Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Empathy has been shown to have many positive outcomes in individuals at every stage throughout life. It promotes sociability, helping behaviors, and can protect against the development of psychopathology. Evolutionary theorists have hypothesized that humans have a biological predisposition for empathic response. Temperament, as well as parental interaction with children, account for individual differences in empathic response levels. Much research has also looked at maternal depression as a key factor in children's negative emotional responding. We used EEG to measure individual differences in children's empathic emotional responding, as well as parental interaction and its impact on empathy and prosocial development. Results show that children rated as being more sociable are more likely to show outward expressions of empathy. Also, those with greater right frontal asymmetry are more likely to assist others in a prosocial manner.

Extent

v, 49 p. : ill.

Comments

by Amanda N. Almeida.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Amanda N. Almeida.

Identifier

FADT228771

Format

pdf

Download

Share

COinS