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Li J, Qin Y, Zhong Z, Meng L, Huang L, Li B. Pain experience reduces social avoidance to others in pain: a c-Fos-based functional connectivity network study in mice. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae207. [PMID: 38798004 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Pain experience increases individuals' perception and contagion of others' pain, but whether pain experience affects individuals' affiliative or antagonistic responses to others' pain is largely unknown. Additionally, the neural mechanisms underlying how pain experience modulates individuals' responses to others' pain remain unclear. In this study, we explored the effects of pain experience on individuals' responses to others' pain and the underlying neural mechanisms. By comparing locomotion, social, exploration, stereotyped, and anxiety-like behaviors of mice without any pain experience (naïve observers) and mice with a similar pain experience (experienced observers) when they observed the pain-free demonstrator with intraperitoneal injection of normal saline and the painful demonstrator with intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid, we found that pain experience of the observers led to decreased social avoidance to the painful demonstrator. Through whole-brain c-Fos quantification, we discovered that pain experience altered neuronal activity and enhanced functional connectivity in the mouse brain. The analysis of complex network and graph theory exhibited that functional connectivity networks and activated hub regions were altered by pain experience. Together, these findings reveal that neuronal activity and functional connectivity networks are involved in the modulation of individuals' responses to others' pain by pain experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiali Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuxin Qin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Zifeng Zhong
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Linjie Meng
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Lianyan Huang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
| | - Boxing Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Neuroscience Program, Zhongshan School of Medicine and the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
- Advanced Medical Technology Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Yuexiu District, 510080 Guangzhou, China
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2
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Johnson J, Sattler D, Van Hiel A, Dierckx K, Luo S, Vezzali L. Empathy for a Black Woman Victim of Police Sexual Violence: The Roles of Crime-Related Stress and Stereotype Attributions. JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 2023; 38:4640-4661. [PMID: 36036552 DOI: 10.1177/08862605221118964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Police sexual violence has been ranked as the second most common form of misconduct among police officers. Moreover, there is evidence that Black women are at heightened risk of being victims of such police violence. A report titled Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women has brought international attention to the minimal empirical focus on such police violence toward Black women. To address this lacuna in the literature, using an incident of police sexual assault of a woman, we assessed whether victim's race and participants' level of crime-related stress (i.e., stress due to crime victimization) would influence empathic responding toward the victim. Prolific participants (N = 411) first completed a measure of crime-related stress. They then read an article describing a White police officer's sexual assault of a Black or White woman. Next, participants completed a racial stereotype-related measure (i.e., Black women's higher sexual proclivity) and a stereotype-unrelated measure (i.e., perceived victim untrustworthiness), and reported their victim-directed empathic responding. At high stress levels, participants reported less empathy for the Black (relative to White) victim. At low stress levels, there was greater Black victim-directed empathy. The race effects on empathy were mediated by heightened attribution of Black women-related stereotypical beliefs to the Black victim at high stress levels and by diminished attribution at low stress levels. In sum, we addressed the lacuna in the literature on police sexual violence against Black women while providing evidence that stress can play a critical role in the occurrence of the oft-cited outgroup-directed empathy deficit.
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3
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The association between acute stress & empathy: A systematic literature review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 144:105003. [PMID: 36535374 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.105003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Empathy is a fundamental component of our social-emotional experience. Over the last decade, there has been increased interest in understanding the effects of acute stress on empathy. We provide a first comprehensive-and systematic-overview identifying emerging patterns and gaps in this literature. Regarding affective empathy, there is abundant evidence for stress contagion-the 'spillover' of stress from a stressed target to an unstressed perceiver. We highlight contextual factors that can facilitate and/or undermine these effects. Fewer studies have investigated the effects of acute stress on affective empathy, revealing a nuanced picture, some evidence suggests acute stress can block contagion of other's emotions; but again contextual differences need to be considered. Regarding cognitive empathy, most studies find no conclusive effects for simplistic measures of emotion recognition; however, studies using more complex empathy tasks find that acute stress might affect cognitive empathy differentially for men and women. This review provides an important first step towards understanding how acute stress can impact social-togetherness, and aims to aid future research by highlighting (in)congruencies and outstanding questions.
