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Zach M, Palgi-Hacker A, Israeli-Ran L, Meidan A, Seidmann M, Hijleh A, Birnbaum R, Gueron-Sela N, Uzefovsky F. Convergence and divergence of empathic concern and empathic happiness in early childhood: Evidence from young infants and children. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 39342634 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/01/2024]
Abstract
While most research focused on empathic responses to negative emotions, little is known about empathy to positive emotions. We aimed to bridge this gap by examining infants' and children's empathic responses to distress and happiness, while differentiating between cognitive and emotional empathy. We conducted three studies with N = 119 3-month-old infants; N = 169 10-19 months-old infants; and N = 61 24-60 months-old children (all Jewish-Israeli). Empathy was measured using experimenter simulations (studies 1 and 3) or peer-video (study 2). All studies showed that cognitive empathy to positive and negative emotions converged (small-medium effect size), but not so for emotional empathy. This suggests that understanding others' emotions is independent of emotion valence, while the ability to share in another's emotion is valence-specific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Zach
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | | | - Liat Israeli-Ran
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Adi Meidan
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Michal Seidmann
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Ayah Hijleh
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Ramon Birnbaum
- Biology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Noa Gueron-Sela
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Florina Uzefovsky
- Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
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2
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MacGowan TL, Schmidt LA. Age-related differences in behavioral problems between shy adults and shy children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2024; 55:1083-1091. [PMID: 36456829 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-022-01456-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Although both concurrent and longitudinal relations between shyness and behavioral problems are well-established in childhood, there is relatively less work exploring these associations in emerging adulthood. In addition, age-related differences in the strength of these relations in child and adult samples have not been fully explored within the same study. We collected measures of shyness, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and social problems in a sample of 94 typically developing 6-year-old children (50 female; Mage = 78.3 months, SD = 3.1 months) and 775 undergraduate students (633 female, Mage = 18.2 years, SD = 0.9 years) from parent-reported and self-reported questionnaires, respectively. Shyness interacted with age in predicting internalizing behaviors and social problems, but not externalizing behaviors. Specifically, shyness was concurrently and positively related to internalizing and social problems in young adulthood, but this relation was not found in childhood. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental consequences of shyness across the lifespan and limitations of relying on ratings from different informants when examining age-related differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taigan L MacGowan
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
| | - Louis A Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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3
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Xu J, Zhang H. Maternal and paternal emotion expression and youths' negative emotions: The moderation of resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2023; 157:106344. [PMID: 37572413 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We investigated whether college students' resting Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) would moderate the association between parental negative dominant and submissive emotion expression and their negative emotions. METHODS Participants were 97 Chinese college students (28.87% male, Mage = 19.11, SD =.89). Participants reported their perceived maternal and paternal emotion expression, as well as their negative emotions. Resting RSA was assessed during a laboratory visit. RESULTS Parental negative dominant emotion expression was positively related to students' negative emotions. Additionally, the association between paternal negative dominant emotion expression and negative emotions was stronger among students with low (versus high) levels of resting RSA. Nonetheless, no similar association was found in maternal negative emotion expression. CONCLUSIONS Our findings contribute important information regarding the different roles of maternal and paternal negative emotion expression in college students' emotional outcomes, and signify the interaction between parental socialization and individual characteristics in human developmental process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyi Xu
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, PR China
| | - Hui Zhang
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, PR China.
