Children’s Facial Expressions in Response to Another’s Joy Predict Trait Empathy

Empathy research has historically focused on children’s responses to others’ distress, leaving the development of positive empathy—the ability to share in another's joy—relatively under-explored. This study investigated whether children’s emotional responses to another’s positive experience are associated with their levels of trait empathy. Children ages 6–12 years ( N = 81; 37 girls, 44 boys; racially and ethnically diverse, including White, Multiethnic, East Asian, South Asian, Latin American, Black, and Arab/West Asian backgrounds) were recruited from a large North American city and viewed a video stimulus of infant laughter. Emotional responses were assessed using two methods: objective analysis of facial expressions via an automated Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and subjective self-reports. Parents assessed children’s trait empathy using the Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM). Results indicated that children exhibited significant increases in positive facial expressions and self-reported happiness in response to the video. Notably, automated FACS scores for positive facial expressions were significantly positively correlated with trait empathy ( r =.37), whereas negative expressions were negatively correlated ( r = -.34). Hierarchical multiple regression showed that objective facial expressions significantly predicted trait empathy even after controlling for age, gender, and baseline emotions. Conversely, children’s self-reported emotions were neither correlated with nor predictive of trait empathy. These findings suggest that objectively measured facial expressions in response to joy are a robust predictor of stable personality features like trait empathy in children. The study underscores the importance of positive empathy in childhood development.