Hoffman argues that empathy has biological roots and can be activated by multiple modes or mechanisms. Yet Mathabane also remembered that, when he was seven years old, a White person, a nun, did feel the pain of his familys oppression and predicament. y. In other words, such expressions may connect [the] parents expectations and hopes for the child with the childs own self-image and developing expectations and hopes for himself (Hoffman, personal communication, February 24, 2007). Using modeling analyses, Jan Janssens and Jan Gerris (1992) found that postulating childrens empathy as a mediator between authoritative parenting (including inductive discipline; Baumrind, 1971) and prosocial development (including prosocial behavior) yielded a more adequate causal model than did alternative models of empathy. Emotional State of people Since empathy involves understanding the emotional states of other people, the way it is characterized is . The here-and-now version of empathic bias favors distressed persons who are immediately present. Hoffman argues (and we would agree) that there are basically two families of moral principle: caring and justice. Haidt included empathy among his posited biological and affective foundations of morality. Yet parental expression of disappointed expectations might also foster in the child a sense of the relevance of morality to his or her self-concept (Patrick & Gibbs, 2007, 2012). Cognition has thus far played a constructive role in the morality of the good: understanding or awareness of self and other facilitates a progressive maturity of caring for others. The concept of empathy is used to refer to a wide range of psychological capacities that are thought of as being central for constituting humans as social creatures allowing us to know what other people are thinking and feeling, to emotionally engage with them, to . Batson, 2012). There are others. Consider dedicated clinicians, nurses, rescue workers, and other helping professionals, especially those with self-efficacy beliefs and capabilities (Hoffman, 2002, 2008). In other results, both studies found that parental use of harsh power assertions related negatively both to childrens empathy and childrens prosocial behavior11Close (cf. 72, 100, 209, 241). Patients who had sustained damage to the ventromedial prefrontal region of their brains no longer showed empathy or other feelings, rendering their emotions shallow and their decision-making landscape hopelessly flat (Damasio, 1999, p. 51). It is a matter of common observation, however, that mature empathy does not necessarily eventuate in prosocial behavior. John Bowlby's attachment theory-John Bowlby's attachment theory suggests that it is important for a child to have an adult in their life that they have a close bond to, whether this be parents, grandparents or . Hoffmans word for such a biologically based predisposition is empathy. Growing beyond the superficial, then, applies not only to moral judgment (Chapter 3) but also to the development of empathy. They embed empathic affects in cognitive representations, thereby imparting longevity: the empathic affects should survive in long-term memory. Haidt (2012; and see Chapter 2 herein) interpreted Damasios findings as support for his Hume-inspired affective-primacy (rather than cognitive-primacy or co-primacy) view of moral motivation: Here were people in whom brain damage had essentially shut down communication between the rational soul and the seething passions of the body. Cognitive empathy [the ability to put oneself in the shoes of this other entity without losing the distinction between self and other; cf. Perhaps, then, not all white people were unfeeling like the police. He wondered whether, by killing whites I would also kill people like the nun whose empathy had given my mother hope and whose help had saved me, by making it possible for me to get an education, from the dead-end life of the street and gangs. Hoffman's model explains how empathy begins and how it develops in children. Mathabanes moral development was in part an empathy-based story of how empathy, reflection, and reframing humanized an enemy and thereby inhibited aggression. An intervening induction may point to the still-present crying victim: For inductive information to be understood well enough to arouse empathic distress and guilt at that age, it must simply and clearly point up the victims distress and make the childs role in it salient (You pushed him and he fell down and started to cry). Empathy in the early stages is posited to be, as de Waal put it, a blind attraction rather than real [or mature] concern for the other person. Although nurturance and warmth or prosocial role modeling foster a more receptive child, neither does what inductions in the discipline encounter can do: teach the impact of the childs selfish act on another and empower that teaching with empathythe crucial connection for moral internalization. Affectively charged moral