Early empathy development: Concern and comforting in 9- and 18-month-old infants from Uganda and the UK.

ABSTRACT: Empathy, the capacity to share and understand others' emotional states, is important for navigating our social lives, yet its development in infancy remains poorly understood. Moreover, most research on empathy development has been biased towards Western populations, which are not representative of global diversity. Using a cross-cultural longitudinal design, this study investigated how infants at 9 and 18 months sampled from Uganda (N = 44, 24 female) and the UK (N = 49, 24 female) develop empathic concern and comforting. Infants watched an adult (mother or experimenter) pretend to injure themselves and the infants' concerned facial expression and comforting behaviours towards the injured individual were recorded. By 9 months of age, infants at both sites exhibited evidence of facial expr

SUBMITTER: Vreden C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12047753 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature