Empathy-related Responding: Associations with Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Intergroup Relations

Selflessness, Depression, and Neuroticism: An Interactionist Perspective on the Effects of Self-Transcendence, Perspective-Taking, and Materialism

Dominant theories of depression position self-concept as a central determinant of psychological functioning, but the relationship between the structure of self-concept and depression has not been extensively explored. The present study investigates the relationship between the structure of the self and psychopathological outcomes (depressive symptoms and neuroticism) with two methodological approaches. Using an established framework that draws insight from Buddhist psychology, the structure of the self is conceptualized in terms of selflessness and self-centeredness. Specifically, selflessness is construed as a multidimensional concept characterized by interdependence, outsider phenomenology, and impermanence. The three dimensions of the self were assessed at age 26 with inventories of self-transcendence, perspective-taking, and materialism, respectively (N = 814). First, a variable-centered approach was used to investigate potential interactions between the dimensions of selflessness. Self-transcendence negatively predicted depressive symptoms and neuroticism, whereas perspective-taking and materialism were positively associated with the outcomes. Self-transcendence moderated the relationship between perspective-taking and depressive symptoms. Perspective-taking was not statistically related to depressive symptoms for participants who exhibited higher levels of self-transcendence. The results clarify ambiguous associations between perspective-taking and depression found in previous research. Second, person-centered analyses were used to identify five profiles of self-structure: (1) Selfless, (2) Selfless Materialist, (3) Interdependent Insider, (4) Self-centered Non-materialist, and (5) Self-centered. As hypothesized, the Selfless cluster was associated with low levels of depressive symptoms and neuroticism, whereas the Self-centered cluster was associated with high levels. The profiles demonstrate the manifestation of several combinations of features of the self, which contributes to overall understanding of selflessness by complicating the traditional dichotomy between selflessness and self-centeredness.

Socioemotional Mechanisms of Children's Differential Response to the Effects of Maternal Sensitivity on Child Adjustment

OBJECTIVE

Children differ in the extent to which they reap the benefits of maternal sensitive care or suffer the adverse consequences of insensitive care, and these differences can be accounted for by biological characteristics. However, how susceptible children adapt to maternal sensitivity in ways that either maximize positive development or lead to maladjustment has yet to be determined. Here, we propose a novel model of socioemotional mechanisms by which the joint influences of maternal sensitivity and child biological characteristics influence child adjustment.

DESIGN

We propose a theoretical model, in which children's vagal functioning and polymorphisms in serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) genes confer susceptibility to the effects of maternal sensitivity on internalizing, externalizing, prosocial and moral behavior via changes in interpersonal strategies for emotion regulation, the threat response system, and empathy.

RESULTS

Theoretical and empirical support for the proposed mechanisms are provided.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed mechanistic model of susceptibility to maternal sensitivity offers a novel framework of for whom and how children are affected by early maternal care, highlighting multiple reciprocal, interacting influences across genes, physiology, behavior, and the environment.

Dispositional empathy is associated with experimental pain reduction during provision of social support by romantic partners

Background and aims While social interactions like verbal support and physical touch have repeatedly been shown to reduce experimental pain, analgesic effects of passive social support, i.e. the sole physical presence of a supportive other, remain unclear. Moreover, little is known about individual factors influencing the extent of pain attenuation during social support. This study investigated analgesic effects of passive support by a romantic partner and the role of partner empathy therein. Methods In 48 heterosexual couples, sensitivity to pressure pain was assessed; each participant was tested alone and in the passive presence of his/her partner. Dispositional empathy was quantified by a questionnaire. Results In the presence, as compared to absence, of their partners men and women exhibited higher pain threshold and tolerance, as well as lower sensory and affective pain ratings on constant pressure stimuli. Partner empathy was positively associated with pain tolerance and inversely associated with sensory pain experience. Conclusions The results confirm the analgesic effects of social support, which may even occur without verbal or physical contact. Partner empathy may buffer affective distress during pain exposure, thereby reducing pain sensitivity and promoting pain coping. These processes may occur solely due to a partner's physical presence and do not necessarily require direct empathetic feedback.

Spectator Sports as Context for Examining Observers' Agreeableness, Social Identification, and Empathy in a High-Stakes Conflict Situation

In a high-stakes conflict or dilemma situation, observers often feel empathy for one side versus the other. Using a high-profile conflict situation in a world-renowned spectator sport (the US Open) as context, the authors of this study examined the roles of personality and social-cognitive factors, specifically agreeableness and social identification, on empathic concern towards three individuals (a focal actor or instigator, a target, and an "innocent" bystander) involved in an emotionally charged conflict situation. Results showed direct and indirect effects of agreeableness on identification with the focal actor and empathic concern towards the individuals involved in the conflict situation. Participants' social-cognitive processes of identification with the focal actor or instigator fully mediated the effect of personality trait of agreeableness on empathic concern towards the focal actor, whereas agreeableness was directly related to empathic concern towards the target and the bystander without (full) mediation by social identification. Gender differences were found with women reporting higher empathic concern and identification towards the female focal actor and lower empathic concern towards the male target in the conflict situation, suggesting potential automatic or implicit in-group bias. Study results highlight the complex integration of personality and social-cognitive processes, including intersectionality of social identities, in the dynamics of empathic reactions during high-stakes and emotionally charged conflict situations.