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4
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MacGowan TL, Karasewich TA, Kuhlmeier VA. Developmental and evolutionary models of social fear can address "the human fear paradox". Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e70. [PMID: 37154349 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22001868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Taigan L MacGowan
- Social Cognition Lab (P.I.: V. Kuhlmeier), Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada ; ; ://www.socialcognitionlab.com/
| | - Tara A Karasewich
- Social Cognition Lab (P.I.: V. Kuhlmeier), Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada ; ; ://www.socialcognitionlab.com/
| | - Valerie A Kuhlmeier
- Social Cognition Lab (P.I.: V. Kuhlmeier), Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada ; ; ://www.socialcognitionlab.com/
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5
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Poole KL, Sosa-Hernandez L, Green ES, Wilson M, Labahn C, Henderson HA. Children's shyness and physiological arousal to a peer's social stress. Dev Psychobiol 2023; 65:e22388. [PMID: 37073588 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023]
Abstract
Previous work has shown that children's shyness is related to personal anxiety during social stress, but we know little about how shyness is related to anxiety during a peer's social stress. Children (Mage = 10.22 years, SD = 0.81, N = 62) were paired with an unfamiliar peer and engaged in a speech task while electrocardiography was recorded. We modeled changes in children's heart rate, a physiological correlate of anxiety, while they observed their peer prepare and deliver a speech. Results revealed that the observing child's shyness related to increases in their heart rate during their peer's preparation period, but modulation of this arousal was sensitive to the presenting peer's anxious behavior while delivering their speech. Specifically, if the presenting child displayed high levels of anxious behavior, the observing child's shyness was related to further increases in heart rate, but if the presenting child displayed low levels of anxious behavior, the observing child's shyness was related to decreases in heart rate from the preparation period. Shy children may experience physiological arousal to a peer's social stress but can regulate this arousal based on social cues from the peer, which may be due to heightened social threat detection and/or empathic anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristie L Poole
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Emma S Green
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | - McLennon Wilson
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | - Claudia Labahn
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Abramson L, Eldar E, Markovitch N, Knafo-Noam A. The empathic personality profile: Using personality characteristics to reveal genetic, environmental, and developmental patterns of adolescents' empathy. J Pers 2022; 91:753-772. [PMID: 36047899 DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
How do genetic and environmental processes affect empathy during early adolescence? This study illumined this question by examining the etiology of empathy with the etiology of other personality characteristics. Israeli twin adolescents rated their empathy and personality at ages 11 (N=1176) and 13 (N=821) (733 families, 51.4% females). Parents rated adolescents' emotional empathy. Adolescents performed an emotion recognition task, indicating cognitive empathy. Using a cross-validated statistical learning algorithm, this study found emotional and cognitive 'empathic personality profiles', which describe and predict self-reported empathy from nuanced Big-Five personality characteristics, or 'nuances' (i.e., individual items). These profiles predicted empathy moderately (R2 =.17-.24) and were stable and robust, within each age and between ages. They also predicted empathy in a new sample of older non-twin adolescents (N=96) and were validated against non-self-report empathy measures. Both emotional and cognitive empathy were predicted by nuances representing positive attitudes toward others, trust, forgiveness, and openness to experiences. Emotional empathy was also predicted by nuances representing anxiousness and negative reactivity. Twin analyses revealed overlapping genetic and environmental influences on empathy and the empathic personality profiles and overlapping environmental influences on empathy-personality change. This study demonstrates how addressing the complexity of individuals' personalities can inform adolescents' empathy development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lior Abramson
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.,Current institutional affiliation: Columbia University in the City of New York
| | - Eran Eldar
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Noam Markovitch
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
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MacGowan TL, Mirabelli J, Obhi SS, Schmidt LA. Observed shyness leads to more automatic imitation in early childhood. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22272. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.22272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Taigan L. MacGowan
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada
| | - James Mirabelli
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada
| | - Sukhvinder S. Obhi
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada
| | - Louis A. Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada
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8
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Cui D, Liu L, Li Y. Association Between Children's Empathy and Depression: The Moderating Role of Social Preference. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2022; 54:857-869. [PMID: 34982305 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-021-01312-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Although empathy is typically an adaptive characteristic of children, extreme empathy alone or in combination with a negative environment may contribute to a risk of depression. The present study comprehensively investigated the associations between the three constructs of empathy and depression in children, as well as the potential moderating effect of peer relationships (i.e., social preference) on this association. A total of 1223 children (mean age = 10.50 ± .93 years) completed questionnaires on empathy and depression, and social preference was nominated by their peers. Cognitive empathy and positive empathy exerted a positive quadratic effect on depression, while negative empathy had a positive linear association with depression. For children with a low social preference, all three empathy constructs were positively quadratically correlated with depression, extremely high and low empathy were associated with increased depression, and moderate empathy was associated with the lowest level of depression. For children with a high social preference, higher positive empathy was associated with lower depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Cui
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Lisha Liu
- Center for Teacher Education Research, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yanfang Li
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
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MacGowan TL, Colonnesi C, Nikolić M, Schmidt LA. Expressions of shyness and theory of mind in children: A psychophysiological study. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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