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4
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Wouters-Soomers L, Van Ruysseveldt J, Bos AER, Jacobs N. An individual perspective on psychological safety: The role of basic need satisfaction and self-compassion. Front Psychol 2022; 13:920908. [PMID: 36059778 PMCID: PMC9434267 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychological safety is important for the well-being and productivity of people in the workplace. Psychological safety becomes even more important and even more difficult to maintain in times of uncertainty. Previous research mainly focused on the influence of and on interpersonal relationships. This study applies an individual perspective by investigating what is needed on an individual level in order to build psychological safety. The expectation was that self-compassion induces an individual to experience higher positive affect, and this advances the development of positive relations and social acceptance. Moreover, we assumed that the mediation of the relationship between self-compassion and positive relations and social acceptance by positive affect is moderated by the level of basic need satisfaction. Participants (N = 560) from the Netherlands and Belgium completed an online questionnaire about their level of self-compassion, basic need satisfaction, positive affect and positive relations and social acceptance. Using hierarchical regression analyses for moderated mediation analysis, results showed that self-compassion and positive affect had a significant positive effect on positive relations and social acceptance. Positive affect significantly mediated the relationship between self-compassion and positive relations and social acceptance, when basic need satisfaction was low, but not when basic need satisfaction was high. Our research showed that individuals need either their basic needs satisfied or self-compassion so they can build the high-quality relations needed to stimulate psychological safety. This finding shifts attention from the dyadic relationship to the individual and highlights important factors at the individual level which advance the development of high-quality relationships with others.
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5
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Abstract
Adequate pain management is one of the biggest challenges of the modern healthcare system. Physician perception of patient subjective pain, which is crucial to pain management, is susceptible to a host of potential biases. Here we explore the timing of physicians' work as a previously unrecognized source of systematic bias in pain management. We hypothesized that during night shifts, sleep deprivation, fatigue, and stress would reduce physicians' empathy for others' pain, leading to underprescription of analgesics for patient pain relief. In study 1, 67 resident physicians, either following a night shift or not, performed empathy for pain assessment tasks and simulated patient scenarios in laboratory conditions. As predicted, following a night shift, physicians showed reduced empathy for pain. In study 2, we explored this phenomenon in medical decisions in the field. We analyzed three emergency department datasets from Israel and the United States that included discharge notes of patients arriving with pain complaints during 2013 to 2020 (n = 13,482). Across all datasets, physicians were less likely to prescribe an analgesic during night shifts (compared to daytime shifts) and prescribed fewer analgesics than generally recommended by the World Health Organization. This effect remained significant after adjusting for patient, physician, type of complaint, and emergency department characteristics. Underprescription for pain during night shifts was particularly prominent for opioids. We conclude that night shift work is an important and previously unrecognized source of bias in pain management, likely stemming from impaired perception of pain. We consider the implications for hospitals and other organizations employing night shifts.