The relations of White parents' implicit racial attitudes to their children's differential empathic concern toward White and Black victims

The goal of this study was to investigate the relations between White parents' implicit racial attitudes and their children's racially based bias in empathic concern toward White and Black victims of injustice as well as the moderating role of children's age in this relation. Children aged 5-9 years (N = 190) reported how sorry (i.e., sympathy) and nervous (i.e., personal distress) they felt after watching sympathy-inducing videos in which either a White (non-Hispanic) child or a Black child was teased by peers. Participants' primary caregivers (mostly mothers) completed a computerized Implicit Association Test to assess their implicit racial attitudes. Parents' implicit race bias was associated with their children's reported sympathy toward Black victims and their sympathetic bias (i.e., relative sympathy toward White vs. Black victims); however, results were moderated by children's age. Specifically, parents with higher implicit race bias tended to have children with lower levels of sympathy toward Black victims for younger children and higher levels of sympathetic bias for younger and average-aged children but not for older children. Older children tended to report relatively high levels of sympathy toward Black victims and low levels of sympathetic bias regardless of their parents' implicit attitudes. The importance of parents' implicit attitudes in understanding young children's race-based moral emotional responses and the implications for intervention work are discussed.

Longitudinal Relations among Maternal Self-Efficacy, Maternal Warmth, and Early Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior

OBJECTIVE

This article examined two-wave longitudinal paths among maternal self-efficacy, maternal warmth, and early adolescents' prosocial behavior.

DESIGN

Participants were 194 Italian mother/child dyads from 9-13 years at the first assessment and 12-15 years at the second assessment. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, the present study tested cross-lagged paths among maternal self-efficacy, warmth, and early adolescents' prosocial behavior controlling for the stability of these variables and their concurrent associations.

RESULTS

Maternal warmth mediated the link between maternal self-efficacy and adolescents' prosocial behavior, and bi-directional effects between maternal self-efficacy and maternal warmth were found.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support a parent-driven model in the promotion of prosocial behaviors across early adolescence and a general need to consider simultaneously parental cognitions (maternal self-efficacy) and actions (maternal warmth) in explaining adolescents' prosocial behaviors. Implications for parenting program interventions are discussed.

The association between in-class cultural diversity with empathy and bullying in adolescence: A multilevel mediation analysis

Little is known about the associations between cultural class composition, teacher support for diversity (TSD), cognitive and affective empathy, and bullying and victimisation. Research shows that empathy is negatively associated with bullying and victimisation; and support for diversity and classroom cultural diversity are positively linked to social skills. The present study examines whether cultural diversity and perceived TSD are protective factors against bullying and victimisation, either directly or mediated by empathy. Participants were 897 students from Grades 7 to 10 (M_age  = 13.45, SD_age  = 1.07, 51.3% girls, 46.7% boys) in 36 classes. Multilevel mediation analyses were conducted. Age and gender were controlled for. More perceived TSD and affective empathy were associated with less bullying. Moreover, the effect of perceived TSD on bullying was partly indirect through affective empathy. Victimisation was not predicted by the study variables. The class level showed no effects. Bullying and victimisation are complex phenomena, which seem to be linked more to individual than to class characteristics. The result that higher perceived TSD was linked to empathy and bullying provides a promising starting point for measures of competence enhancement and bullying prevention.

Bidirectional associations between affective empathy and proactive and reactive aggression

Preliminary evidence indicates that affective empathy is differentially related to proactive and reactive functions of aggression. However, additional longitudinal research is needed to understand the potential reciprocal nature of these links. The current study examined the bidirectional associations between affective empathy and proactive and reactive aggression over a 6-month period during middle childhood, with attention to potential gender differences. Data were collected from 294 elementary school children (52% girls; M = 9.25 years; SD = 0.944 years) and their homeroom teachers. Affective empathy was assessed using self-reports, and teachers provided ratings of children's functions of aggression. Data were collected during the fall and spring of one academic year. Overall, results suggest some evidence that affective empathy and functions of aggression are reciprocally linked over time. As predicted, Time 1 empathy was inversely associated with Time 2 proactive aggression and Time 1 reactive aggression was inversely associated with Time 2 empathy. Contrary to expectations, Time 1 proactive aggression was marginally positively associated with Time 2 empathy, and Time 1 empathy was not significantly associated with Time 2 reactive aggression. These prospective links did not differ according to gender. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Children's recognition of happy, sad, and angry facial expressions across emotive intensities

Sharing emotional experiences is a key task that requires accurate recognition of peers' emotions during middle childhood. Existing research suggests that children are proficient at discerning emotion from facial expressions during middle childhood, but this research has focused on recognition of adults' intense emotional expressions. In this study, facial emotion recognition for children's happy, sad, and angry expressions across low, medium, and high intensities was measured in a sample of 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 80; 53% female) to quantify overall accurate recognition as well as inaccuracies, including identifying an emotion as present when it is not (false alarms) and failing to identify an emotion when present (miss rate). Children's recognition accuracy for low-threshold happiness, sadness, and anger was quite poor but improved in a cubic fashion as expression intensity increased, with dramatic improvements across medium-intensity expressions, and little further improvement across high-intensity expressions. A positivity bias was evident; children were more accurate at recognizing happiness than at recognizing sadness and anger, rarely failed to identify happiness when present, and tended to mislabel expressions as happy rather than as angry or sad. Children were generally better at recognizing anger compared with sadness but were more accurate at recognizing subtle sadness compared with anger, which appeared to be due to children missing subtle anger when present. The findings are discussed with regard to the functionality of others' happiness for signaling positive socializing opportunities, anger for signaling threatening interactions, and sadness for prompting prosocial action and with regard to how children's facial emotion recognition may affect general socioemotional development.

