Enhancing Empathy and Theory of Mind

• Published in: Journal of cognition and development Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 19 - 37
• Main Authors: Goldstein, Thalia R., Winner, Ellen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2012; Psychology Press; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Development; Cooperation; Cultural Awareness; Developmental psychology; Drama; Elementary School Students; Empathy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; High School Freshmen; Hypothesis Testing; Measures (Individuals); Music Education; Nonverbal Learning; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Role Playing; Scores; Skill Development; Social Cognition; Social skills; Theory of Mind; Thinking Skills; Visual Arts; Learning; Human; Social development; Role playing; Acquisition process; School age; Adolescent; Empathy; Theory of mind; Child; Social cognition
• ISSN: 1524-8372; 1532-7647
• DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2011.573514

Social cognitive skills such as empathy and theory of mind are crucial for everyday interactions, cooperation, and cultural learning, and deficits in these skills have been implicated in pathologies such as autism spectrum disorder, sociopathy, and nonverbal learning disorders. Little research has examined how these skills develop after early childhood and how they may be trained. We tested the hypothesis that experience in acting, an activity in which one must step into the shoes of others, leads to growth in both empathy and theory of mind. In two studies, we followed children (elementary school aged) and adolescents (high school freshmen) receiving 1 year of either acting or other arts training (visual arts, music) and assessed empathy and theory of mind before and after training. In both studies, those receiving acting (but not other arts) training showed significant gains in empathy scores; in Study 2, adolescents receiving acting training also showed significant gains on a naturalistic measure of theory of mind, the Empathic Accuracy Paradigm. These findings demonstrate plasticity in empathy and theory of mind long past the watershed age of 3 to 4 years and suggest that both capacities are enhanced by role-playing.