How Children Develop Empathy

At this time of year we are supposed to think about the needs and suffering of others and do something positive about it. The feelings stirred by the feelings of others is called empathy and people who have it developed it as children.

This article from the New York Times by Dr. Perri Klass delves into the mechanisms by which this trait develops.

In a quote from the article: "Parental modeling is important, of course; sympathy and compassion should be part of children’s experience long before they know the words. Don’t offer material rewards for prosocial behavior, but do offer opportunities to do good — opportunities that the child will see as voluntary. And help children see themselves and frame their own behavior as generous, kind, helpful."

But financial rewards undermine prosocial behavior. In the US people can be paid for blood donations, but not in Britain. And the British donate more blood.