Parental Socialization and Its Impact across the Lifespan

Classical studies have found that parental warmth combined with parental strictness is the best parental strategy to promote children's psychosocial development. Nevertheless, a growing set of emergent studies has questioned the benefits of parental strictness. The present study examined parental socialization and its short- and long-term impact on the psychosocial development of adolescents and adult children. The sample consisted of 2150 Spanish participants, 623 adolescents (12-18 years), 619 young adults (19-35 years), 502 middle-aged adults (35-59 years), and 406 older adults (60 years or older). Families were classified into one of four typologies (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful). Psychosocial development was examined with five indicators (physical and family self-concept, nervousness, empathy, and internalization of social values of benevolence). The results show a common short- and long-term pattern between parenting styles and psychosocial development: the indulgent style equaled or even surpassed the authoritative style, whereas the neglectful and authoritarian styles were associated with low scores. The present findings were discussed by considering the importance of the cultural context in family socialization. Additionally, the long-term impact of parental socialization seems to be crucial, even in adulthood.

The influence of attachment styles on autonomic correlates of perspective-taking

This study examined the effects of attachment styles on physiological responses during a perspective-taking task. Sixty-eight participants were selected according to attachment styles. Physiological responses were assessed using skin conductance responses (SCRs) in the three attachment groups (secure, insecure-anxious and insecure-avoidant) during the presentation of attachment-based pictures (distress, comfort or neutral) in two different perspective-taking conditions: self perspective-taking (i.e. imagine how you would feel in the given situation) or other perspective-taking (i.e. imagine how that person could feel in this situation). In the self perspective-taking condition, insecure-anxious individuals displayed higher SCRs than secure individuals for distress pictures. In the other perspective-taking condition, insecure-anxious individuals showed higher SCRs than secure individuals for comfort pictures. The results also showed a strong negative association between self-reported perspective-taking tendencies and SCRs in secure individuals. The findings suggest that perspective-taking plays an important role in the modulation of physiological responses in reaction to attachment-related pictures, which varies according to attachment styles.

Does Empathy Have a Cost? Older Adults and Social Partners Experiencing Problems

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Empathy underlies older adults' awareness and responses to their social partners' needs, but it is unclear whether such awareness is beneficial or harmful to older adults' well-being. We examined whether older adults' empathy was associated with having encounters with social partners incurring problems and their own well-being throughout the day.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants were adults aged more than 65 years from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study. These older adults (n = 313) rated empathy and indicated social partners' problems (e.g., health, emotional, and financial problems) in a baseline interview. They also reported encounters with social partners and their mood every 3 hr over 5-6 days.

RESULTS

Multiple regressions showed that more empathic older adults reported a greater proportion of social partners with major life problems than less empathic older adults. Older adults' empathy was not associated with their contact or negative encounters with social partners experiencing problems. Multilevel models revealed that encounters with these social partners had negative consequences for older adults' mood throughout the day; however, these consequences were reduced in more empathic older adults.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study emphasizes the importance of empathy in late life and refines our understanding of older adults' social lives and well-being. Findings carry implications for interventions that aim to protect older adults' well-being when their close others incur crises.

Connecting perceived economic threat and prosocial tendencies: The explanatory role of empathic concern

Recent research suggests that perceived economic threat constitutes a valid predictor of people’s attitudes and behaviors. While accumulated empirical evidence has mostly underlined the deleterious psychological effects (e.g., reduced psychological well-being) of perceived economic threat in times of economic strain, we postulate that individuals experiencing higher economic threat linked to the Spanish economic crisis are more prone to engage in other-beneficial prosocial behavior. Across two independently collected community samples, we tested this theoretical formulation and examined the potential mediating roles of empathic concern (Studies 1 & 2) and identification (Study 2). Study 1 (N = 306) revealed that participants who descended in the social scale due to the negative national economic context were engaged in a larger number of helping behaviors over the last three months compared to participants who did not descend the social ladder—independently of several sociodemographic and ideological factors. Moreover, our data indicated these effects were driven by increased empathic concern. Study 2 (N = 588), in which two hypothetical helping-behavior scenarios were randomly administered (crisis-related vs. control), showed that participants under high perceived financial threat exhibited an undifferentiated pattern of prosociality. However, moderated-mediation analyses indicated that empathic concern explained the perceived financial threat-helping behavior link in the hypothetical crisis-related scenario but not in the hypothetical control scenario. Together, these findings extend prior literature on the psychosocial effects of perceived economic threat and the determinants of other-oriented behavior. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Infant emotional responses to challenge predict empathic behavior in toddlerhood

Although emotional responses are theorized to be important in the development of empathy, findings regarding the prediction of early empathic behavior by infant behavioral and physiological responses are mixed. This study examined whether behavioral and physiological responses to mild emotional challenge (still face paradigm and car seat task) in 118 infants at age 6 months predicted empathic distress and empathic concern in response to an empathy-evoking task (i.e, experimenter's distress simulation) at age 20 months. Correlation analyses, corrected for sex and baseline levels of physiological arousal, showed that stronger physiological and behavioral responses to emotional challenge at age 6 months were positively related to observed empathic distress, but not empathic concern, at age 20 months. Linear regression analyses indicated that physiological and behavioral responses to challenge at 6 months independently predicted empathic distress at 20 months, which suggests an important role for both physiological and behavioral emotional responses in empathy development. In addition, curvilinear regression analyses showed quadratic associations between behavioral responses at 6 months, and empathic distress and empathic concern at 20 months, which indicates that moderate levels of behavioral responsivity predict the highest levels of empathic distress and empathic concern.

