Empathic expressions among three-year-olds in play and interaction in ECEC institutions in Norway: bodily empathic expressions purposed for peers’ well-being and confirming relationships

ABSTRACT

This article is based on video observations of three-year-old children’s empathic expressions in the context of playful interactions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions in Norway. The data were analysed within a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, searching for a system of the children’s self-initiated empathic expressions in their play and interaction. The findings show that young children’s inherent empathy largely appears as an embodied intonation in the other’s emotional state, expressed through facial and bodily intersubjective expressions, followed up with empathy-related responses adapted to the context through physical communication. This study reveals that funny behaviour and play invitations are empathically motivated actions, making peers happy again and confirming relationships. This new insight contributes to a broader understanding of young children’s empathy and may contribute to developing the knowledge of how ECEC’s educational work can support children’s empathic development based on an understanding of the body’s phenomenology and integrated in children’s play.

KEYWORDS:

• ECEC
• empathic expressions
• intersubjectivity
• playful interaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Kari Nergaard is an Assistant Professor and PhD student at Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education. Her research interests include social psychological issues in children's play and interaction. Her PhD research involves quality studies of children's experiences of social rejection and self-initiated empathetic expressions used for relational inclusion. The findings will bring further insight into how educational practice in ECEC can support children's empathic development and in this way prevent social rejection and antisocial behavior.

ORCID

Kari Nergaard http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7240-3712