THE INVESTIGATION OF PUPIL DILATION AS A MEASURE OF SYMPATHY

Abstract

Although existing measures of self-reports, heart rate and facial expressions have been used to understand sympathy in children, one recent study also utilised pupil change as an indicator of sympathy in children. However, there is no empirical evidence that pupil change reflects sympathy. This study examined the effect of condition on pupil change and evaluated the relationship between pupil change and other measures of sympathy (sympathetic facial expression, self-reported sympathy). Utilising a video-watching task, sixty-four 3- to 5-year-old children were randomly allocated to two conditions and watched a video meant to elicit sympathy (Sympathy-inducing) or a neutral reaction (Control). Results illustrated that younger children displayed greater pupil change in the Sympathy-inducing condition compared to the Control condition, while older children displayed the opposite. Analysing the Sympathy-inducing condition alone, we found no significant relationship between the 3 measures of sympathy. Sympathetic facial expression and self-reported sympathy did not respectively predict pupil change. Our study provides preliminary evidence that pupil dilation is a valid measure of sympathy in children, perhaps more so for younger children, and suggests that pupil dilation is potentially a better measure of sympathy in the Asian context as compared to the two other measures of sympathy.