The relations of emotionality and regulation to dispositional and situational empathy-related responding

Cooperative behavior in adolescents: a contribution of empathy and emotional regulation?

Aim

This study aims to identify different levels of empathy and emotional regulation along adolescent years and their relationship with cooperative behavior.

Methods

Eighty healthy males were divided into four age groups: 20 Early Adolescents, 20 Middle Adolescents, 20 Late Adolescents and 20 Adults. Participants responded to empathic and emotional regulation scales, then were assigned to an unknown partner to perform the prisoner's dilemma paradigm.

Results

The statistical analyses allowed to distinguish the groups on the basis of the components making up the two scales: scores on the Perspective Taking component were higher for Adults and Late Adolescents participants than for Middle Adolescents and Early Adolescents groups (p < 0.05); scores on the Personal Distress component were higher for Early Adolescents group than for Late Adolescents and Middle Adolescents groups (p < 0.05); scores on the Difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior component were higher for Middle Adolescents and Early Adolescents groups than for Adults group (p < 0.05). We observed differences between groups (p < 0.001) with higher number of cooperation responses in Adults compared to Middle Adolescents (p < 0.05) and Early Adolescents groups (p < 0.001).

Discussion

These findings suggest that the cooperative behavior changes during the different stages of adolescence seem to be related to the development of empathy and emotional regulation components.

Moderate similarity leads to empathic concern, but high similarity can also induce personal distress towards others' pain

Empathic concern and personal distress are common vicarious emotional responses that arise when witnessing someone else's pain. However, the influence of perceived similarity on these responses remains unclear. In this study, we examined how perceived similarity with an injured target impacts vicarious emotional responses. A total of 87 participants watched a video of an athlete in pain preceded by a clip describing the athlete's trajectory, which indicated either high, moderate, or low similarity to the participants. Emotional self-reports, facial expressions, gaze behavior, and pupil diameter were measured as indicators of the participants' emotional responses. Participants in the moderate- and high-similarity groups exhibited greater empathic concern, as evidenced by their display of more sadness compared with those in the low-similarity group. Furthermore, those in the moderate-similarity group exhibited less avoidance by displaying reduced disgust, indicating lower personal distress compared with those in the low-similarity condition. Nevertheless, the high-similarity group displayed just as much disgust as the low-similarity group. These findings suggest that perceived similarity enhances empathic concern to others' suffering, but that high similarity can also lead to personal distress. Future studies on empathy should explore distinct vicarious states using multimodal measurements to further advance our understanding of these processes.

CD38 genetic variation is associated with increased personal distress to an emotional stimulus

Genetic variation in CD38-a putative oxytocin pathway gene-has been linked to higher oxytocin levels, empathy, and sensitive parenting, but also to more negative interpersonal outcomes (e.g., alienation from friends and family, poorer romantic relationship quality). To reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings, we drew upon the idea that CD38 variation may heighten social-emotional sensitivity and, consequently, make individuals prone to negative emotions in distressing interpersonal situations. To test this hypothesis, we performed a secondary analysis of a dataset including participants' (n = 171; 94 females) empathic concern ("sympathetic") and distress-related ("anxious") responses to an emotional video. Distress responses were higher for the CD38 rs3796863 AA/AC group vs. the CC group (p = 0.03, η2 = 0.027); however, there was no significant effect of genotype for empathic concern responses to the video or for indices of trait empathy. These findings provide preliminary evidence that, in the face of an interpersonal stressor, CD38 genetic variation may predict more self-focused, aversive emotional reactions. More broadly, this finding highlights the need to adopt a more nuanced perspective in which the influence of oxytocin system variation (assessed by oxytocin-related genetic variation) should be considered in light of the social context.

Interpersonal Factors, Peer Relationship Stressors, and Gender Differences in Adolescent Depression

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Compared to boys, girls value close relationships more. Thus, heightened affiliative proclivities may serve as a particularly salient psychosocial risk factor for depression in adolescent girls. The purpose of this review is to examine whether the preponderance of depression in girls is because of gender differences in interpersonal vulnerabilities and peer relationship stressors and/or in the associations between these factors and depression.

RECENT FINDINGS

Girls (vs. boys) exhibit higher levels of co-rumination and affective empathy, but not excessive reassurance-seeking. The prevalence of different forms of peer relationship stressors (e.g., peer victimization) varies by gender depending on the specific type. Evidence is mixed regarding gender differences in the association between peer victimization and depression. Gender differences in the association between peer victimization and depression not only depend on peer victimization subtype but also on the country. Most studies were conducted in non-clinical samples, highlighting the need for future research to assess major depressive disorder (not just depressive symptoms). Future research should also assess interpersonal factors (e.g., co-rumination) and peer relationship stressors together.

Feeling with a robot-the role of anthropomorphism by design and the tendency to anthropomorphize in human-robot interaction

The implementation of anthropomorphic features in regard to appearance and framing is widely supposed to increase empathy towards robots. However, recent research used mainly tasks that are rather atypical for daily human-robot interactions like sacrificing or destroying robots. The scope of the current study was to investigate the influence of anthropomorphism by design on empathy and empathic behavior in a more realistic, collaborative scenario. In this online experiment, participants collaborated either with an anthropomorphic or a technical looking robot and received either an anthropomorphic or a technical description of the respective robot. After the task completion, we investigated situational empathy by displaying a choice-scenario in which participants needed to decide whether they wanted to act empathically towards the robot (sign a petition or a guestbook for the robot) or non empathically (leave the experiment). Subsequently, the perception of and empathy towards the robot was assessed. The results revealed no significant influence of anthropomorphism on empathy and participants' empathic behavior. However, an exploratory follow-up analysis indicates that the individual tendency to anthropomorphize might be crucial for empathy. This result strongly supports the importance to consider individual difference in human-robot interaction. Based on the exploratory analysis, we propose six items to be further investigated as empathy questionnaire in HRI.

