Plesa Skwerer D, Tager-Flusberg H
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2016 Oct;60(10):1010-9. doi: 10.1111/jir.12302. Epub 2016 Jun 8.
Anecdotal and caregiver reports often highlight the sociability and empathy of children with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetically based neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by a distinctive, cognitive and social phenotype. Despite these characteristics, people with WS have many difficulties navigating the social world. In this study, we investigated whether the heightened social motivation and empathy demonstrated by children with WS lead to prosocial behaviours such as instrumental helping.
We compared 2;8 to 5;8 year olds with WS to an age-matched and developmental quotient-matched group of children with Down syndrome (DS) and an age-matched group of typically developing children, in their responses to semi-structured naturalistic situations designed to elicit empathic and helping behaviours.
Children with WS showed more empathic concern than both comparison groups towards a person in distress but did not differ from controls in their level of helping behaviour. Children in both the WS and DS groups consistently received higher ratings on empathy than on helpfulness, in contrast to the balanced profile shown by the typically developing children.
Findings suggest that the heightened emotional responsivity displayed by children with WS or DS does not readily translate into other forms of socially competent behaviour. The complex relations between empathy and prosocial behaviours in typical and atypical development are discussed.
轶事和照料者报告常常强调威廉姆斯综合征（WS）患儿的社交能力和同理心，这是一种基于基因的神经发育障碍，具有独特的认知和社会表型。尽管有这些特征，但患有WS的人在社交方面仍有许多困难。在本研究中，我们调查了患有WS的儿童所表现出的增强的社会动机和同理心是否会导致诸如工具性帮助等亲社会行为。
我们将2岁8个月至5岁8个月的WS患儿与年龄匹配且发育商匹配的唐氏综合征（DS）患儿组以及年龄匹配的正常发育儿童组进行比较，观察他们对旨在引发同理心和帮助行为的半结构化自然情境的反应。
与两个对照组相比，患有WS的儿童对处于困境中的人表现出更多的同理心关注，但在帮助行为水平上与对照组没有差异。与正常发育儿童表现出的平衡特征相反，WS组和DS组的儿童在同理心方面的评分始终高于在帮助行为方面的评分。
研究结果表明，患有WS或DS的儿童所表现出的增强的情绪反应性并不能轻易转化为其他形式的社会胜任行为。我们讨论了典型和非典型发育中同理心与亲社会行为之间的复杂关系。