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6
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Guo XD, Wang Y, Chan RCK. Mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between schizotypy and empathy. Psych J 2022; 11:335-343. [PMID: 35437901 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.551] [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: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Schizotypy is a set of personality traits existing in the general population that represents vulnerability for developing psychosis. Previous studies have suggested that negative schizotypy correlates with empathy, but mixed results have been shown for positive schizotypy. The present study aimed to explore the potential mediating role of emotion regulation upon schizotypy and empathy. The valid sample consisted of 595 college students who completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Chapman Psychosis Proneness Scales. Pearson correlations between schizotypy, emotion regulation, and empathy were performed to build potential mediating models. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap analyses were used to examine the mediation effects of emotion regulation. Our results showed that negative schizotypy was correlated with both cognitive and affective empathy whereas positive schizotypy only correlated with the Fantasy and Personal Distress subscales after multiple comparisons corrections. The Cognitive Reappraisal subscale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was positively correlated with empathy whereas the Expressive Suppression subscale was negatively associated with affective empathy. More importantly, there was a significant mediating effect of cognitive reappraisal on the relationship between negative schizotypy and cognitive empathy. Our findings suggest that a higher level of negative schizotypy is associated with poorer cognitive and affective empathy, and cognitive reappraisal may mediate the effect of negative schizotypy on cognitive empathy. These findings highlight the optimal usage of cognitive reappraisal in social interactions, and may help to improve empathy, especially for individuals with a high level of negative schizotypy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Dong Guo
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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7
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Levi E, Fischer S, Fisher H, Admon R, Zilcha-Mano S. Patient and Therapist In-Session Cortisol as Predictor of Post-Session Patient Reported Affect. Brain Sci 2021; 11:1483. [PMID: 34827482 PMCID: PMC8615903 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11111483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The importance of the role of affect in psychotherapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) is well established, but the common use of self-reported measures may limit our understanding of its underlying mechanisms. A promising predictor of patient affect is the stress hormone cortisol. To date, no studies have studied in-session changes in cortisol in psychotherapy for MDD. We investigated whether an increase in patient cortisol over the course of a session correlated with higher negative and lower positive affect. Given previous findings on healthy individuals on the contagious nature of stress, an additional aim was to examine whether these relationships are moderated by therapist cortisol. To this end, 40 dyads (including 6 therapists) provided saliva samples before and after four pre-specified sessions (616 samples). After each session, the patients provided retrospective reports of in-session affect. We found no association between patient cortisol and affect. However, increases in patient cortisol predicted negative affect when the therapists exhibited decreases in cortisol, and increases in patient cortisol predicted positive affect when the therapists showed increases. Our study provides initial evidence for the importance of the social context in the cortisol-affect relationship in MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Levi
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; (E.L.); (H.F.); (R.A.)
| | - Susanne Fischer
- Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland;
| | - Hadar Fisher
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; (E.L.); (H.F.); (R.A.)
| | - Roee Admon
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; (E.L.); (H.F.); (R.A.)
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
| | - Sigal Zilcha-Mano
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel; (E.L.); (H.F.); (R.A.)
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8
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Azulay H, Guy N, Shalev I, Pertzov Y, Israel S. Social evaluation under stress: Does acute stress affect social attributions and eye gaze? COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY 2021; 8:100093. [PMID: 35757674 PMCID: PMC9216653 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Acute stress has been found to elicit pro-social, anti-social or null responses in humans. The causes for these contradicting findings are currently poorly understood, and may rise from subjects' characteristics, such as sex or hormonal status, as well as stimuli-based traits, such as group membership. In the current study, 120 subjects performed either the Trier Social Stress Test or a control (non-stress inducing) condition, followed by ranking displayed faces according to several attributes (e.g., trustworthiness, attractiveness, dominance). Participants' eye gaze was also tracked while viewing facial stimuli. We examined how acute stress interacts with participants' sex, female participants' hormonal status (hormonal contraceptives, early-follicular phase and mid-luteal phase), and the observed faces’ social group (ethnicity-based in-group or out-groups). In general, frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that acute stress exposure did not affect social attributions or gaze behavior, nor did it interact with subjects' sex or the group membership of the observed faces. Interestingly, sub-group analyses showed that in females, acute stress interacted with hormonal status to yield heterogenous anti-social effects, such as post-stress reductions in perceived trustworthiness in the early-follicular phase, and lower perceived attractiveness in the mid-luteal phase. Given the small sample sizes for the sub-groups, these results should be viewed as preliminary until further replicated. Our results highlight the necessity for large-scale studies, particularly in females, to further refine existing theories regarding the nature and contexts by which acute stress elicits changes in social cognition and behavior. Bayesian analysis showed that stress did not broadly affect social attributions. However, females' hormonal status may interact with stress to modulate attributions. Attributions were highly biased against out-group members, regardless of stress. Stress also did not influence patterns of eye gaze to faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hagar Azulay