Empathic concern induction modulates behavioral ratings and neural responses to harm-related moral judgment: An event-related potentials study

Although empathic concern is critical in harm-related moral judgment, the temporal dynamics underlying the impact of empathic concern on moral judgment remain unclear. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how empathic concern induction shaped the way individuals perceive harmful/helpful behaviors. Behavioral results showed that participants assigned more blame to harmful behaviors in the empathic concern priming condition compared to those in the control condition. ERP results showed that helpful behaviors elicited larger N1 than did harmful behaviors. Additionally, harmful behaviors in the empathic concern priming condition elicited more negative N2 than did harmful behaviors in the control condition. Moreover, harmful behaviors elicited larger late positive potential (LPP) than did helpful behaviors in the control condition. These findings suggest that (1) empathic concern induction might increase moral sensitivity about harm-related norms; (2) participants independent of the empathic concern manipulation can distinguish between harmful behaviors and helpful behaviors similarly, as indicated by the early ERP component (N1); (3) empathic concern especially influences the intermediate (N2) and later (LPP) ERP components.

The role of empathy in shared intentionality: Contributions from Inter-Processual Self theory

Research in psychology related to the conceptualization of empathy has been on the rise in the last decades. However, we argue that there is still space for further research to help capture the important notion of empathy and its theoretical and conceptual depth. Following a critical review of the current state of the research that conceptualizes and measures empathy, we focus on works that highlight the importance of a shared vision and its relevance in psychology and neuroscience. Considering the state of the art of current neuroscientific and psychological approaches to empathy, we argue for the relevance of shared intention and shared vision in empathy-related actions. Upon review of different models that emphasize a shared vision for informing research on empathy, we suggest that a newly developed theory of self, human growth and action–the so-called Inter-Processual Self theory (IPS)–can significantly and novelly inform the theorization on empathy beyond what the literature has stated to date. Then, we show how an understanding of integrity as a relational act that requires empathy is an essential mechanism for current key research on empathy and its related concepts and models. Ultimately, we aim to present IPS as a distinctive proposal to expand upon the conceptualization of empathy.

Development of an Empathy Rating Scale for Young Children

Empathy is critical to young children's socioemotional development and deficient levels characterize a severe and pervasive type of Conduct Disorder (i.e., with limited prosocial emotions). With the emergence of novel, targeted early interventions to treat this psychopathology, the critical limitations of existing parent-report empathy measures reveal their unsuitability for assessing empathy levels and outcomes in young children. The present study aimed to develop a reliable and comprehensive parent-rated empathy scale for young children. This was accomplished by first generating a large list of empathy items sourced from both preexisting empathy measures and from statements made by parents during a clinical interview about their young child's empathy. Second, this item set was refined using exploratory factor analysis of item scores from parents of children aged 2 to 8 years (56.6% male), recruited online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. A five-factor solution provided the best fit to the data: Attention to Others' Emotions, Personal Distress (i.e., Emotional Contagion/Affective Empathy), Personal Distress-Fictional Characters, Prosocial Behavior, and Sympathy. Total and subscale scores on the new "Measure of Empathy in Early Childhood" (MEEC) were internally consistent. Finally, this five-factor structure was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and model fit was adequate. With further research into the validity of MEEC scores, this new rater-based empathy measure for young children may hold promise for assessing empathy in early childhood and advancing research into the origins of empathy and empathy-related disorders.

The missing construct: Impathy

This article is about impathy (introversive empathy), understood as the ability to share in and understand one’s own feelings, which is considered a critical psychological construct relevant for the recovery and maintenance of mental health. However, while the ability to empathize with oneself has received considerable attention from the clinical community, this has not been paralleled by the same scientific scrutiny, which was subject to the ability to empathize with others. Impathy has not yet been operationally defined and thus has remained relatively unexplored, both conceptually and empirically. This work describes an operational definition of impathy with four dimensions: Perceiving, Meta-Position, Accepting Attitude, and Understanding. Issues of differentiation from related constructs are discussed and avenues of clinical applicability are explored, suggesting that impathy exists as a distinct human capacity, which can be assessed and which has important clinical implications. The paper closes with future directions, including the assessment of impathy and possible research questions.

Do empathy and oxytocin predict responsiveness to a crying infant simulator in expecting and non-expecting couples? A multilevel study

Infant crying is a strong emotional stimulus that elicits caregiving responses in adults. Here we examine the role of empathy (measured with the Polish version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and salivary oxytocin in modulating sensitive responsiveness to a crying infant simulator in two groups of heterosexual couples: 111 expecting or 110 not expecting a baby. Sensitive responsiveness was observed during a standardized procedure using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale while participants took care of the infant simulator, both individually and as a couple. Other-oriented empathy predicted elevated levels of individual but not couple sensitive responsiveness. More OT reactivity to crying predicted less responsiveness in non-expecting couples, which might be explained by their stronger focus on task performance. This study uniquely combined hormonal, observational and self-report measures in couples, and showed that personality and hormonal correlates of sensitive responsiveness might be studied before the child's birth with the use of infant simulators.

