Similarity of Experience and Empathy in Preschoolers

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Abstract
The present study examined the role of similarity of experience in young children's affective reactions to others. Some preschoolers played one of two games (Puzzle Board or Buckets) and were informed that they had either failed or succeeded; others merely observed the Puzzle Board or Buckets games being played and were given no evaluative feedback. Subsequently, each child was shown a staged videotape of another child failing on the Puzzle game (thus, each child observed the confederate have a similar or dissimilar experience on a familiar or unfamiliar game). While watching the videotape presentation, the observing child's facial reaction to the saddened confederate was unobtrusively videotaped. Immediately following the presentation, each child was asked to indicate how he or she felt on a 7-point smiley-face rating scale. The results were generally consistent with the notion that a young child's empathy with an unhappy agemate will be enhanced when the observing child has had a similar unpleasant experience. The implications of the present findings for prosocial behavior in children are discussed