Peer attitudes toward children with cleft (lip and) palate related to speech intelligibility, hypernasality and articulation

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

In addition to anatomical and physiological problems, children with a cleft (lip and) palate (CP ± L) often face psychosocial difficulties. A complex interaction between patient and environment may induce these problems. Based on the literature, speech disorders may negatively influence a listener's judgement of a speaker. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the attitudes of peers toward the speech of children with CP ± L.

METHOD

Sixty-nine typically-developing children (7-12 years, 34 boys, 35 girls) judged audio-recorded speech samples of nine children with CP ± L and three control children based on three attitude components, i.e. cognitive, affective and behavioral. A speech intelligibility percentage was determined for each speaker based on transcriptions by 23 naïve adult listeners. Furthermore, two speech-language pathologists perceptually rated the degrees of hypernasality, nasal airflow and articulation errors. A correlation was calculated between the attitude components and the speech intelligibility percentage, and the attitude components and perceptual judgements. Additionally, the possible influence of age and gender of the listeners on their attitudes was explored.

RESULTS

A significantly positive correlation was found between the speech intelligibility percentage and the attitude components: when a child was understood better, more positive attitudes were measured. A significantly negative correlation was found between perceptual judgements and all attitudes components: presence of more hypernasality, nasal airflow or articulation errors resulted in more negative attitudes. Furthermore, boys and younger children seem to have more negative attitudes compared to girls and older children.

CONCLUSION

This study provides additional evidence that peers show more negative attitudes toward children with more speech disorders due to CP ± L. Further research may explore the possible impact of age and gender on attitudes of peers. Intervention should focus on, changing the cognitive, affective and behavioral attitudes of peers in a more positive direction and encouraging the psychosocial development of children with CP ± L.

Early socioemotional competence, psychopathology, and latent class profiles of reparative prosocial behaviors from preschool through early adolescence

Children who have difficulty using reparative behaviors following transgressions display a wide range of poorer social and emotional outcomes. Despite the importance of reparative skills, no study has charted the developmental trajectory of these behaviors or pinpointed predictors of poorer reparative abilities. To address these gaps in the literature, this study applied growth mixture modeling to parent reports of children's reparative behaviors (N = 230) in a 9-year longitudinal data set spanning from preschool to early adolescence. Three distinct trajectories of reparative behaviors were found: a low-stable, moderate-stable, and high-stable latent class. Poorer emotion understanding, social withdrawal, social rejection, and maladaptive guilt in the preschool period predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory. Externalizing diagnoses, particularly conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, also predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory. Preschool-onset depression predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory through high levels of maladaptive guilt. The findings from this study suggest that socioemotional deficits in the preschool period set children on longstanding trajectories of impaired reparative responding. Thus, emotion understanding, social functioning, maladaptive guilt, and early psychiatric symptoms should be targeted in early preventive interventions.

A neuroscientific evaluation of driver rehabilitation: Functional neuroimaging demonstrates the effectiveness of empathy induction in altering brain responses during social information processing

An alarming number of traffic-related deaths occur each year on European roads alone. Figures reveal that the vast majority of road-traffic accidents are caused by drivers themselves, and so further improvements in road safety require developments in driver training and rehabilitation. This study evaluated a novel approach to driver rehabilitation–specifically, empathy induction as a means of changing attitudes towards risky driving. To assess the effectiveness of this method, the present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain function before and after a short program of empathy induction in 27 drivers whose licenses had been revoked after serious traffic offences (rehabilitated drivers [RDs]). In an extension of our previous research, we first assessed whether neural responses to empathy-eliciting social stimuli changed in these RDs. In order to isolate the neurophysiological effects of empathy induction from any other potential influences, we compared these RDs to a sample of 27 age-, handedness- and driving experience-matched control drivers (CDs) who had no exposure to the program. We then performed dual-fMRI “hyperscanning” to evaluate whether empathy induction changed brain responses during real-world social interactions among drivers; namely, during co-operative and/or competitive exchanges. Our data reveal that RDs exhibited weaker brain responses to socio-emotional stimuli compared with CDs prior to the program, but this difference was reversed after empathy induction. Moreover, we observed differences between pre- and post-program assessments in patterns of brain responses in RDs elicited during competitive social exchanges, which we interpret to reflect a change in their proclivity to react to the perceived wrong-doing of other road users. Together, these findings suggest that empathy induction is an effective form of driver rehabilitation, and the utility of neuroscientific techniques for evaluating and improving rehabilitation programs.