The effects of embodying wildlife in virtual reality on conservation behaviors

Efforts to mitigate environmental threats are often inversely related to the magnitude of casualty, human or otherwise. This “compassion fade” can be explained, in part, by differential processing of large- versus small-scale threats: it is difficult to form empathic connections with unfamiliar masses versus singular victims. Despite robust findings, little is known about how non-human casualty is processed, and what strategies override this bias. Across four experiments, we show how embodying threatened megafauna-Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta Caretta)-using virtual reality can offset and reverse compassion fade. After observing compassion fade during exposure to non-human casualty in virtual reality (Study 1; N = 60), we then tested a custom virtual reality simulation designed to facilitate body transfer with a threatened Loggerhead sea turtle (Study 2; N = 98). Afterwards, a field experiment (Study 3; N = 90) testing the simulation with varied number of victims showed body transfer offset compassion fade. Lastly, a fourth study (N = 25) found that charitable giving among users embodying threatened wildlife was highest when exposed to one versus several victims, though this effect was reversed if victims were of a different species. The findings demonstrate how animal embodiment in virtual reality alters processing of environmental threats and non-human casualty, thereby influencing conservation outcomes.

Robots and Sustainability: Robots as Persuaders to Promote Recycling

Humans tend to interact socially with humanoid devices, such as robots. Therefore, a possible application of robotics technology is the promotion of pro-social behavior, namely recycling. To test the effectiveness of this application, an experimental setting in which participants were required to dispose of waste was created. Two types of electronic instructors, a robot and a tablet computer, were located close to the disposal area to provide instructions on appropriate waste disposal. The comparison of the effectiveness of the two types of electronic instructors found that participants exposed to the robot sorted the waste more accurately than participants exposed to the tablet computer. Scores for perceived anthropomorphism and induced empathy were higher for the robot than the tablet computer. We conclude that robots, because of their anthropomorphic features, are more likely to evoke empathy than tablet computers, and thus robots can be more effective in promoting pro-social behavior.

Presence and Flow in the Context of Virtual Reality Storytelling: What Influences Enjoyment in Virtual Environments?

Virtual reality (VR) has widely been implemented in a variety of industries, with immersive storytelling now gaining popularity in the field of journalism. In this regard, there are many important questions about which direction modern journalism should take as a whole. To test the feasibility of immersive storytelling, this study developed a cognitive experience model containing paths for presence, flow, credibility, empathy, understanding, and enjoyment. A total of 131 participants were divided into three groups and exposed to either VR, 360-degree videos, or two-dimensional (2D) videos, then asked to rate their experiences. With the exception of understanding, results showed that the VR and 360-degree videos were more highly evaluated in each path when compared with 2D videos. In this case, technical attributes did not greatly affect the study variables. However, presence played a vital role in news promotion, while flow was positively affected by presence; flow also affected other variables when combined with presence. Finally, a structural equation model was tested and the weights of the different influences on the enjoyment impact were presented. In sum, this study found that immersive storytelling improved both presence, flow, and credibility, which jointly and positively affected enjoyment. Understanding negatively affected enjoyment. Empathy had little effect on enjoyment in the model.

Cultural Adaptation, Validation, and Psychometric Description of the Pictorial Empathy Test (PET) in the Spanish Population

Abstract. Research in psychology and social neuroscience distinguishes between dispositional and situational empathy for the cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. Yet, the Pictorial Empathy Test (PET) is one of the few brief tests focusing on situational affective empathy. This paper describes the adaptation of PET in a two-stage process, consisting of instrument translation and exploratory analysis of the construct in a university student sample, followed by confirmatory factor analysis and psychometric validation in a general population sample (Study 1, N = 79 and Study 2, N = 580). Our results indicate that the Spanish PET version constitutes a single factor structure with high internal consistency as well as high construct stability across genders and across in-person and online test administration setups. We report satisfactory convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of the Spanish PET, as reported for the original version, in addition to when explored across new dimensions, like the Interpersonal Reactivity Index or in relation to age and prosocial tendencies. Based on the above, we discuss delineation of the distinct components of emotional empathy as measured by the instrument. The work presented supports the use of the Spanish PET version as a brief screening tool for state affective (emotional) empathy.

Eye Size Affects Cuteness in Different Facial Expressions and Ages

Researchers have suggested that infants exhibiting baby schema are considered cute. These similar studies have mainly focused on changes in overall baby schema facial features. However, whether a change in only eye size affects the perception of cuteness across different facial expressions and ages has not been explicitly evaluated until now. In the present study, a paired comparison method and 7-point scale were used to investigate the effects of eye size on perceived cuteness across facial expressions (positive, neutral, and negative) and ages (adults and infants). The results show that stimuli with large eyes were perceived to be cuter than both unmanipulated eyes and small eyes across all facial expressions and age groups. This suggests not only that the effect of baby schema on cuteness is based on changes in a set of features but also that eye size as an individual feature can affect the perception of cuteness.

