Empathy and moral development cover

Empathy and moral development

by Martin L. Hoffman

"Contemporary theories have generally focused on the behavioral, cognitive, or emotional dimensions of prosocial moral development. In this volume, Martin L. Hoffman brings these three dimensions together while providing the first comprehensive account of prosocial moral development in children. The main concept is empathy - one feels what is appropriate for another person's situation, not one's own. Hoffman discusses empathy's role in five moral situations: one harms someone, one is an innocent bystander, one blames oneself though innocent, one must choose which among several victims to help, or one is torn between contradictory caring and justice concerns. The book's focus is empathy's contribution to altruism and compassion for others in physical, psychological, or economic distress; feelings of guilt over harming someone; feelings of anger at others who do harm; feeling of injustice when others do not receive their due."--BOOK JACKET.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?