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Truman Research Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Nitzan Guy
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Idan Shalev
- Department of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Yoni Pertzov
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Salomon Israel
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Scheinfeld Center of Human Genetics for the Social Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- Corresponding author. Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
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9
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Imagery of negative interpersonal experiences influence the neural mechanisms of social interaction. Neuropsychologia 2021; 160:107923. [PMID: 34175371 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Negative interpersonal experiences are a key contributor to psychiatric disorders. While previous research has shown that negative interpersonal experiences influence social cognition, less is known about the effects on participation in social interactions and the underlying neurobiology. To address this, we developed a new naturalistic version of a gaze-contingent paradigm using real video sequences of gaze behaviour that respond to the participants' gaze in real-time in order to create a believable and continuous interactive social situation. Additionally, participants listened to two autobiographical audio-scripts that guided them to imagine a recent stressful and a relaxing situation and performed the gaze-based social interaction task before and after the presentation of either the stressful or the relaxing audio-script. Our results demonstrate that the social interaction task robustly recruits brain areas with known involvement in social cognition, namely the medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporoparietal junction, superior temporal sulcus as well as the precuneus. Imagery of negative interpersonal experiences compared to relaxing imagery led to a prolonged change in affective state and to increased brain responses during the subsequent social interaction paradigm in the temporoparietal junction, medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and inferior frontal gyrus. Taken together this study presents a new naturalistic social interaction paradigm suitable to study the neural mechanisms of social interaction and the results demonstrate that the imagery of negative interpersonal experiences affects social interaction on neural levels.
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10
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von Dawans B, Strojny J, Domes G. The effects of acute stress and stress hormones on social cognition and behavior: Current state of research and future directions. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 121:75-88. [PMID: 33301780 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.11.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Stress encompasses profound psychological and physiological changes that are observable on all levels, from cellular mechanisms, humoral changes, and brain activation to subjective experience and behavior. While the impact of stress on health has already been studied for decades, a more recent field of research has revealed effects of stress on human social cognition and behavior. Initial studies have attempted to elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms of these stress-induced effects by measuring physiological responses or by using pharmacological approaches. We provide an overview of the current state of research on the effects of acute stress induction or pharmacological manipulations of stress-related neuro circuitry on social cognition and behavior. Additionally, we discuss the methodological challenges that need to be addressed in order to gain further insight into this important research topic and facilitate replicability of results. Future directions may help to disentangle the complex interplay of psychological and biological stress variables and their effects on social cognition and behavior on health and in disorders with social deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julia Strojny
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, Germany
| | - Gregor Domes
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, Germany.
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11
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Serbic D, Ferguson L, Nichols G, Smith M, Thomas G, Pincus T. The role of observer's fear of pain and health anxiety in empathy for pain: an experimental study. Br J Pain 2020; 14:74-81. [PMID: 32537145 DOI: 10.1177/2049463719842595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Empathy for pain is influenced by several factors, including observer beliefs. This study aimed to test the associations between empathy for pain, fear of pain and health anxiety. Methods A total of 182 participants rated their levels of empathy towards 16 images (8 female and 8 male) of individuals in pain and provided measures of fear of pain, health anxiety as well as age, sex and the presence of current pain. Findings Both fear of pain and health anxiety were positively associated with empathy for pain, but in the regression model, only fear of pain was a significant positive predictor of overall empathy for pain and its three subscales: affective distress, vicarious pain and empathic concern. The presence of pain also predicted overall empathy for pain, affective distress and vicarious pain.Observer's sex and age were not significant. The pattern of results remained the same when we repeated the analysis separately for images with males and females. Conclusion The results suggest that more fearful observers, and those in current pain themselves, have higher levels of empathy for pain. Future research should examine the mechanisms underlying this relationship and how fear of pain may influence empathic behaviours towards people in pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danijela Serbic