Moving Crisis to Opportunities: A Corporate Perspective on the Impact of Compassionate Empathic Behaviour on the Well-Being of Employees

The recent raging pandemic has disrupted the world economy in a humongous way causing socio-psychological stressors affecting the mental well-being of employees. The fear of losing jobs due to economic shutdowns, or facing challenges of digitisation of the workplace, or fear of contaminating illness generated a feeling of despair and panic to more serious paranoia behaviour amongst the employees. The present study aims at investigating how did the leadership use prosocial empathic skills during this pandemic to manage the mental well-being of their respective employees, so that they are motivated and engaged for meaningful performance. The major themes that emerged from the structured interviews of the apex leadership were (1) compassionate empathic behaviour impacts the employee motivation and performance; (2) open, honest and timely vertical communication promotes trust and bonding; (3) support for employee autonomy impacts their well-being; (4) encouraging competence and self-efficacy in employees; (5) promoting positive and healthy relationships by displaying compassionate empathy positively impacts mental health and thereby employee performance during crisis. Right from providing unified Communication platform, to displaying empathic leadership, the apex leadership unanimously believes that people are their best assets and if managed well in the crisis can help them stem the storm successfully.

Challenging the clinically-situated emotion-deficient version of empathy within medicine and medical education research

In this paper, we argue that the notion of a clinically-situated empathy (e.g. physician empathy), is potentially problematic as it perpetuates an emotion-deficient version of empathy within medicine and medicine education research. Utilizing classic and contemporary empathy theory from various social science disciplines, we discuss how empathy in the general sense differs conceptually from clinically-situated empathy-paying particular attention to the role of emotional contagion. To highlight this contrast, we draw upon Hojat et al.'s model of physician empathy and how this body of work reflects broader medical-cultural norms that problematize the role and impact of emotions within the clinical encounter. Alternatively, we present a more encompassing model of empathy drawing upon the fields of social-psychology and social-neuroscience in order to bring the notion of "feeling with" and emotional contagion more specifically, into medical education, medical education research, and medicine more generally.

Cultural differences in social support seeking: The mediating role of empathic concern

Prior research has found that East Asians are less willing than Westerners to seek social support in times of need. What factors account for this cultural difference? Whereas previous research has examined the mediating effect of relational concern, we predicted that empathic concern, which refers to feeling sympathy and concern for people in need and varies by individuals from different cultures, would promote support seeking. We tested the prediction in two studies. In Study 1, European Canadians reported higher empathic concern and a higher frequency of support seeking, compared to the Japanese participants. As predicted, cultural differences in social support seeking were influenced by empathic concern. In Study 2, both empathic concern and relational concern mediated cultural differences in support seeking. Japanese with lower empathic concern but higher relational concern were more reluctant than European Americans to seek social support during stressful times. Finally, loneliness, which was more prevalent among the Japanese than among the European Americans, was partially explained by social support seeking.

Children with developmental dyslexia show elevated parasympathetic nervous system activity at rest and greater cardiac deceleration during an empathy task

Reading difficulties are the hallmark feature of dyslexia, but less is known about other areas of functioning. Previously, we found children with dyslexia exhibited heightened emotional reactivity, which correlated with better social skills. Whether emotional differences in dyslexia extend to the parasympathetic nervous system-an autonomic branch critical for attention, social engagement, and empathy-is unknown. Here, we measured autonomic nervous system activity in 24 children with dyslexia and 24 children without dyslexia, aged 7 - 12, at rest and during a film-based empathy task. At rest, children with dyslexia had higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) than those without dyslexia. Cardiac deceleration during the empathy task was greater in dyslexia and correlated with higher resting RSA across the sample. Children with dyslexia produced more facial expressions of concentration during film-viewing, suggesting greater engagement. These results suggest elevated resting parasympathetic activity and accentuated autonomic and behavioral responding to others' emotions in dyslexia.

Empathy and theft by finding: The intermediary role of moral emotions and norms

This study explores the intermediary role of anticipated shame, guilt, and norms in the association between empathy and the likelihood of a specific uncooperative act: theft by finding. Empirical evidence supports a negative association between empathy and a broad range of uncooperative behaviors. Some studies suggest that empathy reduces noncooperation via intermediary factors such as empathy and moral emotions shame and guilt. Inspired by Martin Hoffman's empathy-based theory of moral development, we propose a testable model in which individual differences in empathic concern and perspective-taking are positively related to anticipated guilt, shame, and conduct-specific moral norm, which in turn reduce the likelihood of theft by finding. Data were collected from a region-wide cross-sectional sample of adolescents and young adults in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium in 2019 (N = 3591). Overall, our propositions were corroborated. Structural equation modeling suggests that empathic concern inhibits the likelihood of theft by finding via anticipated guilt-shame. The discussion focuses on a better understanding of the relationship between empathy, moral dimensions, and uncooperative choices.

The neuroscience of empathy and compassion in pro-social behavior

Research in the scientific literature increasingly demonstrates that empathy consists of multiple dimensions, and that defining empathy as a single encompassing term may be imprecise. Recent calls have been made for increasing empathy as means to increase pro-social behavior. However, contradictory evidence exists that empathy may reduce pro-social behavior. This debate has sparked confusion around what is empathy, along with the value of empathy in promoting pro-social behavior. This paper will examine recent advances in affective neuroscience to better understand the construct of empathy and its relationship to pro-social behavior. Individuals' responses to affective empathy, seeing the suffering of others can result in personal distress or empathic concern, which may then subsequently affect motivation for pro-social behavior. Current research in affective neuroscience suggests that combining compassion interventions in conjunction with both affective and cognitive empathy offers the most optimal likelihood that individuals will engage in pro-social behavior.

Development and validation of film stimuli to assess empathy in the work context

A growing body of research suggests that empathy predicts important work outcomes, yet limitations in existing measures to assess empathy have been noted. Extending past work on the assessment of empathy, this study introduces a newly developed set of emotion-eliciting film clips that can be used to assess both cognitive (emotion perception) and affective (emotional congruence and sympathy) facets of empathy in vivo. Using the relived emotions paradigm, film protagonists were instructed to think aloud about an autobiographical, emotional event from working life and relive their emotions while being videotaped. Subsequently, protagonists were asked to provide self-reports of the intensity of their emotions during retelling their event. In a first study with 128 employees, who watched the film clips and rated their own as well as the protagonists’ emotions, we found that the film clips are effective in eliciting moderate levels of emotions as well as sympathy in the test taker and can be used to calculate reliable convergence scores of emotion perception and emotional congruence. Using a selected subset of six film clips, a second two-wave study with 99 employees revealed that all facet-specific measures of empathy had moderate-to-high internal consistencies and test–retest reliabilities, and correlated in expected ways with other self-report and test-based empathy tests, cognition, and demographic variables. With these films, we expand the choice of testing materials for empathy in organizational research to cover a larger array of research questions.

Do Values Relate to Personality Traits and if so, in What Way? - Analysis of Relationships

Introduction

The research presents empirical data concerning the relations between personal traits and value system. The study focuses on empathy, agreeableness, directiveness, Machiavellism as personality traits. Theoretical assumptions and empirical findings are analyzed and interpreted in the context of cognitive framework, including the idea of regulative function self-concept. A content compatibility hypothesis between personality traits and one’s system of value was accepted as preliminary assumption for this research: empathy and agreeableness positively correlate with allocentric values, whereas directiveness and Machiavellism positively correlate with idiocentric values. The study group consisted of 325 students.

Methods

The Empathic Understanding of Others Questionnaire (Węgliński), Personality Inventory NEO-FFI (Costa and McCrae) Directiveness Scale (Ray) and Mach V Scale (Christie and Geis) were used.

Results

The value system of empathic and agreeable people reveals an allocentric orientation (tendency to abandon one’s own perspective), while the value system of directive and Machiavellian people reveals an idiocentric orientation (focused on oneself).

Discussion

The data analysis revealed that subjects tend to organize their self-knowledge in such a way that there is a content consistency between the information included in the appropriate schemas of personality traits and value preference.

Empathy and attitude toward communication skill learning as a predictor of patient-centered attitude: a cross-sectional study of dental students in Korea

BACKGROUND

Enhancing medical students' practice of patient-centered care is a goal of medical schools. In addition to exploring the demographic and academic factors of the students, it is necessary to identify other attitudes and perceptions that may influence the student's patient-centered attitude and inclination toward communication skill learning. This study aimed to assess patient-centered attitudes among dental students in Korea and identify the association between the students' characteristics and empathy, communication skill learning attitude, and patient-centered attitude.

METHODS

Data were collected via a cross-sectional online survey, and 312 dental students were included in the analyses. The study participants completed the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Analyses were performed using independent samples' t-tests, hierarchical multi-variable regression, and ANOVA with a post-hoc Tukey test.

RESULTS

The students tend to be moderately patient-oriented toward the sharing subscale of PPOS score (M = 3.78, standard deviation [SD] = 0.54) and slightly more patient-centered toward the caring subscale of PPOS score (M = 4.41, SD = 0.52) of patient-centered attitudes. Being a female and a shorter academic period in dentistry were associated with attitudes toward patient-centered care. Empathy and positive attitude toward learning communication skills were also related to a patient-centered attitude, and among aspects of empathy, "empathic concern" had the greatest significant impact on patient-centered attitude.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender, academic period, empathy, and attitudes on learning communication skills were important influencing factors of patient-centered attitudes. Patient-centered attitude can and must be taught. Education programs should focus on enhancing empathy, emphasizing positive attitudes on learning communication skills, and conducting follow-up educational sessions to prevent students from becoming less patient-centered with an increase in duration of their academic period.

Emotion regulation of others' positive and negative emotions is related to distinct patterns of heart rate variability and situational empathy

Although emotion regulation has been proposed to be crucial for empathy, investigations on emotion regulation have been primarily limited to intrapersonal processes, leaving the interpersonal processes of self-regulation rather unexplored. Moreover, studies showed that emotion regulation and empathy are related with increased autonomic activation. How emotion regulation and empathy are related at the autonomic level, and more specifically during differently valenced social situations remains an open question. Healthy adults viewed a series of short videos illustrating a target who was expressing positive, negative, or no emotions during a social situation (Positive, Negative, or Neutral Social Scenes). Prior to each video, participants were instructed to reappraise their own emotions (Up-regulation, Down-regulation, or No-regulation). To assess autonomic activation, RR intervals (RRI), high frequency (HF) components of heart rate variability (HRV), and electrodermal activity phasic responses (EDRs) were calculated. Situational empathy was measured through a visual analogue scale. Participants rated how empathic they felt for a specific target. Up- and Down-regulation were related to an increase and a decrease in situational empathy and an increase in RRI and HF, respectively, compared to the control condition (No-regulation). This suggests increased activity of the parasympathetic branch during emotion regulation of situational empathic responses. Positive compared to Negative Social Scenes were associated with decreased situational empathy, in addition to a slightly but non-significantly increased HF. Altogether, this study demonstrates that emotion regulation may be associated with changes in situational empathy and autonomic responses, preferentially dominated by the parasympathetic branch and possibly reflecting an increase of regulatory processes. Furthermore, the current study provides evidence that empathy for different emotional valences is associated with distinct changes in situational empathy and autonomic responses.

