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This study tests the hypothesis that similarity between the sex of the subject and the sex of the stimulus facilitates empathic behavior in children, where empathy is defined as a vicarious affective response. The effects of sex differences and of variations in affect observed were also assessed. 6and 7-year-old boys and girls reported their feelings after observing slidesequence stories depicting boys or girls in diferent affective states. The results strongly support the experimental hypothesis and further distinguish between the recognition of an affective state in others and the empathic response to that perception.
Feshbach et al. (1968) studied this question.