principles can reduce empathic over-arousal and biases insofar as they give structure and stability to empathic affects (p. 216). Considering this denitionofempathy,itappearsthataffective empathy is the basis for cognitive empathic ability. Lawrence & Valsiner, 1993). Assess the use of Hoffman's empathy theory in building relationships, trust and preventing discrimination, must include; Summary of what Hoffman states about empathy and forming relationships Assess how HPs use Hoffman's theory to build positive relationships with individuals and build trust in order to meet individuals care and support . A number of the items in the original Hoffman and Saltzstein (1967) measure of inductive discipline were statements of disappointed expectations, for example, I never would have expected you to do that; such expressions may connote induction or love withdrawal but may also go beyond both in their meanings. Modes, stages, and attributions of empathic distress, (Hoffman, 2000, p. 153; cf. Relations between parents' discipline, children's empathic responses, and children's prosocial behavior were examined in order to evaluate Martin Hoffman's claim that children's empathy and empathy-based guilt mediate the socialization of children's prosocial behavior. *Investigate the principles behind enabling individuals with care and support needs to Accordingly, it is often tempting to blame the victim even when such a causal attribution is unwarranted (cf. The technique is called reframing or relabeling, as when we reframe an otherwise abstract out-group with a suffering individual. This egocentric projection is a bias that, as we have learned from cognitive-developmental work (Chapter 3), dissipates but does not disappear entirely even among adults entirely capable of perspective-taking. The common features of conflict (outer, inner) and influence (compliance, self-regulation) in the discipline encounter form the basis of Hoffmans (1983) argument for the importance of discipline practices to the outcome of moral socialization. Empathy by association can also take place through the cognitive medium of language. As is Kohlbergs, Hoffmans work is noted in virtually every developmental psychology textbook currently on the market. Requisite to the essential minimum of cooperative and prosocial behavior, then, is in turn some minimum degree of moral self-regulation. His work is based on social and emotional development, especially empathy, and its bearing on how we develop morally. An adequate moral psychology must represent not just the good, but also the right in morality. The formation of this empathy-based sentiment (we will use empathy loosely to mean sympathy) requires a certain causal appraisal; namely, that the distressing circumstances were beyond the sufferers control (perhaps a natural disaster, unavoidable accident or illness, or the death of a loved one). Fully mature (p. 58) social perspective-taking achieves the best of both worldsthat is, sustained intensityby co-occurring, parallel processing of both self and other (Hoffman, 2008, p. 442). It can be vanquished only by humanity. In other words, cognitive processes can complicate and even undermine the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior. The imagination entailed in perspective-taking can be either self-focused (imagining how one would feel in the others situation) or other-focused (imagining how the other person feels or how most people would feel in that situation). de Waal, 2012). Zahn-Waxler & Robinson, 1995). I suggest that people in a moral conflict may weigh the impact of alternative courses of action on others. Doesnt the child actively construct moral schemas? Hoffman identifies two such limitations: over-arousal and empathic bias. After all, if people empathized with everyone in distress and tried to help them all equally, society might quickly come to a halt (Hoffman, 2000, p. 14). Although the child initially reacted to the parents calm eschewing of power assertion with relief at having avoided external consequences, she then contemplated her parents disappointment in her. Empathy is a potential psychological motivator for helping others in distress. In fact, animals as well as young children often [stare at or] seek out distressed parties without any indication that they know whats going on. After all. Although moral principles per se are seen to lack motive force (p. 239) and are originally learned in cool didactic contexts [such as those of lectures, sermons] (p. 239), they do have an affective motive power through bonding with empathy (we would add that moral principles can also gain cognitive motive power from moral reciprocity). We all know how joy spreads, or sadness, and how much we are affected by the moods of those around us (de Waal, 2013, p. 142). Although biology imparts to empathy its earliest modes of affective arousal, more advanced modesespecially as they coalesce with cognitive developmental milestones to form