ASSESSING SYMPATHY IN PRESCHOOL-AGE CHILD REN - COMPARISON OF 2 METHODS

Two procedures were used to measure sympathy in a sample of German and Soviet 5-year-old preschoolers (n = 48 in each culture). One procedur e (Halisch, 1988, modified by the first author) required the subjects to identify themselves with figures in picture stories that were prese nted to them, as in projective methods. In the other procedure, the ch ildren's behavior was observed as they interacted with a sad partner i n a realistic situation and, in addition, the children's emotional rea ctions as well as indicators of prosocial reactions were recorded. Bot h sympathy-measuring procedures correlated significantly positively wi th each other in the sample of German children, bur not in that of Sov iet children. A correlation between sympathy and prosocial behavior in both cultures existed only when sympathy was measured using behavior observation indicators. When the picture stories were used, sympathy a nd prosocial behavior correlated significantly only in the sample of t he German children. On the basics of both procedures, the Germans were observed to be tendentially more sympathic than the Soviet. children. We concluded that the behavior observation indicators are the more su itable method of measurement of sympathy in preschool-age children.