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Chart Increasing

Unit 8 - Developmental Psychology

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Magnifying Glass Tilted Left

Unit 1 - Research Methodology

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Herb

Unit 2 - Biological Approach To Behaviour

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Brain

Unit 3 - Cognitive Approach To Behaviour

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Globe Showing Europe Africa

Unit 4 - Sociocultural Approach To Behavior

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Thought Balloon

Unit 5 - Abnormal Psychology

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Performing Arts

Unit 6 - Health psychology

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Busts In Silhouette

Unit 7 - Psychology Of Human Relationships

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Bar-Chart

Unit 9 - Internal Assessment

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Light Bulb

Unit 10 - The IB Curriculum - A Conceptual Model

Key Topic: Empathy and its development from infancy to toddlerhood.

<ul>
	<li>Empathy is crucial for social relationships and is a significant part of development.</li>
	<li>Studying empathy in pre-verbal children can be tricky but it eliminates some confounding variables like demand characteristics.</li>
	<li>Evidence shows young children are capable of empathy-related behaviours.</li>
	<li>The development of self-other differentiation, happening during the second year of life, turns self-concern into concern for others.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Empathy is like being able to put yourself in someone else&#39;s shoes. For example, imagine if your friend drops their ice cream - you might feel bad even though you didn&#39;t lose anything, right? That&#39;s empathy!</li>
	<li>Now, how do we know if a baby can feel empathy? Here&#39;s a fun fact: researcher Simner (1971) found that babies (as young as 18-72 hours old) who heard another infant cry often started crying too. This reaction was more intense than their responses to white noise or synthetic cry sounds.</li>
	<li>This might mean the crying wasn&#39;t just because they didn&#39;t like the noise - it could be an early sign of empathy. Sort of like how you might start crying if you see your friend crying.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Young babies may perceive others&#39; negative emotions as their own distress, almost like they&#39;re feeling it themselves. Picture this - if a baby sees another baby upset, they might start crying or show signs of distress. This is because they haven&#39;t yet learned to differentiate between themselves and others.</li>
	<li>As they grow older (around their second year), they start to understand that they&#39;re separate from other people. That&#39;s when their concern for others starts to grow.</li>
	<li>Think about this: when you were younger, you might have cried when you saw someone else crying, but as you got older, instead of crying, you would probably try to comfort them. That&#39;s self-other differentiation in action!</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Empathy is linked to theories of altruism (doing things for others without expecting anything in return).</li>
	<li>The empathy-altruism model (Batson, 1991) suggests that when we feel empathy for others, we are more likely to help them. This is like if you see a classmate struggling with homework and you decide to help them out because you understand their frustration.</li>
	<li>On the other hand, the negative-state-relief model (Cialdini et al, 1987) suggests we help others to reduce our own distress - like helping your sibling clean their room not because you care about the mess, but because their complaining is giving you a headache!</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>Zahn-Waxler et al (1992) found that empathy-related behaviours change a lot in children between 14 and 36 months. For example, by the second year, children show empathic concern (like looking sad when someone else is), hypothesis testing (asking &quot;What happened?&quot;), and prosocial behaviour (like giving hugs or asking &quot;Are you okay?&quot;).</li>
	<li>So next time you see a toddler comforting their teddy bear, remember - that&#39;s their empathy in action!</li>
</ul>

Remember, studying human behaviour, like empathy, is complex but totally fascinating! Just like a detective, psychologists piece together clues to understand why we behave the way we do. Isn&#39;t that cool?

Unlocking Empathy: Insights Into Early Development

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Higher Level

Psychology HL

Unit 8 - Developmental Psychology

Unlocking Empathy: Insights Into Early Development

Table of content

Main points

Empathy in infants

Unlock the Full Content!

Unit 8 - Developmental Psychology

Unlocking Empathy: Insights Into Early Development

Table of content

Main points

Empathy in infants

Unlock the Full Content!