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J Autism Dev Disord (2014) 44:17491758 DOI 10.1007/s10803-014-2048-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Empathy and Empathy Induced Prosocial Behavior in 6- and 7-Year-Olds with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Peter K. H. Deschamps Marieke Been
Walter Matthys
Published online: 1 February 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract The present study aimed to assess empathy and prosocial behavior in 67 year old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Results showed, rst, lower levels of parent- and teacher-rated cognitive empathy, and similar levels of affective empathy in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. Second, emotion recognition for basic emotions, one aspect of cognitive empathy, in a story task was adequate in ASD children, but ASD children with severe impairments in social responsiveness had difculties in recognizing fear. Third, prosocial behavior in response to signals of distress of a peer in a computer task was similar in ASD as in TD children. In conclusion, early elementary school children with ASD show specic impairments in cognitive empathy.
Keywords Autism spectrum disorder Children
Cognitive empathy Affective empathy Empathy induced
prosocial behavior
Introduction
Being able to share and understand emotions of others, referred to as empathy, is essential in managing successful reciprocal human relationships (Dziobek et al. 2008). A distinction is drawn between a cognitive and an affective
component. Cognitive empathy refers to the capacity to take the perspective of others and the understanding of emotions. Affective empathy is dened as the observers experience of anothers emotional state (Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright 2004; Dadds et al. 2008; Dziobek et al. 2008). In general, empathy is thought to trigger a number of behaviors intended to benet another like helping, sharing and comforting, together called prosocial behavior (Eisenberg et al. 2010). Decits in both empathy and prosocial behavior have been considered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Bons et al. 2013; Russell et al. 2012), a psychiatric disorder characterized by decits in social skills and communication (American Psychiatric Association 1994DSMIV-Revised). However, results of studies are inconsistent and little is known about the age at which decits in empathy and prosocial behavior might emerge. In order to develop adequate early interventions aimed at improving the social behavior of children with ASD, further understanding of empathy-related processes and prosocial behavior in young children with ASD seems relevant.