Civic Competencies During Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations with Sympathy in Childhood

Civic competencies are essential prerequisites for adolescents' active citizenship; however, little is known about their developmental precursors. In order to address this research gap, this study examined the role of sympathy in late childhood, early, and mid adolescence for civic competencies in mid and late adolescence. Based on a representative sample of 1118 Swiss children (51% females, M_{age T1} = 9.26, SD_ageT1 = 0.20, range_ageT1: 8.50-9.67-years), this study investigated associations of sympathy with four components of civic competence: attitudes about social justice, informal helping, perceived efficacy to take responsibility and perceived political efficacy. The findings revealed that sympathy in late childhood (i.e., age 9) reflected an early predictor of all four components of civic competence assessed 6 years later. Moreover, sympathy in early adolescence (i.e., age 12) positively predicted attitudes about social justice and informal helping in late adolescence (i.e., age 18). Lastly, changes in sympathy from mid to late adolescence (i.e., age 15 to 18) positively correlated with changes in all four components of civic competence. This study highlights that civic competencies reflect a multidimensional construct that starts to form in late childhood, with sympathy being a central individual predictor in the emergence of civic competencies during adolescence.

An Auti-Sim Intervention: The Role of Perspective Taking in Combating Public Stigma with Virtual Simulations

Public stigma associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly stems from judgments surrounding sensory overload symptoms. As individuals try and make sense of observed disordered behaviors of those with ASD, they are quick to develop dispositional attributions instead of acknowledging situational instigators. Interventions aimed at educating the lay public that disordered actions are a result of a biological causes have been successful in lessening perceptions of responsibility, yet foster an out-group perspective allowing prejudice attitudes and discriminatory behaviors to persist. The present study examines the short-term effectiveness of engagement with a virtual simulation, Auti-Sim, to combat stigma by giving lay people a first-person experience of sensory overload. To assess Auti-Sim, a between-subject, in-laboratory experimental design was employed. A total of 123 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 interventions (virtual simulation engagement, observation of simulation engagement, or reading text vignettes). Participants completed a brief pretest questionnaire, encountered the intervention, and then completed a post-test questionnaire. Engagement with the virtual simulation resulted in heightened perspective taking, which subsequently increased emotional concern, helping intentions, and willingness to volunteer compared with the observation only or text vignette intervention. Positive attitudes toward those with ASD did not differ across interventions. Fostering a different understanding of disordered action through a virtual simulation has the potential to elicit perspective taking and subsequent empathetic outcomes. Perspective taking seems to encourage perceptions of in-group belonging rather than out-group categorization and thus might be a desired outcome for stigma-reducing efforts.

Empathic responding and hippocampal volume in young children

Empathic responding-the capacity to understand, resonate with, and respond sensitively to others' emotional experiences-is a complex human faculty that calls upon multiple social, emotional, and cognitive capacities and their underlying neural systems. Emerging evidence in adults has suggested that the hippocampus and its associated network may play an important role in empathic responding, possibly via processes such as memory of emotional events, but the contribution of this structure in early childhood is unknown. We examined concurrent associations between empathic responding and hippocampal volume in a sample of 78 children (ages 4-8 years). Larger bilateral hippocampal volume (adjusted for intracranial volume) predicted greater observed empathic responses toward an experimenter in distress, but only for boys. The association was not driven by a specific subregion of the hippocampus (head, body, tail), nor did it vary with age. Empathic responding was not significantly related to amygdala volume, suggesting specificity of relations with the hippocampus. Results support the proposal that hippocampal structure contributes to individual differences in children's empathic responding, consistent with research in adults. Findings shed light on an understudied structure in the complex neural systems supporting empathic responding and raise new questions regarding sex differences in the neurodevelopment of empathy in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Is Self-Compassion Selfish? The Development of Self-Compassion, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescence

Both self-compassion and empathy have been theorized to promote prosociality in youth, but there is little longitudinal data examining this possibility. We assessed self-compassion, empathy, and peer-rated prosociality yearly, in a cohort of 2,078 youth across 17 schools (M age at T1 = 14.65 years; 49.2% female), as they progressed from Grade 9-12. We utilized multi-level modeling to predict prosocial behavior, nested within students, classes, and schools. We found that self-compassion and empathy uniquely predicted peer-rated prosocial behavior. However, only empathy predicted increases in prosocial behavior across time. While self-compassion is not selfish, it does not appear to facilitate the development of kindness toward adolescent peers. Self-compassion may help to buffer against possible negative effects of empathic distress.

Associations between empathy, inhibitory control, and physical aggression in toddlerhood

Impaired empathy has been associated with aggression in children, adolescents and adults, but results have been contradictory for the preschool period. Impaired inhibitory control also increases the risk of aggression, and possibly moderates empathy‐aggression associations. The current study investigated whether empathy and inhibitory control are associated with aggression in toddlerhood. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify the role of inhibitory control in empathy and aggression, specifically, whether inhibitory control moderates the association between empathy and aggression. During a laboratory visit at age 30 months (N = 103), maternal reports of physical aggression were obtained and child inhibitory control was examined using a gift delay task. Empathy was examined by obtaining behavioral observations and recording physiological responses (heart rate response and respiratory sinus arrhythmia response) to an empathy‐eliciting event (i.e., simulated distress). Reduced inhibitory control was associated with more aggression. Behavioral and physiological indicators of empathy were not associated with aggression. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed an interaction effect of heart rate response to distress simulation with inhibitory control in the prediction of aggression. Post hoc analyses indicated a negative association between heart rate response and aggression when inhibitory control was high, but a positive association was found in toddlers who demonstrated low inhibitory control. These results suggest that children are less aggressive when they have both high levels of empathy and inhibitory control. Therefore, both empathy and inhibition are important targets for interventions aiming to reduce or prevent aggression at a young age.