stages or levelssubsequently enrich the empathic predisposition. In general, then (despite the dedication of helping professionals; see below) states of empathic over-arousal tend to induce egoistic drift and hence undermine the contribution of empathy to prosocial behavior. "Empathy is a building block of moralityfor people to follow the Golden Rule, it helps if they can put themselves in . . Although their underlying emotions are more complex, even decentered adults can be captured for a while by the salience of familiar cues. Learning to hate was simple. As we will see, moral principles are particularly helpful in the regulation of empathic distress. Moral socialization or internalization can be construed as the transition from a childs compliance to a constraining adult in a discipline encounter to an inner conflict and resources for autonomous self-regulation (Bugental & Grusec, 2006; Hoffman, 2000) in a subsequent moral encounter. Where power assertion is less harsh, corporal punishment is culturally normative, and the physical punishment is not interpreted as rejection by the child, the negative relationship between power assertion and childrens empathy or prosocial behavior may not hold (Dodge, McLoyd, & Lansford, 2005). Empathic responding through language-mediated association entails the mental effort of semantic processing and decoding. Also highlighted are the psychological processes . As Hoffman continues sharing his theory of empathy he unpacks many aspects of empathy. exposure control, Gleichgerrcht & Decety, 2012); (b) a self-efficacy belief (Bandura, 1977) that one has the requisite skills and other competencies to substantially alleviate the victims suffering; (c) moral or helping professional identity; and (d) the activation of moral principles. Such behaviors are adaptive for the insect group because only some are programmed for sacrificial defense; others are programmed to carry out the groups reproductive activity (Campbell, 1972). 5758). The development of scripts (or, more broadly, schemas) into morally hot cognitions is discussed further in the context of moral internalization. Scheler's inquiry and phenomenological analysis of vicarious feeling and experience is especially penetrating as Scheler explicitly raises the philosophical problem of other minds and criticizes the approaches of the argument from analogy and Theodor Lipps' "projective empathy." Extending from the modes, we now describe Hoffmans immature and mature stages of empathy development. Hence, parental expression of disappointed expectations may be even more important than other-oriented induction for the socialization of cooperative and prosocial behavior, at least for older children (our participants were early adolescents).12Close. Hoffmans (1986) emphasis, however, is on the interaction between affective and cognitive processes, rather than on affect as a prior force that can operate independently of cognition (e.g., Zajonc, 1984). By the same token, others perceived as dissimilar (such as Edward in the camp incident; see Chapters 1, 2) are less likely to elicit empathyalthough some empathy may remain. In full (affective and cognitive) empathy, we connect to and understand others and make their situation our own (de Waal, 2009, p. 225, emphasis added). 78 sixth and seventh graders (138-172 months in age), their mothers, and 4546). They seem blindly attracted, like a moth to a flame. Slovic (2007) suggested that a single individual, unlike a group, is viewed as a psychologically coherent unit. Empathy Theories. Empathic bias is the second limitation of empathy. Insofar as the message highlights harm to another (namely, the parent, who may comment, What you said made me unhappy), it is classifiable as an induction. Damon, 1995; Hoffman, 1970). Hoffman suggested that reactive crying is less common by six months or so because other is increasingly differentiated. Bystander guilt derives from attributing that plight to ones inactions (for example, more than 40 years after having witnessed a continuing victimization, the author has still experienced bystander guilt over his passivity; see Chapter 1). Empathys relationship to prosocial behavior is complicated by the intervening role of certain cognitive processes, as well as by certain biases or limitations that may be natural or intrinsic to the empathic predisposition. If members of disparate groups find themselves working together to achieve a superordinate goal, the respective group members may begin to redefine themselves as common members of a single superordinate group (e.g., Dovidio, Gaertner, Shnabel, Saguy, & Johnson, 2010; Echols & Correll, 2012). Mirror-test results (do participants try to remove, say, a mirrored facial smudge? This chapter examines the good in moral development, with emphasis on empathy and the affective strand of moral motivation and development. HOFFMAN-Martin L., passed away peacefully on August 8, 2022 of natural causes, in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 98. . Too much feeling at the smaller frames and too little at the larger frame can have disastrous consequences. A child may be judged to be sadder if distress over a broken toy occurs despite friends entreaties not to be a crybaby (Rotenberg & Eisenberg, 1997). Interestingly, the newborns reactive cry is more likely to be triggered by the cry of another human newborn than by control stimuli that have included a computer-simulated cry, the cry of a chimpanzee, and even the newborns own previous cry (Dondi, Simion, & Caltran, 1999; Martin & Clark, 1982; Sagi & Hoffman, 1976; Simner, 1971). These stages specify a cognitive developmental growth beyond the superficial in empathic morality. moral emotions What is Martin Hoffman empathy theory? Rutland, Killen, & Abrams, 2010). Many important phenomena similar to Sociocultural and temperamental factors can also undermine empathy (see Hoffman, 2000, pp. Maintaining self-serving cognitive distortions may require the expenditure of cognitive resources (see Chapter 7). global empathy What is Hoffman's first stage of empathy development, which is characterized by an infant matching the strong emotion of another? Exemplary prosocial behavior appears, at least from the outside, to entail substantial personal cost (see Chapter 6). Moral motivation derives not just from cognitively constructed ideals of reciprocity but also from what Nel Noddings (1984) called an attitude for goodness (p. 2) and what Carol Gilligan (1982) claimed1Close was a distinctly feminine voice that urges responsible caring. Hoffman and we argued, however, that the relations between parent and child variables were most likely bidirectionalin particular, that induction and empathy feed each other in complex, interlocking ways (Hoffman, 2000, p. 169). Like de Waal, Hoffman (1986, 2000) argues that affective forces (arousal modes of the empathic predisposition; cf. The book's focus is empathy's contribution to altruism and compassion for others in physical, psychological, or economic distress. Let us look, then, at factors that can complicate or limit the contribution of empathy to situational prosocial behavior. Veridical empathy has the basic features of mature empathy, but becomes more complex or profoundly discerning and flexible with cognitive development (Hoffman. Cikara, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011). Do Kohlbergs and Hoffmans theories of moral development enable an adequate understanding of prosocial and antisocial behavior? Particularly impressive has been the systematic, integrative work of Martin Hoffman (2000, 2008). Executive function, language, and perspective-taking enhance and expand the range of behaviors that can be driven by empathy. A fully balanced and comprehensive view of human nature and moral development requires recognition of the right as well as the good. Elaborate by selecting three required skills for this industry and explain why . Other versions clearly communicate love withdrawal (e.g., I cant trust you any more) or even ego attacks (Gershoff et al., 2010). The main concept is empathy--one feels what is appropriate for another person's situation, not one's own. moral insight, Bloom, 2004, p. 146). The main concept is empathy - one feels what is appropriate for another person's situation, not one's own. An inference of injustice (or activated moral principles, discussed later) can even increase the intensity of empathic emotions. humans are special in the sense that they can feel empathic concern for a wide range of others in need, even dissimilar others or members of different species. Cooperation between individuals in extended human groups may have crucially contributed to the global success of our species (see Chapter 2). As I rode my bicycle home in the dark, I thought about the reception and probable spanking I would receive. Nurturance combined with low levels of induction or demandingness (often called permissive or indulgent parenting), for example, does not predict child prosocial behavior. An anticipatory motor mimicry is evident as we unconsciously open our mouths when trying to feed applesauce to a baby (Pinker, 2011, p. 576). Martin Hoffman's empathy theory is germane to this debate since it gives an essentially emotionoriented account of moral development in general, as well as an explanation of the gradual bonding . They stressed that they were very disappointed in me that I hadnt lived up to their expectations. Accordingly, empathy is a vicarious response to others: that is, an affective response appropriate to someone elses situation rather than ones own (Hoffman, 1981a, p. 128). Full-fledged empathy requires not only the superficial affective modes but also cognitive modes of arousal. Other-oriented prosocial behavior in the first year would perhaps be more prevalent if young infants were more capable of controlling their emotional distress (regulatory skills, keeping ones own boat steady) and had the motor skills to reach and help or comfort the distressed other (Roth-Hanania et al., 2011). Martin Hoffman's theory of moral psychology and development is primarily focused on empathy and empathic distress, but also includes classic conditioning, cognitive reasoning, and principles of caring and justice. Empathy transforms caring ideals, into prosocial hot cognitionscognitive representations charged with empathic affect, thus giving them motive force. For example, it can be argued that high empathy in children leads not only to prosocial behavior but also to inductive discipline in the first place: After all, the responsiveness of such children to inductions (they might already be noticing their acts consequences for their victim) would presumably encourage parents to use this discipline technique. At first blush, the juxtaposition of constructing with internalizing is odd; we saw in Chapter 3 (cf. Parents and moral or religious educators often attempt to broaden the scope of social perspective-taking by encouraging contact and interdependence with other groups and appealing to the universal qualities that make strangers similar to the selffor example, all men are brothers (Maccoby, 1980, p. 349). Fortunately, empathic arousal levels can be moderated: self-regulatory processes play an important role in empathy-related responding. Empathic distress for a vividly presented victim can generalize, as when a well-publicized, highly salient victim of a widespread disaster or severely crippling illness (say, a poster child for muscular dystrophy) elicits empathic distress and help that extends to the entire group of victims. Martin L. Hoffman was an American psychologist and a professor emeritus of clinical and developmental psychology at New York University.. The optimal regulation of affect is seen not only in terms of the stabilizing role of moral principles but also broadly in moral or rational decision-making. This result pointed to the importance of Hoffmans empathy-based guilt construct and to the need to develop more valid measures that target specifically this type of guilt. Empathy theory. Hoffman (2000) suggested that mimicry may not only be a prosocial motive but also a prosocial act (p. 45) insofar as instant, ongoing nonverbal imitation can communicate emotional connection: By immediately displaying a reaction appropriate to the others situation (e.g., a wince for the others pain), the observer conveys precisely and eloquently both awareness of and involvement with the others situation (Bavelas, Black, Chovil, Lemery, & Mullett, 1988, p. 278). They seem to say in effect to the child, You know better, you can do better, and I think much more highly of you than I do of what you did (Berk, personal communication, April 1, 2002; cf. Empathic bias for the here-and-now distressed individual may reflect broader biases of human information processing. The word was coined in 1909 as an English rendering of the German technical term Einfhlung, which literally translates as "in-feeling." Indeed, the medical profession has a longstanding struggle to achieve an appropriate balance between empathy and clinical distance (Decety & Svetlova, 2012, pp. Early empathy is here-and-now, based on the pull of surface cues and requiring the shallowest level of cognitive processing (p. 48). Our moral development includes our principles, how we behave and our sense of right and wrong. De Waal (1996) suggested that social perspective-taking and other cognitive processes permit humans to direct more appropriately and effectively (fine-tune) the empathic and helping tendencies shared with other cooperative animals: The cognitive dimension [has] to do with the precise channeling of [empathy]. Had I been openly empathic it could have disrupted his denial, so I went along, got lost in conversation and enjoyed myself; empathic distress was kept under control in the back of my mind, but it returned afterward. I resolved never to do it again, and didnt. Hoffman (2000) cited a landmark study by Dale Hay and colleagues (Hay, Nash, & Pedersen, 1981; cf. [These] scripts are [thereby] enriched and given a moral dimension (my actions can harm others). Also potentially deleterious is the radical protective defense of psychic numbing against overwhelming and unacceptable stimuli. If prolonged, psychic numbing can lead to despair and depression, or various forms of withdrawal and a generally constricted life pattern (Lifton, 1967, pp. This combination of empathic distress and the mental representation of the plight of an unfortunate group would seem to be the most advanced form of empathic distress. As Decety and Jackson (2004) noted, humans mimic unintentionally and unconsciously a wide range of behaviors, such as accents, tone of voice, rate of speech, posture and mannerisms, as well as moods (p. 76)even pictures of angry or happy faces, flashed on a computer screen too briefly for conscious perception (de Waal, 2012, p. 88).