The Emergence Of Empathy In Early Childhood

Empathy is an abstract concept that can often be interchanged with terms such as compassion, kindness, sympathy, and sentimentality (10). There are two subcategories of empathy: cognitive and emotional. Cognitive empathy is one’s ability to “recognize, know, and understand” another’s experience, without directly sharing in said experience (10). Affective, or emotional, empathy focuses on matching the emotions of others. Norma Feshbach, a psychologist at UCLA, defines empathy as the “ability to discriminate the affective states of others,” which generally results from the growth of emotional responsiveness. Some consider empathy as an “antecedent for altruism” (10).

Empathy also means that we care about each other. Having someone show you empathy feels better and tells you that someone seen you and admired how you felt. When someone creates you feel that you are valued and want for, you prone feel better about yourself and then you are more prone to displays that you care in return. This creates connections among people.

Babies are born with two important skills to prepare them for empathy – the ability to begin to imitate facial gestures and the automatic responses in which the cries of other infants causes another infant to cry (Szalavitz & Perry, 2010). From the first hour after birth, babies can imitate several

Emotional- Babies at this age are not unable to communicate so show their emotion by crying or laughter and may use some facial expressions to show how they feel about what’s going on around them. As they get older say around two years old they show their emotion by having tantrums. When they reach three they begin to care about the people around them and tend to share toys with them and play with them.

Additionally, it allows us to help infants and children deal with and work through any experiences that they have had, because we can understand and acknowledge how the infant/child is feeling. However, we are all individuals with individual personalities, and as such, we must remember that children will develop in different ways and at different rates from each other. Below I will portray the age-related development in infants and children both socially and emotionally.

During the early years of a child’s life they are developing their sense of identity, self- worth, self esteem and they are learning how others can see and treat them.

Empathy is understanding how someone else feels and the ability relates to their feelings. However, in getting kids to develop empathy skills, teachers must use their creativity; art is one avenue teachers can use in helping kids develop empathy. An example is teachers can have kids draw happy and sad faces and then ask questions such as; have you ever felt like this expression (happy or sad) and how did it make you feel? Following up that questions, like can you understand how Johnny feels (happy or sad); this exercise helps kids understand their own feelings while also developing that empathy for other children. Secondly, the altruistic behavior, is a selfless act and the ability to promote someone else’s welfare; in so many words, it is the ability to volunteer to help someone else

At 6 weeks infants develop a social smile, at 3 month laughter and curiosity develop, at 4 months full responsive smiles emerge, from 4-8 months they develop anger, from 9014 months they develop a fear of social events, at 12 months the are fearful of unexpected sights and sounds, and at 18 months they are self-aware, feel pride, shame, and embarrassment. In the first two years, infants develop from reactive pain and pleasure to complex patterns of social awareness. Emotions in infants are produced from their body as opposed to their thoughts. Therefore fast and uncensored reactions are common in infants. During their toddler years, the strength of their emotions will increase.

Early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of children's physical, intellectual, emotional and social development and of their well-being. The growth in children is both rapid and differential. A

At the preschool level, biting and hitting is quite common, but the first thing we as educators need to do is “Stop the Behavior Immediately” (Laureate, 2015) Next have the “offender put an ice pack on the child who is bitten, this builds empathy.” (Laureate, 2016) Honestly, this shocked be because in the districts I have worked in the child bitten was immediately taken to the school nurse. Dr. Gootman also states, “We want to give the child responsibility for the child they hurt.” (Laureate, 2016) yet to me will this young child truly understand at the young age of 3 or 4 years old what they did?

At about two months old, your child should be flashing their smile at you. Some babies especially premature babies take a little longer. However, if your child still is not smiling back at you by 3 months, it may be a sign of neurological issues

The development topic of empathy is shown in Chapter Two. Empathy is the ability to understand the emotions and concerns of another person. In this chapter Maya describes a time when she was five and her Uncle Willie was not using his cane and trying to stand up straight as two travelers were in the store. In the book Maya explains how her uncle is tired of being disabled and just for that moment he wanted to appear normal. Maya narrates how she, “understood and felt closer to him at that moment than ever before”. Maya is in the psychological development of early childhood and has started to develop moral emotions from her increase in social experiences between her family and the customers of the store. Maya at the age of five comprehends

It is beneficial to society as a whole to teach children empathy because it not only affects us interpersonally but it will also allow for positive interactions between humans and animals as well as with the planet as a whole.

Empathy is extraordinarily important for children to understand and eventually put into practice, as it exercises their ability to feel and respect the emotions of other people. Empathy also plays a big role in trust and support- both of which are very important aspects of any relationship, and is necessary for living a healthy, functional life in today’s society. In her article, Dovey describes “A 2011 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology […] showed that, when people read about an experience, they display stimulation within the same neurological regions as when they go through that experience themselves.” (Dovey par. 11). This means that when people, or in this case, children, read stories, their brains react as if they were going through the same situations and emotions that they read about. This is a great way for kids to learn about empathy, why it’s important, and how to apply it to their own lives. One may argue that, while reading may trigger empathetic feelings in the majority of people, those who enjoy reading have greater empathetic tendencies than others, making reading to teach empathy only applicable to those who like to read and have these higher-than-average tendencies. Dovey also addresses this, stating that “other studies published in 2006 and 2009 showed […] that people who read a lot of fiction [tended] to be better at empathizing with others (even after the researchers had accounted for the potential bias that people with greater empathetic

From the beginning, babies are born with their own personalities. Crying is the first sense of emotion and is used to communicate many different things. Psychosocial development increases, as they are able to express more emotions. Between zero to three months of age, babies can smile. They start to become curious and show interest in certain things. By three to six months, infants can