Department of Psychology.
Department of Information Systems and Analytics.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2022 Dec;151(12):3144-3153. doi: 10.1037/xge0001249. Epub 2022 Jun 23.
Empathy tracks socioemotional adjustment during early adolescence, yet adolescents this age tend to show reductions in empathy compared with younger children. Here we took a novel approach to building empathy among early adolescents in four middle schools ( = 857). Rather than addressing the to empathize, we targeted the to empathize. To do so, we leveraged strategies demonstrated to change motivation among early adolescents: social norms and mindsets. Compared with those in other conditions, students who received a norms-based intervention reported greater motivation to empathize with others, which was in turn associated with increased peer-reported prosocial behaviors, as well as lower levels of loneliness and aggression. The effects of this norms condition were strongest at schools with relatively high engagement with the intervention. Findings suggest a novel avenue for increasing empathy among early adolescents-focusing on peer-driven motivation-and underscore the importance of context in shaping intervention outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
同理心在青少年早期跟踪社会情感调整，但与年幼的孩子相比，这个年龄段的青少年往往表现出同理心的减少。在这里，我们在四所中学（n = 857）中采取了一种新颖的方法来培养青少年的同理心。我们不是针对培养同理心的对象，而是针对培养同理心的对象。为此，我们利用了已经证明可以改变青少年动机的策略：社会规范和心态。与其他条件下的学生相比，接受基于规范的干预的学生报告说，他们更有动力去同情他人，这反过来又与更多的同伴报告的亲社会行为以及更低的孤独感和攻击性有关。在与干预措施有较高参与度的学校中，这种规范条件的效果最强。研究结果表明，关注同伴驱动的动机是增加青少年同理心的新途径，并强调了背景在塑造干预结果方面的重要性。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