Neural correlates of moral goodness and moral beauty judgments

The objects of moral goodness and moral beauty judgments both generally refer to the positive moral acts or virtues of humans, and goodness must precede moral beauty. The main difference is that moral beauty, but not moral goodness, triggers emotional elevation. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms involved in both judgments. In the current study, 28 healthy female participants were scanned when they rated the good and beautiful extent of positive moral acts in daily life depicted in scene drawings to investigate the neural systems supporting moral goodness and moral beauty, specifically to test whether neural activity associated with moral beauty is same or different than moral goodness. The conjunction analysis of the contrasts between moral goodness judgment and moral beauty judgment identified the involvement of the left inferior orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), suggesting that the two judgments recruited the activity of a common brain region. Importantly, compared with the moral goodness judgment, the moral beauty judgment induced greater activity in more advanced cortical regions implicated in elevated emotions, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). These regions have been strongly correlated with the cognitive aspects of moral cognition, including theory of mind (ToM). In addition, moral beauty judgment also activated brain regions implicated in empathy including the midline structures and the anterior insula. Based on these results, the brain harbors neural systems for common and for domain-specific evaluations of moral goodness and moral beauty judgments. Our study thus provides novel and compelling neural evidence for the essence of moral beauty and advances the current knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying the beauty-is-good stereotype.

The effect of educational priming on face recognition from a silver alert

In a between-subjects' experimental design, we manipulated whether participants viewed an educational video on the importance of Silver Alerts before viewing an older Caucasian female in a Silver Alert. We also examined associations of target recognition with individual difference variables, including gender, ethnicity, Attitudes Towards Older People (ATOP), empathy, conscientiousness, as well as contact and experience with older adults. The results showed an advantage of the priming condition compared to the no-priming condition for correctly identifying the missing woman. Additionally, females correctly identified the missing woman more than males, and Caucasian participants correctly identified the missing woman more than African American participants. Lastly, participants who reported more experience with older adults were more likely to recognize the missing woman. The results suggest that preceding Silver Alerts with information about their importance may increase their effectiveness. Further research is needed to investigate how individual difference variables relate to recognition of missing senior citizens.

Learning and Parenting in Spanish Environments: Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Self-Concept

The psychology of sustainability and sustainable development is related to improvements in people’s quality of life in different environments, including the family. Based on this theoretical approach, this study explores the relationships between parenting styles (maternal and paternal support, control, and neglect) and prosocial behavior, aggression, and self-concept of children from Spain aged 4–7 years (M = 5.81; DS = 1.05). Participants were 635 boys and girls (53.7% boys; 46.3% girls) from Valencia and Castellón (Spain). Most parents had low educational levels and low-qualified, temporary jobs. Over 82% of participants were from Spain. The other participants were from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. The results indicate that maternal support and control have the strongest relationships with children’s prosocial behavior, aggression, and self-concept, fundamentally as predictors of self-concept and aggression. According to children’s perceptions, maternal parenting plays a more prominent role than paternal parenting. Authoritarian and neglectful parenting at these ages seems to be perceived less negatively than at other ages, and the effects of such parenting may arise at a later age. Furthermore, prosocial behavior and self-concept curb aggression. These results can support the design of interventions in childhood.

Medical students' empathy positively predicts charitable donation behavior

Empathy is known to motivate prosocial behavior. This relationship, however is complex and influenced by the social context and the type of prosocial behavior. Additionally, empathy is a complex psychological capacity, making it important to examine how different components of empathy influence different prosocial behaviors. The current study uses a unique longitudinal sample to assess how changes in cognitive and affective components of empathy relate to charitable giving. Measures of empathy were collected from medical students in the fall and spring of students' first three years of medical school. After this time, students had the opportunity to donate to charity. Positive changes in students' cognitive empathy predicted their charitable giving, with students who demonstrated greater increases in cognitive empathy giving more money. This study points to an important role for cognitive empathy in certain prosocial behaviors, and suggests that long term changes in empathy influence individual differences in prosocial behavior.

A Short-Term Intervention for Adolescents with Callous-Unemotional Traits and Emotion-Processing Deficits

Introduction: Research documents a robust relation between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and impairments in emotion-processing in youth, yet few evidence-based treatments targeting these deficits exist for youth with CU traits. This study examined a novel Emotion-Processing Skills Training (EPST) to target emotion recognition and perspective-taking deficits in adolescents with CU traits through an additive design.

Methods: Fifty-six adolescents (Mage = 16.54, SD = .57, 83.9% male, 67.9% White/Caucasian) attending a voluntary residential program received treatment as usual (TAU) or the EPST intervention plus TAU (EPST + TAU) in a partially randomized trial. Assessments were conducted at four time-points, and they involved adolescent-, parent-, peer-, and staff-report. Outcomes of interest included emotion recognition, perspective-taking, CU traits, empathy, prosocial behaviors, social problems, and externalizing problems.

Results: Participants who received EPST significantly improved more on perspective-taking at post-treatment than those who only received TAU. Those who only received TAU significantly declined on self-reported empathy and prosocial behaviors from baseline to 12-week follow-up, but those who received EPST declined less or had minimal change. Participants across conditions improved on self-reported CU traits, social problems, and externalizing problems and parent-reported CU traits, social problems, and externalizing problems across time.

Discussion: The EPST intervention yielded largely comparable changes to TAU, but in some cases, EPST may have buffered participants from decline in their affective, social, and behavioral functioning. Implications for treatment of adolescents with CU traits are discussed.

