ADOLESCENTS SELF-REPORTS OF PROSOCIAL RESPONSES TO FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES - THE ROLE OF SYMPATHY-RELATED COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, AND MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES
P. Estrada, ADOLESCENTS SELF-REPORTS OF PROSOCIAL RESPONSES TO FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES - THE ROLE OF SYMPATHY-RELATED COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, AND MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES, Journal of research on adolescence, 5(2), 1995, pp. 173-200
This study examined the role of three sympathy-related processes-cogni
tive, affective, and motivational-in adolescents' self-reports of pros
ocial response to distress in friends and acquaintances. Questionnaire
s and responses to a simulation involving four videotaped episodes in
which an adolescent was victimized were used to assess sympathy-relate
d processes and reported prosocial response in 89 high-school pupils.
In general, both dispositional and situational measures of cognitive u
nderstanding, perspective-taking, integrative goals, and sympathy were
positively intercorrelated, and singly, they were positively associat
ed with reported prosocial response. In the questionnaire data, a pred
ominance of sympathy versus personal distress was associated with high
er levels of reported prosocial response. Results were in the same dir
ection for the simulation data, though not statistically significant.
In both sets of data, a predominance of integrative goals versus self-
enhancing goals was associated with higher levels of reported prosocia
l response. These findings suggest that, in adolescents, affective and
motivational responses can be differentiated along a dimension of oth
er- versus self-orientation and that these orientations may be associa
ted with different responses to distress in peers.