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Lucy Ferguson
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Georgina Nichols
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Michaela Smith
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Georgina Thomas
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Tamar Pincus
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
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12
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Nitschke JP, Sunahara CS, Carr EW, Winkielman P, Pruessner JC, Bartz JA. Stressed connections: cortisol levels following acute psychosocial stress disrupt affiliative mimicry in humans. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192941. [PMID: 32396799 PMCID: PMC7287352 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Mimicry, and especially spontaneous facial mimicry, is a rudimentary element of social-emotional experience that is well-conserved across numerous species. Although such mimicry is thought to be a relatively automatic process, research indicates that contextual factors can influence mimicry, especially in humans. Here, we extend this work by investigating the effect of acute psychosocial stress on spontaneous facial mimicry. Participants performed a spontaneous facial mimicry task with facial electromyography (fEMG) at baseline and approximately one month later, following an acute psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Results show that the magnitude of the endocrine stress response reduced zygomaticus major reactivity, and specifically spontaneous facial mimicry for positive social stimuli (i.e. smiles). Individuals with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol showed a more blunted fEMG response to smiles, but not to frowns. Conversely, stress had no effect on corrugator supercilii activation (i.e. frowning to frowns). These findings highlight the importance of the biological stress response system in this basic element of social-emotional experience.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Evan W. Carr
- Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, USA
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, USA
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jens C. Pruessner
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill Centre for Studies in Aging, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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13
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Cao Y, Dingle G, Chan GCK, Cunnington R. Low Mood Leads to Increased Empathic Distress at Seeing Others' Pain. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2024. [PMID: 29209256 PMCID: PMC5702010 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2017] [Accepted: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown changes in empathy in patients with depression, including an elevated level of trait personal distress. This study examined if low mood causes changes in self-reported empathic distress when seeing others in pain. To test this, we conducted an initial (n = 26) and close replication study (n = 46) in which sad mood was induced in healthy participants (overall mean age M = 21, SD = 5, range = 18–41 years). Participants viewed and rated video stimuli inferring pain experienced by other people. Results showed that participants perceived the videos depicting others’ pain (versus no-pain) to be more distressing under a sad mood compared to a neutral mood condition, implying that sadness enhances one’s emotional reactivity toward others’ distress. This supports previous depression literature suggesting an impaired emotional processing ability, and could contribute to some of the unhelpful behaviors seen in depression such as social withdrawal and avoidance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Cao
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Genevieve Dingle
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Gary C K Chan
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Ross Cunnington
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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14
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Tanaka Y, Nishi Y, Nishi Y, Osumi M, Morioka S. Uncovering the influence of social skills and psychosociological factors on pain sensitivity using structural equation modeling. J Pain Res 2017; 10:2223-2231. [PMID: 28979161 PMCID: PMC5602447 DOI: 10.2147/jpr.s143342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Pain is a subjective emotional experience that is influenced by psychosociological factors such as social skills, which are defined as problem-solving abilities in social interactions. This study aimed to reveal the relationships among pain, social skills, and other psychosociological factors by using structural equation modeling. A total of 101 healthy volunteers (41 men and 60 women; mean age: 36.6±12.7 years) participated in this study. To evoke participants’ sense of inner pain, we showed them images of painful scenes on a PC screen and asked them to evaluate the pain intensity by using the visual analog scale (VAS). We examined the correlation between social skills and VAS, constructed a hypothetical model based on results from previous studies and the current correlational analysis results, and verified the model’s fit using structural equation modeling. We found significant positive correlations between VAS and total social skills values, as well as between VAS and the “start of relationships” subscales. Structural equation modeling revealed that the values for “start of relationships” had a direct effect on VAS values (path coefficient =0.32, p<0.01). In addition, the “start of relationships” had both a direct and an indirect effect on psychological factors via social support. The results indicated that extroverted people are more sensitive to inner pain and tend to get more social support and maintain a better psychological condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoichi Tanaka
- Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University.,Department of Rehabilitation, Nara Prefecture General Rehabilitation Center
| | - Yuki Nishi
- Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University
| | - Yuki Nishi
- Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University
| | - Michihiro Osumi
- Department of Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, Nara, Japan
| | - Shu Morioka
- Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University.,Department of Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, Nara, Japan
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15
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Grimm S, Wirth K, Fan Y, Weigand A, Gärtner M, Feeser M, Dziobek I, Bajbouj M, Aust S. The interaction of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor gene and early life stress on emotional empathy. Behav Brain Res 2017; 329:180-185. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.04.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2017] [Revised: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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16
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Raine A, Chen FR. The Cognitive, Affective, and Somatic Empathy Scales (CASES) for Children. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 47:24-37. [DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2017.1295383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Raine
- Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Frances R. Chen
- Departments of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State University
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17
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Gonzalez-Liencres C, Breidenstein A, Wolf OT, Brüne M. Sex-dependent effects of stress on brain correlates to empathy for pain. Int J Psychophysiol 2016; 105:47-56. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2015] [Revised: 04/27/2016] [Accepted: 04/30/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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18
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Higuchi Y, Uchitomi Y, Fujimori M, Koyama T, Kataoka H, Kitamura Y, Sendo T, Inagaki M. Exploring autistic-like traits relating to empathic attitude and psychological distress in hospital pharmacists. Int J Clin Pharm 2015; 37:1258-1266. [PMID: 26441314 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-11015-10204-11092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/21/2015] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pharmacists are expected to play a key role in modern cancer care. Research suggests that an empathic approach and attitude in medical staff improves the quality of patient care. An empathic attitude and psychological distress are thought to be associated with autistic-like traits, but little is known about such traits. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to clarify the associations among autistic-like traits, empathic attitude in a medical context, and psychological health in hospital pharmacists. SETTING Eligibility criteria for inclusion were certified pharmacists working at hospitals for patient care who returned their questionnaires. METHOD Eight hundred and twenty-three hospital pharmacists completed a number of self-administered questionnaires anonymously by mail. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Scores were obtained on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Perspective Taking, IRI-Empathic Concern, IRIPersonal Distress). We performed correlation and mediation analyses to confirm that the empathy and general health questionnaires were associated with autism-spectrum quotient scores, and with each IRI subscale. RESULTS Complete responses were obtained from 379 pharmacists comprising 151 males (39.8 %) with a mean age of 37.7 ± 10.8 years (missing data, n = 13) and a median of 11 years after qualification as a pharmacist. Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores were inversely correlated with empathy (r = -0.22, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with general health scores (r = 0.40, p < 0.001). In the models with mediation, the inverse correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and empathy scores was mediated indirectly by IRI-Perspective Taking and IRI-Empathic Concern, and the positive correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and general health was mediated indirectly by IRI-Personal Distress. There were also direct effects, with significant effects of autism-spectrum quotient on empathy and general health scores. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that autistic-like traits affect both empathic attitude in a medical context and the psychological health of pharmacists. We recommend that to improve empathy in those with high levels of autistic-like traits, we may need to develop specialized interventions, such as improving communication skills training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuji Higuchi
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | - Yosuke Uchitomi
- Innovation Center for Supportive, Palliative and Psychosocial Care, National Cancer Center, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Maiko Fujimori
- Center for Suicide Prevention, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Toshihiro Koyama
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | - Hitomi Kataoka
- Department of Primary Care and Medical Education, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | - Yoshihisa Kitamura
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | - Toshiaki Sendo
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | - Masatoshi Inagaki
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Hospital, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan.