Why Awe Promotes Prosocial Behaviors? The Mediating Effects of Future Time Perspective and Self-Transcendence Meaning of Life

Awe is an emotion experience when individuals encounter with such powerful stimulate beyond their own understanding. Guided by conceptual analysis of awe as a trait positive emotion, we tested the hypothesis that dispositional awe results in an improvement of individual's self-transcendence meaning of life (STML) and affects future time perspective, and increase prosocial behavior. Mediational data demonstrate that the effects of awe on prosociality are explained, by improving STML self and future time perspective. These findings indicate that awe may help situate individuals within broader social contexts and enhance collective concern.

Empathy and defending behaviours in school bullying: The mediating role of motivation to defend victims

BACKGROUND

The literature indicates that separate significant links exist in adolescence between empathy, cognitive and affective motivation to defend victims, and behavioural problems in bullying episode in schools.

AIMS

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between empathy, motivation to defend, and defending behaviour in bullying situations. The hypothesis focuses on the possible role of autonomous motivation in the association between empathy and defending attitudes.

SAMPLES AND METHODS

Data were collected from 430 Italian adolescents (48.4% male, 51.6% female) who completed a questionnaire in their schools. The mean age of the participants was 13.1 years (SD = 2.1).

RESULTS

Results showed that empathy significantly predicts defending behaviour and also has a significant effect on extrinsic, introjected, and intrinsic motivation to defend. Autonomous motivation, in turn, has a mediating role in the relationship between empathy and defending behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests the importance of focusing on empathy and on developing autonomous motivation to defend in children, to raise spontaneous defending attitudes against bullying.

Linking Parent-Child and Peer Relationship Quality to Empathy in Adolescence: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis

Empathy, which is the ability to feel concern for and to understand others’ feelings, is thought to develop in high quality relationships with parent and peers, but also to facilitate the quality of these relationships. While a wide literature has addressed this aspect, the heterogeneity of primary studies, in which different indicators of relationship quality (e.g., support, conflict) and empathy (i.e., affective and cognitive) have been examined, makes it difficult to draw conclusive answers. Therefore, it remained ambiguous how parent–child and peer relationship quality are associated with adolescents’ empathy. In order to increase the understanding of these associations, a multilevel meta-analysis was performed, which allowed for including multiple effect sizes from each study. By a systematic literate search, 70 eligible studies were found that provided 390 effect sizes from 75 independent samples. The results showed a small positive correlation between parent–child relationship quality and empathy, and a small-to-moderate positive correlation between peer relationship quality and empathy, which was significantly stronger than the correlation with parent–child relationship quality. Hence, the meta-analytic results indicate that adolescents with higher quality relationships, especially with peers, indeed tend to show more concern for and understanding of others’ emotions than adolescents with lower quality relationships. Moreover, the moderation analyses showed stronger correlations for the positive dimension of relationship quality than for the negative dimension, and stronger correlations for composite scores of affective and cognitive empathy than for separate scores of the empathy dimensions. However, no differences in correlations were found between the affective and cognitive empathy dimension, and no moderation effects were found for gender and age. Thus, this meta-analysis demonstrates robust positive associations between parent–child and peer relationship quality and empathy in adolescence, implying that good empathic abilities may be a protective factor for experiencing poor relationships.

Communicating Inequalities to Enhance Support for Obesity-Prevention Policies: The Role of Social Comparisons, Age Frames, and Emotion

With certain populations in the United States at higher risk for obesity than other populations, public health advocates have attempted to draw attention to these inequalities to galvanize support for obesity-mitigation policies. Yet research comparing different messages about social inequalities indicates that not all social comparisons are persuasive. Drawing on Weiner's (1986) theory of perceived responsibility and social motivation, I experimentally tested promising message frames about obesity disparities. Participants (N = 653) read one of six messages following a 3 (social comparison frame: geographic vs. racial vs. no-comparison) × 2 (age frame: child vs. adult) between-subjects design. Unexpectedly, geographic frames (rural/urban) indirectly decreased policy support relative to the control frame by way of increased counterarguing. Compared to adult frames about obesity inequalities, childhood frames evoked more sympathy and less internal attribution, which in turn positively predicted support for obesity-prevention policies. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Empathic distress and concern predict aggression in toddlerhood: The moderating role of sex

Impaired empathy is an important risk factor of aggression, but results are contradictory in toddlerhood. The association between empathy and aggression may differ for empathic distress and empathic concern in response to empathy-evoking situations, and for boys and girls. Therefore, the current study investigated whether empathic distress and empathic concern at age 20 months (N = 133, 69 boys) predicted aggression at ages 20 and 30 months (N = 119, 62 boys), while taking a potential moderating effect of sex into account. Empathic behavior was observed during a distress simulation task 20 months post-partum. Physical aggression was assessed through maternal report, using the Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood. Linear regression analyses revealed sex differences in the associations between empathic distress and concern on the one hand and physical aggression at age 20 months on the other. Furthermore, physical aggression at age 30 months was predicted by the interaction of sex with empathic distress at age 20 months, while controlling for aggression at age 20 months. More empathic distress and concern were associated with less physical aggression in girls, but not in boys. The findings indicate that the prediction of physical aggression by empathic distress was more robust over time than for empathic concern. This study sheds new light on the intricate relationship between empathy, aggression, and sex from a developmental perspective.

