报告人： Professor Dr. Carolien Rieffe, Developmental Psychology, Leiden University, Netherlands

时间： 2018-04-30 15:00 - 16:00

地点： Room 1115, Wang Kezhen Building

Abstract: The question if and to what extent children and adolescents with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can feel for someone is currently under debate. It has been argued that children with ASD lack the ability to feel and moreover, understand other people’s feelings. So what evidence is there to back up this claim? And if true, how does this affect their social functioning? 

In typical development (TD), empathy is seen as an important form of ‘social glue’, of which the earliest signs can be observed straight after birth. TD children quickly go through different stages, developing into a mature form of empathy. Empathy is important for an adaptive social development, as it enhances in-group behaviors, and cooperation.

In this presentation, I will show our different instruments to measure the different aspects of empathy in young children (1-5 years old), older children and adolescents (9-15 years old) with and without ASD. The outcomes suggest that empathy is present in children with ASD at different ages, yet, has a different function in their social development.

2018-05-09