Being able to defend victims of school bullying is central in any intervention; thus, it seems paramount to investigate which factors may contribute to defending behavior. The present report aims to investigate whether empathic self-efficacy is associated with helping behavior and whether interpersonal factors (i.e., social preference and…

The self-oriented and other-oriented empathy dimensions may have different relationships with playfulness. However, a scarcity of research exists on the association between empathy and playfulness. The present research contained two studies. Parents of 386 preschoolers (M[subscript age] = 4.89, SD[subscript age] = 0.79) attended Study 1, and…

Objective: Empathic concern (EC) for others may be related to COVID-19 pandemic responses. Participants and methods: The purpose of this survey study was to examine differences in pandemic responses in 1,778 college students rated as low (LE) versus high (HE) on the EC subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Results: HE participants…

Research Findings: Empathy plays an important role in children's early social-emotional development. However, there are not many instruments available for measuring the different aspects/levels of empathy in preschool children. Moreover, few studies examined the validity of the existing measures for empathy in Chinese children. The present study…

Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents' experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical…

During online group learning, students constantly encounter socio-emotional challenges that can trigger negative social emotions. These emotions weaken their psychological safety, disrupt communication, strain peer relationships, and ultimately lower productivity and contribution to group tasks. As a result, their attitude towards group learning…

Recent evidence suggests that only about 1 in 5 U.S. adults has a friend on the political "other side" (Dunn, 2020). Although these interpartisan friendships are uncommon, they play a critical role in catalyzing empathy, reducing prejudice, furthering justice, and even restoring democracy, as suggested by the theory of civic friendship…

Background/Context: Political divisiveness, racial reckoning, climate change, and mental health challenges represent just a few contemporary issues facing today's youth. Addressing these challenges now and in the future requires deep interpersonal understanding and collective action--neither of which can be achieved without empathy or prosocial…

Both parasympathetic nervous system regulation and receipt of social support from close relationships contribute to prosocial development, although few studies have examined their combined influences in adolescence and particularly within racially and ethnically minoritized populations. In this longitudinal study of 229 U.S. Mexican-origin…

The issue of violent extremism has given rise to new policy debates in Norway. A key limitation of these debates, often grounded in naïve assumptions about the peacebuilding effect of education, is the downplay of emotions and dissent in democratic engagement. This article analyses how selected educators in Norway describe encountering and…

Reviews concerning the enhancement of preschool children's social competencies reveal areas within which teacher approach, definitions of social competence and methods of study can be enhanced. In response, teachers and researchers co-developed and introduced a peer-based relational intervention to support children's communication, empathic…

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for people, including young children. This study focuses on how teachers and parents foster children's prosocial behaviours during online learning amidst the pandemic. Data were sourced from 100 articles on WeChat Official Service/Subscription Accounts (WOSA) -- a popular Chinese social…

This study examined the mediating effects of cognitive empathy and affective empathy in the relationship between dispositional awe and prosocial behaviour in medical students, and whether perceived stress moderated this association. A total of 631 medical students from two medical tertiary institutions in Liaoning Province, China, participated in…

The emergence of prosocial tendencies in early childhood is still not well understood and not commonly tested with direct measures. This study investigated predictors of prosocial behavior (i.e., prosocial decision-making and prosocial creativity) in 3-to-5-year-old children and explored the role of demographic factors on empathy and moral…

Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. "Prosocial risk taking" is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research…