Strategic Regulation of Empathy

Empathy is an integral part of socioemotional well-being, but recent research has highlighted some of its downsides. Here we examine literature that establishes when, how much, and what aspects of empathy promote specific outcomes. After reviewing a theoretical framework that characterizes empathy as a suite of separable components, we examine evidence showing how dissociations of these components affect important socioemotional outcomes and describe emerging evidence suggesting that these components can be independently and deliberately regulated. Finally, we advocate for an approach to a multicomponent view of empathy that accounts for the interrelations among components. This perspective advances scientific conceptualization of empathy and offers suggestions for tailoring empathy to help people realize their social, emotional, and occupational goals.

Neural signatures of prosocial behaviors

Prosocial behaviors are hypothesized to require socio-cognitive and empathic abilities-engaging brain regions attributed to the mentalizing and empathy brain networks. Here, we tested this hypothesis with a coordinate-based meta-analysis of 600 neuroimaging studies on prosociality, mentalizing and empathy (∼12,000 individuals). We showed that brain areas recruited by prosocial behaviors only partially overlap with the mentalizing (dorsal posterior cingulate cortex) and empathy networks (middle cingulate cortex). Additionally, the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortices were preferentially activated by prosocial behaviors. Analyses on the functional connectivity profile and functional roles of the neural patterns underlying prosociality revealed that in addition to socio-cognitive and empathic processes, prosocial behaviors further involve evaluation processes and action planning, likely to select the action sequence that best satisfies another person's needs. By characterizing the multidimensional construct of prosociality at the neural level, we provide insights that may support a better understanding of normal and abnormal social cognition (e.g., psychopathy).

The Emotional Effectiveness of Advertisement

Based on cognitive–emotional neuroscience, the effectiveness of advertisement is measured in terms of individuals’ unconscious emotional responses. Using AFFDEX to record and analyze facial expressions, a combination of indicators that track both basic emotions and individual involvement is used to quantitatively determine if a spot causes high levels of ad liking in terms of attention, engagement, valence, and joy. We use as a test case a real campaign, in which a spot composed of 31 scenes (images, text, and the brand logo) is shown to subjects divided into five groups in terms of age and gender. The target group of mature women shows statistically more positive emotions and involvement than the rest of the groups, demonstrating the emotional effectiveness of the spot. Each other experimental groups show specific negative emotions as a function of their age and for certain blocks of scenes.

Parental and Family-Level Sociocontextual Correlates of Emergent Emotion Regulation: Implications for Early Social Competence

OBJECTIVES

Emotion regulation skills in early childhood are essential for healthy emotional and behavioral development, yet factors related to emergent emotion regulation during the early preschool period have not been extensively explored.

METHODS

In the present study (N = 90), we specifically examine parental and family-level sociocontextual correlates in relation to emotion regulation skills in three-year-olds, a crucial time when the onset of several cognitive and socioemotional abilities are intertwined. We also investigate the role of these developing emotion regulatory capacities with behavioral problems and social competence.

RESULTS

Children whose parents use more adaptive emotion regulation strategies (r = .33, p = .001) and who grow up in a higher income (r = .25, p = .02), less chaotic household (r = -.30, p = .004) have better emergent emotion regulation. Additionally, better child emotion regulation skills are associated with more positive outcomes such as fewer behavioral problems (r = -.46, p < .001) and more instrumental helping behaviors (r = .23, p = .04).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that identifying individual differences in emotion regulation earlier than most prior studies may be particularly important for fostering this crucial skill and overall psychological well-being in young children.

Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Anorexia Nervosa: The Role of Attachment Insecurity, Intrapersonal, and Interpersonal Emotional Competences

The present research examined a model that evaluates the mediating role of both intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional competences (ECs) between attachment insecurity and the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). Women with AN completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, the Profile of Emotional Competence, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The results revealed that intrapersonal EC mediated the relationships between attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and emotional empathy in patients with AN. Importantly, a high emotional empathy in AN was associated with increased depression and anxiety symptoms. The results also indicated that a high level of attachment avoidance was indirectly associated with lower cognitive empathy through lower levels of interpersonal EC in AN. The present study emphasizes the importance of differentiating affective empathy from cognitive empathy and suggests clinical interventions in patients with AN.

Beyond burnout: looking deeply into physician distress

Physician wellness is an important issue and a growing concern within the medical profession. Although "burnout" is a commonly used term to describe physician distress, it fails to capture the many aspects of medicine that negatively impact physician wellness and what physicians experience. In this article, I will explore the personal (unhealthy perfectionism, pathologic altruism, self-recrimination, and the pitfalls of success), interpersonal (empathic distress, moral suffering, bullying, and marginalization), and systemic (medical culture, workplace environment and burnout, and health care system) factors that act interdependently and synergistically to give rise to physician distress. This article is a call for an earnest discussion and for implementing changes by addressing and reconsidering the place of physician wellness in medical practice, education, and research on the one hand, and its impact on patients, families, and society on the other.