Inclusive classroom norms, children's sympathy, and intended inclusion toward students with hyperactive behavior

As the classroom represents an important social context for the development of out-group attitudes, the current study investigated the role of inclusive classroom norms for students' attitudes toward hyperactive peers. The study included 1209 Swiss children from 61 school classes who were surveyed in the fifth grade (T1) and in the sixth grade (T2) (M_ageT1 = 11.55 years, M_ageT2 = 12.58 years). Students' attitudes toward hyperactive children was assessed by self-reports on students' sympathy and intended inclusion toward hypothetical children who show hyperactive behavior. Moreover, students rated their classmates' inclusive attitudes. Analyses with an autoregressive multilevel path model revealed that inclusive classrooms norms in the fifth grade predicted students' sympathy and intended inclusion toward hyperactive children in the sixth grade. The results implicate that group-level analyses are important in order to explain hyperactive children's peer group problems.

A latent profile analysis of co-occurring youth posttraumatic stress and conduct problems following community trauma

Although most research with youth exposed to violent manmade disasters has focused on internalizing problems, recent work suggests conduct problems (CPs) may also manifest in exposed youth. However, the extent to which youth postevent CPs present independently, versus co-present in conjunction with PTSD symptoms, remains unclear. The present study examined PTS and CP symptom profiles among affected Boston-area youth following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. This study used latent profile analysis to identify distinct PTS and CP symptom profiles among Boston-area youth ages 4-19 years (N=344) affected by the Boston Marathon bombing events. PTS and CPs were measured using the UCLA-PTSD-RI and the SDQ parent reports, respectively. Analyses identified 3 distinct profiles: presentations characterized by (a) low PTS, low CPs, (b) moderate PTS, low CPs, and (c) high PTS, elevated CPs. The profile characterized by the highest PTS was the only profile with elevated CPs; hyperarousal and emotional numbing/avoidance symptoms showed the greatest distinguishing properties among profiles with and without elevated CP. Types of traumatic exposure experienced by youth were differentially associated with profiles. Specifically, direct (but not relational) exposure distinguished youth classified in the profile showing elevated CPs. Findings suggest interventions following violent manmade disasters may do well to incorporate CP modules when working with youth showing the greatest hyperarousal and emotional numbing, and/or who have directly witnessed the most violence.

Shaping Responses to Torture: What You Call It Matters

Although torture is largely ineffective for gaining information from terrorism suspects, nearly half of Americans support its use. Building upon previous work examining predictors of responses to such tactics and willingness to label them as "torture," this research tested whether the "torture" label itself can influence attitudes. Across five experiments using two different populations, both politically liberal and conservative participants showed more negative attitudes toward "torture" than "enhanced interrogation," even given identical descriptions of the tactics. This greater negativity in response to "torture" extended to actual behavior (signing a petition) and was driven by cognitive appraisals of severity as well as feelings of personal distress and other-directed empathic concern. Furthermore, there was a small but significant effect for such effects to be stronger among conservatives than liberals. These findings have implications for the underpinnings of attitudes toward torture, potential ways to shift such attitudes, and the psychological consequences of labels.

Parental emotion regulation and preschoolers' prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of parental warmth and inductive discipline

The potential mediating roles of parental warmth and inductive discipline on the relations of parental emotion regulation strategies to children's prosocial behavior were examined in this study. Sixty-four parents of preschoolers (50% girls) completed questionnaires assessing their own regulation practices (i.e., cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression), parenting behaviors (i.e., parental warmth/nurturance, inductive discipline), and children's prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior intended to benefit another). The authors hypothesized that cognitive reappraisal would be positively and expressive suppression would be negatively related to parenting behaviors and children's prosocial behavior. They further hypothesized that parental warmth and inductive discipline would mediate the relations between parents' own regulation strategies and children's prosocial behavior. Results demonstrated that parental cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with warmth, and expressive suppression was negatively associated with inductive discipline and children's prosocial behavior. Parental warmth, but not inductive discipline, mediated the relations between cognitive reappraisal and children's prosocial behavior. The results highlight adults' own regulatory strategies as predictors of socialization behaviors and the potential processes for socialization of children's moral emotions and positive social development.

Who's challenging who training for staff empathy towards adults with challenging behaviour: cluster randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

One in five adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) known to services display challenging behaviours (CBs), and these individuals are at risk for restrictive practices and poor care. Staff attitudes may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of CBs. We investigated the effectiveness of co-produced Who's Challenging Who? training delivered by people with ID to staff.

METHOD

This study involved a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Who's Challenging Who? training with follow-up at six and 20 weeks post-randomisation.

PARTICIPANTS

two staff from each of 118 residential care settings for adults with ID at least one of whom displayed aggressive CB.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Self-reported Staff Empathy for people with Challenging Behaviour Questionnaire.

ANALYSIS

intention to treat of all randomised settings. ISCRTN registration: ISRCTN53763600.

RESULTS

118 residential settings (including 236 staff) were randomised to either receive training (59 settings) or to receive training after a delay (59 settings). The primary analysis included data from 121 staff in 76 settings (51% of staff, 64% of settings). The adjusted mean difference on the transformed (cubed) Staff Empathy for people with Challenging Behaviour Questionnaire score at the primary end point was 1073.2 (95% CI: -938.1 to 3084.5, P = 0.296) in favour of the intervention group (effect size Cohen's d = .19).

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first large-scale RCT of a co-produced training course delivered by people with ID. Findings indicated a small positive (but statistically non-significant) effect on increased staff empathy at 20 weeks, and small to moderate effects for staff reported secondary outcomes in favour of the intervention group.