부산대학교 도서관

Research in the field of developmental, social, and clinical psychology, and more recently in the neurosciences, has explored the mechanisms underlying empathy and interpersonal competence. This chapter begins by discussing the various definitions of empathy across subfields and demonstrates how such definitions have influenced research in the neurosciences. It then considers a developmental definition of empathy and examines how this construct may be supported by a particular neural mechanism, the mirror neuron system (MNS). It also analyzes the potential role of the MNS in social developmental disorders such as autism as well as in understanding emotion. Finally, it maps future directions for a developmental social neuroscience approach to empathy.