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You know when you're reading a really good book
你知道，你在读一本好书时，
and something intense happens to one of your favorite characters,
会紧张书里你喜欢的角色，
so you're also hit with the great wave of feelings.
所以你会受到巨大情感波动的影响。
You might feel a little silly as you reach for a box of tissues,
当你伸手去拿纸巾时，可能会觉得有点儿傻，
but it's a normal human thing to understand and relate to other people's feelings, even fictional people.
但是理解感受他人的感觉很正常，即使是虚幻人物的。
We call this empathy.
我们称这种情感为同理心。
Empathy might seem pretty straightforward,
同理心似乎很简单，
but we know from research that it involves a complex network of brain areas
但是我们从研究中知道，它涉及到一个复杂的大脑区域网络，
that process things like emotion, thought, and understanding social cues.
这一网络处理情感、思考和理解社会暗示等问题。
And many of these brain regions aren't fully developed until late adolescence or early adulthood.
许多大脑区域直到青春期晚期或成年早期才完全发育。
So it takes a while for little kids to get it right.
所以孩子们需要一段时间才能正确理解。
To understand the different pieces of the empathy puzzle,
为了了解同理心之谜的不同内容，
scientists often divide it into three components: emotional, motivational, and cognitive.
科学家通常将其分为三个部分：情绪、动机和认知。
And to figure out how and when empathy develops naturally,
研究人员为了弄清楚同情心是如何以及什么时候自然发展起来的，
researchers study how kids behave in different situations.
研究了不同情境下孩子们的表现。
The emotional part refers to sharing someone else's feelings.
情绪部分指的是分享别人的感受。
For example, researchers have tested this by monitoring brain activity
比如，当成人看着别人的手被针戳时，
as adults watched someone else's hand getting poked with a needle.
研究人员通过监测他们的大脑活动进行了测试。
And you are like, mmm, like brain does things.
你就像...嗯，就像大脑活动一样。
The brains of the people watching typically show a similar response pattern to the person actually being poked.
观看人的大脑通常会表现出与实际被戳人类似的反应模式。
This suggests that we actually feel something similar when we see someone in pain.
这表明，我们看到有人痛苦时，实际也会有类似的感受。
And it seems like this kind of empathy may develop pretty quickly.
这种同理心似乎发展得很快，
We think babies as young as 6 to 8 months show early signs of it,
我们认为6到8个月大的婴儿就出现了同理心早期迹象，
when they make sounds or facial expressions that mirror others who are upset.
当他们发出声音或有面部表情时，会反映出其他人的不安。
Next up is the motivational component,
接下来是动机部分，
which is basically the urge to do something for someone else's well-being,
它基本上是为了别人的幸福而做事的欲望，
like wanting to comfort a friend when they've lost a pet or a family member.
比如想要安慰一个失去宠物或家人的朋友。
And even though children might mirror each other's emotions early on,
即使孩子们可能很早就能反映出彼此的情绪，
it takes a few years for this motivational part to kick in.
但动机部分要花几年才能发挥作用。
When they're about 3 to 6 years old,
当他们3-6岁时，
kids might show behaviors like sharing their favorite stuffed animal
可能会表现出某些行为，比如分享他们最喜欢的毛绒玩具，
to make someone else feel better when they seem sad.
让别人在看起来悲伤的时候感觉好些。
Now the third, and maybe most complicated part of empathy is the cognitive component.
第三部分也许是同理心最复杂的部分，那就是认知部分。
In the research world, this is sometimes called Theory of Mind.
在研究领域，它有时被称为心智理论。
It's the ability to take another person's perspective, think about their experience,
这是一种能力，从另一个人的角度出发，思考他们的经历，
and understand why it would make them feel the way they do.
理解这些经历为什么会让他们有这种感觉。
This requires some mental gymnastics,
这需要脑力体操，
so it's not a huge surprise that this seems to be the hardest part of empathy for young children to do well,
所以它对于儿童来说似乎是最难的部分，以至于他们做不好，就不足为奇了。
and it's easy to mistake for selfishness or meanness.
