; cf. Empathy theory. They embed empathic affects in cognitive representations, thereby imparting longevity: the empathic affects should survive in long-term memory. We will save for later consideration (in Chapter 10) the question of moral development and reality. 2008, p. 445). Hoffmans attention to egoistic motives and empathic processes in moral socialization accounts for the major caveats he invokes as he uses cognitive-developmental themes. Vaish & Warneken, 2012). In this sense, Eric Nelsons (2013) point that motor mimicry lacks an emotional link between individuals (p. 183) must be qualified in some instances. Also highlighted are the psychological processes . Cikara, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011). Empathy-The capacity to share emotions with other people and the ability to engage and share the feelings of others. A dramatic case of sudden prosocial behavior generated partly from mature but fast-acting empathy and moral judgment was introduced in Chapter 2and will be further examined in the next chapter. In general, then (despite the dedication of helping professionals; see below) states of empathic over-arousal tend to induce egoistic drift and hence undermine the contribution of empathy to prosocial behavior. Human beings cant even keep track of more than about 150 people, let alone love them all, observed Alison Gopnik (2009, p. 216). Although individuals with mature empathy tend to help distressed others, the actualization of that tendency is influenced to a great extent by how the situation is perceived (Hoffman, 2000; see Table 5.1). Using modeling analyses, Jan Janssens and Jan Gerris (1992) found that postulating childrens empathy as a mediator between authoritative parenting (including inductive discipline; Baumrind, 1971) and prosocial development (including prosocial behavior) yielded a more adequate causal model than did alternative models of empathy. These cognitive appraisal processes (Lamm, Batson, & Decety, 2007) can play a crucial mediating role. An adaptation of the Hoffman and Saltzstein (1967) measure was used in our (Krevans & Gibbs, 1996) replication of the relationship between inductive discipline and childrens prosocial behavior. This makes it possible for one to realize that the same holds true for others: Their external image is the other side of their inner experience. Moshman, 2011). In this volume, these three dimensions are brought together while providing the first comprehensive account of prosocial moral development in children. As Hoffman continues sharing his theory of empathy he unpacks many aspects of empathy. In other results, both studies found that parental use of harsh power assertions related negatively both to childrens empathy and childrens prosocial behavior11Close (cf. Even humans care more about what we see firsthand than about what remains out of sight (p. 221; see here-and-now empathic bias, below). Parents who make effective inductions cast the message in a form appropriate to the maturity level of the childs available empathic arousal modes and cognitive development. Instead, research suggests that many of us are still prone to more unconscious or "automatic" forms of racismwe can behave in racially-biased ways without even knowing it. This egocentric projection is a bias that, as we have learned from cognitive-developmental work (Chapter 3), dissipates but does not disappear entirely even among adults entirely capable of perspective-taking. Hoffman (2000) suggested that this emotionally steady concept of self entails an appreciation of ones ownand the othersinner experience. Self-aware agents, sense their body as containing, and being guided by, an inner mental self, an I, which thinks, feels, plans, remembers [and understand] that one is somebody separated from others not just physically but also in terms of inner experience; and that ones external image is an aspect of ones inner experience.
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