Different faces of empathy: Feelings of similarity disrupt recognition of negative emotions

Empathizing with others is widely presumed to increase our understanding of their emotions. Little is known, however, about which empathic process actually help people recognize others' feelings more accurately. Here, we probed the relationship between emotion recognition and two empathic processes: spontaneously felt similarity (having had a similar experience) and deliberate perspective taking (focus on the other vs. oneself). We report four studies in which participants (total N = 803) watched videos of targets sharing genuine negative emotional experiences. Participants' multi-scalar ratings of the targets' emotions were compared with the targets' own emotion ratings. In Study 1 we found that having had a similar experience to what the target was sharing was associated with lower recognition of the target's emotions. Study 2 replicated the same pattern and in addition showed that making participants' own imagined reaction to the described event salient resulted in further reduced accuracy. Studies 3 and 4 were preregistered replications and extensions of Studies 1 and 2, in which we observed the same outcome using a different stimulus set, indicating the robustness of the finding. Moreover, Study 4 directly investigated the underlying mechanism of the observed effect. Findings showed that perceivers who have had a negative life experience similar to the emotional event described in the video felt greater personal distress after watching the video, which in part explained their reduced accuracy. These results provide the first demonstration that spontaneous empathy, evoked by similarity in negative experiences, may inhibit rather than increase our understanding of others' emotions.

Challenges in the comparative study of empathy and related phenomena in animals

The aim of this review is to discuss recent arguments and findings in the comparative study of empathy. Based on a multidisciplinary approach including psychology and ethology, we review the non-human animal literature concerning theoretical frameworks, methodology, and research outcomes. One specific objective is to highlight discrepancies between theory and empirical findings, and to discuss ambiguities present in current data and their interpretation. In particular, we focus on emotional contagion and its experimental investigation, and on consolation and targeted helping as measures for sympathy. Additionally, we address the feasibility of comparing across species with behavioural data alone. One main conclusion of our review is that animal research on empathy still faces the challenge of closing the gap between theoretical concepts and empirical evidence. To advance our knowledge, we propose to focus more on the emotional basis of empathy, rather than on possibly ambiguous behavioural indicators, and we provide suggestions to overcome the limitations of previous research .

The Costs of Working Too Hard

Abstract. Despite the relatively intuitive link between working hard and achievements at work, results from empirical studies tend to characterize workaholics more often as hard workers rather than smart workers. Indeed, the link between workaholism and job performance is not obvious. In this paper, we investigated the link between workaholism and a core component of contextual performance, namely, prosocial organizational citizenship behavior (P-OCB). More in detail, we posited a mediational model in which workaholic tendencies negatively predicted P-OCB indirectly through an increased perception of job demands. This model was tested using longitudinal data from a sample of 85 police officers assessed once every two weeks for three months. Results from multilevel structural equation analyses demonstrated the model's good fit and corroborated the mediated effect. All in all, our results point to an organizational cost of workaholism, represented by its aversive impact on P-OCB.

Personal distress as a mediator between self-esteem, self-efficacy, loneliness and problematic video gaming in female and male emerging adult gamers

The aim of our research was to investigate the predictors of Problematic Video Gaming (PVG) in emerging adulthood. From among the factors which were considered significant in previous studies, we decided to include the following in our research: empathy, self-esteem, self-efficacy and loneliness. Additionally, we wanted to examine which predictors have a direct or indirect effect on PVG in female and male emerging adult gamers group. Including a sample of 370 video game players (201 female gamers) aged 18-30 years (M = 21.66 years, SD = 2.83) participated in this study and were asked to complete self-report measures. The questionnaires included: Problem Videogame Playing Questionnaire, The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale. Our results indicate that empathy dimension associated with personal distress, the time spent playing computer games per week is directly associated with PVG. Also, there were found full mediation between self-esteem, loneliness, self-efficacy and PVG via personal distress in emerging adult male gamers group. In emerging adult female gamers group personal distress fully mediated relation between self-esteem, self-efficacy and PVG. Our findings indicate that the time spent playing video games, as well as personal distress as a function of self-esteem, loneliness and self-efficacy, are predictors of problematic video gaming. Additionally, our results may lead to a better understanding of PVG among emerging adults. In particular, they may point to the importance of personal distress in relation to PVG during emerging adulthood, which is a developmental stage of many changes in social and professional life.

Empathic concern and personal distress depend on situational but not dispositional factors

Empathic concern and personal distress are empathic responses that may result when observing someone in discomfort. Even though these empathic responses have received much attention in past research, it is still unclear which conditions contribute to their respective experience. Hence, the main goal of this study was to examine if dispositional empathic traits or rather situational variables are more likely to evoke empathic concern and personal distress and how the two empathic responses influence motor responses. We presented pictures of persons in psychological, physical, or no pain with matched descriptions of situations that promoted an other-focused state. Approach-avoidance movements were demanded by a subsequently presented tone. While psychological pain led to more empathic concern, physical pain led to higher ratings of personal distress. Linear mixed-effects modelling analysis further revealed that situational factors, such as the type of pain but also the affect experienced by the participants before the experiment predicted the two empathic responses, whereas dispositional empathic traits had no significant influence. In addition, the more intensely the empathic responses were experienced, the faster were movements initiated, presumably reflecting an effect of arousal. Overall, the present study advances our understanding of empathic responses to people in need and provides novel methodological tools to effectively manipulate and analyze empathic concern and personal distress in future research.