而且它很容易被误解为自私或卑鄙。
One of the most well-known ways to study Theory of Mind is called a false belief task.
研究心智理论最著名的方法之一叫做错误信念任务。
Like there's the Sally-Anne task, which involves a short scenario that gets played out with dolls.
比如有一项萨丽一安妮实验，它涉及到一个玩洋娃娃的小场景。
It goes like this: Sally has a basket, and her friend Anne has a box.
故事是这样的：萨丽有一个篮子，她的朋友安妮有一个盒子。
Sally puts a marble in her basket, and then leaves to go for a walk.
萨丽在篮子里放了一个弹珠，然后离开去散步了。
While Sally is gone, Anne takes the marble from the basket and puts it in her own box.
萨丽不在时，安妮从篮子里拿出弹珠放到了自己的盒子里。
Jerk move, Anne.
安妮，真是傻子行为！
After all this, researchers ask children where Sally will look for the marble when she gets back.
在这之后，研究人员问孩子们，当萨丽回来时，会去哪里找大理石。
Kids under 3 years of age will usually say that Sally will look in Anne's box
3岁以下的孩子通常会说萨丽会看安妮的盒子，
because they saw the marble move, which sounds a little weird to our adult brains.
因为他们看到弹珠移动了，这对我们成年人的大脑来说有点儿奇怪。
From other questions, researchers can tell that kids are following the logic of the story,
研究人员从其他的问题可以看出孩子们遵循着故事的逻辑，
and understand that Sally didn't see the marble move.
知道萨丽没有看到弹珠移动。
But it seems like they have trouble understanding or expressing the fact
但他们似乎很难理解或表达这个事实，
that Sally's perspective is different from their own.
萨丽的视角不同于他们自己的视角。
Some researchers think that even if young kids might get that people have different feelings and perspectives,
一些研究人员认为，小孩子们即使可能有不同的感受和观点，
they can't describe it with their cognitive and language abilities.
也无法用自己的认知和语言能力来描述它。
Because the brain systems involved in these abilities become more efficient as connections between neurons develop and change,
因为随着神经元之间联系的发展和变化，参与这些能力的大脑系统变得更有效率。
by the age of 4 to 5, answers start to change.
4岁到5岁时，答案开始改变。
Basically, their brains are more able to process complex information.
基本上，他们的大脑更能处理复杂信息。
So more kids say that Sally would look in her own basket for the marble,
所以更多孩子说萨丽会在自己的篮子里找弹珠，
because that's where she left it.
因为她把它留在了那里。
Now, the jury's still out on exactly how and when full-blown empathy develops.
现在，同理心到底是什么时候以及如何完全发育得还未弄明白。
But your first few years of life involve a lot of learning about feelings and thoughts.
但是你最初的几年生活涉及到很多感觉和想法的学习。
Talking with kids about their emotions, suggesting ways they could show empathy,
和孩子们说说他们的情绪，暗示他们可以表现出同理心，
or even reading stories about feelings can help them figure this stuff out.
甚至读一些关于感觉的故事，这些能帮助他们解决这些问题。
And then, when they get a little older,
然后，当他们长大一点儿时，
you can just give them a good book and also maybe a box of tissues.
你可以给他们一本好书，或者是一盒纸巾。
Also, if you happen to know any little kids and want to share a love of science with them,
如果你碰巧认识一个小孩，想要和他们分享对科学的热爱，
you can check out our SciShow Kids channel, at youtube.com/scishowkids.
你可以在youtube.com/scishowkids查看我们的SciShow Kids频道。
Lots, lots of really great videos there, but don't get ton of views.
我们有很多很多很棒的视频，但没有太多的观点。
Check them out and share them around, I think they are really good.
看看它们，分享它们，我觉得它们真的很好。
