Children are born moral say scientists
Children are born moral and are hard-wired to to feel empathy for others in pain, scientists claim.
Boffins from the University of Chicago scanned the brains of children aged between seven and 12 as they watched videos of people experiencing pain, either received accidentally or inflicted intentionally.
Clips included a heavy bowl being dropped on hands and a person stepping intentionally on the foot of someone else.
The (fMRI) scans showed that the parts of the brain activated when adults see pain were also triggered in children proving they are 'hard-wired- to feel empathy.
"This study is the first to examine in young children both the neural response to pain in others and the impact of someone causing pain to someone else," said Jean Decety, Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry.
"The programming for empathy is something that is "hard-wired" into the brains of normal children, and not entirely the product of parental guidance or other nurturing."
It is hoped that studying empathy in children could explain bullying or other types of anti-social behaviour.
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