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. 2017 Jan 13;10(2):107-117.
doi: 10.1007/s40617-016-0171-7. eCollection 2017 Jun.

Acquisition and Generalization of Complex Empathetic Responses Among Children with Autism

Paul J Argott  1   2 , Dawn Buffington Townsend  3 , Claire L Poulson  2
Affiliations

Acquisition and Generalization of Complex Empathetic Responses Among Children with Autism

Paul J Argott et al. Behav Anal Pract. .

Abstract

Empathy can be defined as a social interaction skill that consists of four components: (1) a statement voiced in the (2) appropriate intonation, accompanied by a (3) facial expression and (4) gesture that correspond to the affect of another individual. A multiple-baseline across response categories experimental design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a prompt sequence (video modeling, in vivo modeling, manual and verbal prompting) and reinforcement to increase the frequency of complex empathetic responding by four children with autism. The number of complex empathetic responses increased systematically with the successive introduction of the treatment package. Additionally, generalization was demonstrated to untaught stimuli and a novel adult. Responding maintained over time to varying degrees for all participants. The data illustrate that children with autism can be taught using modeling, prompting, and reinforcement to discriminate between categories of affective stimuli and differentially respond with complex empathetic responses.

Keywords: Adolescents; Autism; Complex responding; Discrimination; Empathy; Social skills.

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Conflict of interest statement

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants or their guardians included in this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of correct empathetic responses to training and generalization stimuli across sessions for George. Closed symbols represent responding to training stimuli. Open symbols represent responding to generalization stimuli. Circles represent responding to the instructor, and squares represent responding to the novel adult
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of correct empathetic responses to training and generalization stimuli across sessions for Derek. Closed symbols represent responding to training stimuli. Open symbols represent responding to generalization stimuli. Circles represent responding to the instructor, and squares represent responding to the novel adult
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Percentage of correct empathetic responses to training and generalization stimuli across sessions for Jared. Closed symbols represent responding to training stimuli. Open symbols represent responding to generalization stimuli. Circles represent responding to the instructor, and squares represent responding to the novel adult
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Percentage of correct empathetic responses to training and generalization stimuli across sessions for Janine. Closed symbols represent responding to training stimuli. Open symbols represent responding to generalization stimuli. Circles represent responding to the instructor, and squares represent responding to the novel adult
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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