This paper proposes that human expression of pain in the presence or absence of caregivers, and the detection of pain by observers, arises from evolved propensities. The function of pain is to demand attention and prioritise escape, recovery, and healing; where others can help achieve these goals, effective communication of pain is required. Evidence is reviewed of a distinct and specific facia...

Sympathy, in the sense of the ability to suffer with or for the other, entered English usage toward the end of the sixteenth century.This marks an important moment inWestern culture, the birth of a new artistic sensibility nourished by the Aristotelian notion of poetic compassion. This article delineates strategic points in the emergence of this sensibility and the forms and contexts of its pre...

Abstract According to a popular thought, sympathy is an epistemic phenomenon: in sympathizing with others we come be aware of them as fellow sentient beings. This view–which I call the Epistemic View–effectively characterizes form social cognition. In this paper, will argue against View. As far can see, view radically misconstrues way directed at others. same time provide some material for, and...

Public concern about homelessness in the United States has increased in recent years. A late 1995 Gallup poll found that 86% of Americans feel sympathy for the homeless, and 33% report that they feel more sympathy now than they did five years ago. According to the same poll, one reason for this apparent increase in sympathy is that 17% of Americans, primarily women and young adults, believe tha...

The issue of whether there is consistency in prosocial dispositions was examined with a longitudinal data set extending from ages 4 to 5 years into early adulthood (N = 32). Spontaneous prosocial behaviors observed in the preschool classroom predicted actual prosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reported sympathy, and perspective taking in childhood to early adul...

This article explores how adolescents feel and think about contexts of moral conflict and social exclusion. We asked twelve-year-old adolescents how they would feel about intentionally harming another peer, omitting a prosocial duty, and excluding another peer. We then asked them to explain the reasoning behind their feelings and report on levels of sympathy. In all contexts, adolescents antici...