Proposing a Role for Maternal Positive Empathy in the Caregiving Relationship

Abstract

ABSTRACT When mothers empathize with their children, they are motivated to respond in an attuned manner that prioritizes their children's well‐being. A substantial body of research links maternal empathy and attuned caregiving to adaptive socioemotional development in young children. However, this work almost exclusively focuses upon empathy for the child's negatively valenced internal states. This focus is despite the fact that there is no a priori reason to believe that adaptive outcomes associated with maternal empathy are solely due to empathy for the child's negative internal states. Positive affective processes within the mother–child relationship are increasingly recognized as supporting children's development in unique ways. In this article, I introduce maternal positive empathy, or the mother's empathy for the child's positively valenced internal states. I then set forth hypotheses regarding the role of maternal positive empathy in the caregiving relationship and the family system. Future directions for research and theory are discussed.