Standing in Others' Shoes: Empathy and Positional Behavior

Studies show that people are concerned with other people's consumption position in a varying degree with respect to the type of goods consumed and individual characteristics. Using both survey experiments and a large survey of subjective well-being (SWB) dataset, this paper aims to investigate the association between the degree of empathic capacity and positional concerns for consumption items involving pleasure and pain. The paper exploits both empathy quotient (EQ) and interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) measures of empathic capacity, i.e., dispositional empathy, which are sufficient measures capturing affective and cognitive aspects of empathy. Positional concerns are identified directly using a series of stated choice experiments and indirectly using the SWB approach. The main result of the paper is that positional concerns vary substantially with the levels of empathic capacity. Both EQ and IRI are found to be positively associated with positional concerns for “goods” (e.g., after-tax income, market value of a luxury car), reflecting a degree of self-regarded feelings and behavior to reduce personal distress, and negatively associated with positional concerns for “bads” (e.g., working hours and poverty rates), reflecting a degree of other-regarding feelings and behavior. The results are robust with respect to various checks including statistical specifications, reference groups, and omitted variables (e.g., prosocial behavior and competitivity) that could bias the results.

Behavioral and Neural Pathways Supporting the Development of Prosocial and Risk-Taking Behavior Across Adolescence

This study tested the pathways supporting adolescent development of prosocial and rebellious behavior. Self‐report and structural brain development data were obtained in a three‐wave, longitudinal neuroimaging study (8–29 years, N = 210 at Wave 3). First, prosocial and rebellious behavior assessed at Wave 3 were positively correlated. Perspective taking and intention to comfort uniquely predicted prosocial behavior, whereas fun seeking (current levels and longitudinal changes) predicted both prosocial and rebellious behaviors. These changes were accompanied by developmental declines in nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) volumes, but only faster decline of MPFC (faster maturity) related to less rebellious behavior. These findings point toward a possible differential susceptibility marker, fun seeking, as a predictor of both prosocial and rebellious developmental outcomes.

The Role of Empathy and Compassion in Conflict Resolution

Empathy and empathy-related processes, such as compassion and personal distress, are recognized to play a key role in social relations. This review examines the role of empathy in interpersonal and intergroup relations, including intractable conflicts. Despite the limitations of empathy, there is growing evidence that empathy and compassion are associated with more prosocial behavior in interpersonal relations. Furthermore, empathy and compassion have been associated with more favorable attitudes and higher readiness for reconciliation across a range of intergroup settings. This review ends by summarizing recent evidence for the beneficial effects of compassion training on interpersonal and intergroup relations and by outlining new avenues for future research on how compassion training could reduce intergroup conflicts.

Personal and parents' life stories in patients with borderline personality disorder

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) display disturbances in understanding self and others. We examined whether these disturbances extended to how patients described their personal and parents' life stories and to measures of identity, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Thirty BPD patients and 30 matched control participants described personal and parents' life stories and completed measures of identity disturbance, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Compared to the controls, patients with BPD described their personal and their parents' life stories more negatively and with fewer themes of agency and communion fulfillment. Patients and controls showed equally complex reasoning about their personal life stories, but patients displayed less complexity and more self-other confusion, when reasoning about their parents' stories. Patients also differed from controls on identity disturbance, alexithymia, and empathy. The results suggest that patients' storied understanding of themselves and others are disturbed and should be taken into account to better understand BPD.

Doubled-Edged Swords in the Biology of Conflict

Considerable advances have been made in understanding the biological roots of conflict, and such understanding requires a multidisciplinary approach, recognizing the relevance of neurobiological, endocrine, genetic, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. With these insights comes the first hints of biological interventions that may mitigate violence. However, such interventions are typically double-edged swords, with the potential to foster conflict rather than lessen it. This review constitutes a cautionary note of being careful of what one wishes for.

From negative reactivity to empathic responding: Infants high in negative reactivity express more empathy later in development, with the help of regulation

Empathy has great effect on human well-being, promoting healthy relationships and social competence. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that infants show empathy toward others, individual differences in infants' empathy from the first year of life have rarely been investigated longitudinally. Here we examined how negative reactivity and regulation, two temperament traits that predict empathic responses in older children and adults, relate to infants' empathy. Infants were studied at the ages of nine (N = 275) and 18 (N = 301) months (194 infants were studied at both ages). Empathic responses were assessed by infants' observed reactions to an experimenter's simulated distress. Negative reactivity (fear, sadness, and distress to limitations) and regulation (soothability and effortful control) were assessed by parental reports. Negative reactivity was also examined by infants' observed reactions to an adult stranger (fear) and during interaction with their mothers (displays of sadness/distress). When examined cross-sectionally, infants' fear and distress to limitations associated with self-distress in response to others' distress. In contrast, when examined longitudinally, early sadness and distress to limitations, but not fear, associated with later empathic concern and inquisitiveness. Moreover, this longitudinal relation was moderated by infants' soothability and was evident only for children that had high soothability by the later time-point. Our findings suggest that infants who at an earlier age show negative reactivity, react later in development with more empathy if they achieve sufficient regulation abilities. By that, the findings stress the developmental nature of temperament-empathy relations during infancy.