RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPATHY AND AGGRESSION IN 2 AGE GROUPS

Tested the prediction that empathy should function as an inhibitor of overt aggressive behavior by obtaining experimental measures of empathy and teachers' ratings of aggressive behavior on 40 6- and 7-yr-olds and 48 4- and 5-yr-olds. In the older age group high empathy boys were significantly less aggressive than low empathy boys while the converse held for the younger boys. There were no significant differences between high and low empathy girls at either age level. The disparate findings for boys and girls are consistent with other data reflecting differential correlates of aggression in the 2 sexes. The contrasting relationship between empathy and aggression for boys at the 2 age levels appears to be a function of developmental changes in the role of aggression in social behavior. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.