Abstract

GOMEZ, María Celeste. Empathy in early childhood . Rev. psicodebate: psicol. cult. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.2, pp.35-50. ISSN 24516600.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18682/pd.v16i2.593.

Throughout the history of the concept of empathy have developed two approaches to explain, first find authors who stand from a cognitive view and the other from an affective look. In recent times it has achieved an interdisciplinary integration of the two. In this paper we attempt to review various databases considering both recent and featured articles on the subject. We apply ourselves to study empathy within the first two years of a child's life, a period that has not been well studied as in other stages of life with regard to this concept. Important brain structures and hormones are involved, is the case of the amygdala, mirror neurons, the left superior temporal sulcus, the premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobe, Broca's area and oxytocin. In this way empathy is linked to the possibility of child survival and thus the species. We note that both parents and infants behaviors related to empathy are deployed. Attachment is a concept that can link the term of empathy if we refer to the period of childhood. As the child grows are different attitudes towards empathy starting from behaviors that create stress on parents, such as crying that allows parents to pay attention to the child; following by imitation behavior by the baby first in relation to their parents and then extending their environment and concluding more independent attitudes

Keywords : empathy; attachment; infants; mirror neurons; amygdala.