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19
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Exploring autistic-like traits relating to empathic attitude and psychological distress in hospital pharmacists. Int J Clin Pharm 2015; 37:1258-66. [PMID: 26441314 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-015-0204-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/21/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pharmacists are expected to play a key role in modern cancer care. Research suggests that an empathic approach and attitude in medical staff improves the quality of patient care. An empathic attitude and psychological distress are thought to be associated with autistic-like traits, but little is known about such traits. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to clarify the associations among autistic-like traits, empathic attitude in a medical context, and psychological health in hospital pharmacists. SETTING Eligibility criteria for inclusion were certified pharmacists working at hospitals for patient care who returned their questionnaires. METHOD Eight hundred and twenty-three hospital pharmacists completed a number of self-administered questionnaires anonymously by mail. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Scores were obtained on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Perspective Taking, IRI-Empathic Concern, IRIPersonal Distress). We performed correlation and mediation analyses to confirm that the empathy and general health questionnaires were associated with autism-spectrum quotient scores, and with each IRI subscale. RESULTS Complete responses were obtained from 379 pharmacists comprising 151 males (39.8 %) with a mean age of 37.7 ± 10.8 years (missing data, n = 13) and a median of 11 years after qualification as a pharmacist. Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores were inversely correlated with empathy (r = -0.22, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with general health scores (r = 0.40, p < 0.001). In the models with mediation, the inverse correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and empathy scores was mediated indirectly by IRI-Perspective Taking and IRI-Empathic Concern, and the positive correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and general health was mediated indirectly by IRI-Personal Distress. There were also direct effects, with significant effects of autism-spectrum quotient on empathy and general health scores. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that autistic-like traits affect both empathic attitude in a medical context and the psychological health of pharmacists. We recommend that to improve empathy in those with high levels of autistic-like traits, we may need to develop specialized interventions, such as improving communication skills training.
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20
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Himichi T, Fujita H, Nomura M. Negative emotions impact lateral prefrontal cortex activation during theory of mind: An fNIRS study. Soc Neurosci 2015; 10:605-15. [PMID: 25774970 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1017112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) plays a critical role in inhibiting self-perspective information, which is necessary for theory of mind (ToM) processing. Additionally, previous research has indicated that negative emotions interfere with lPFC activation during executive tasks. In this study, we hypothesized that negative emotions would inhibit lPFC activation during a ToM task. While female participants performed the director task following the observation of emotionally laden movies (neutral/negative/positive), their prefrontal hemodynamic activity was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy. After viewing the neutral movie, bilateral lPFC activity was significantly enhanced during ToM process compared to the control condition. In contrast, after viewing the negative movie, left lPFC activity during ToM process was significantly impaired. These results were interpreted to support the idea that negative emotions interfere with inhibition of self-perspective information through inactivation of the lPFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toshiyuki Himichi
- a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan.,b Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences , Tokyo , Japan
| | - Hiroyo Fujita
- a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan
| | - Michio Nomura
- a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan
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21
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Martin L, Hathaway G, Isbester K, Mirali S, Acland E, Niederstrasser N, Slepian P, Trost Z, Bartz J, Sapolsky R, Sternberg W, Levitin D, Mogil J. Reducing Social Stress Elicits Emotional Contagion of Pain in Mouse and Human Strangers. Curr Biol 2015; 25:326-332. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2014] [Revised: 10/27/2014] [Accepted: 11/11/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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22
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Wolf OT, Schulte JM, Drimalla H, Hamacher-Dang TC, Knoch D, Dziobek I. Enhanced emotional empathy after psychosocial stress in young healthy men. Stress 2015; 18:631-7. [PMID: 26365125 DOI: 10.3109/10253890.2015.1078787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy is a core prerequisite for human social behavior. Relatively, little is known about how empathy is influenced by social stress and its associated neuroendocrine alterations. The current study was designed to test the impact of acute stress on emotional and cognitive empathy. Healthy male participants were exposed to a psychosocial laboratory stressor (trier social stress test, (TSST)) or a well-matched control condition (Placebo-TSST). Afterwards they participated in an empathy test measuring emotional and cognitive empathy (multifaceted empathy test, (MET)). Stress exposure caused an increase in negative affect, a rise in salivary alpha amylase and a rise in cortisol. Participants exposed to stress reported more emotional empathy in response to pictures displaying both positive and negative emotional social scenes. Cognitive empathy (emotion recognition) in contrast did not differ between the stress and the control group. The current findings provide initial evidence for enhanced emotional empathy after acute psychosocial stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver T Wolf
- a Department of Cognitive Psychology , Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum , Germany
| | - Judith M Schulte
- a Department of Cognitive Psychology , Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum , Germany
| | - Hanna Drimalla
- b Department of Social Cognition , Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany , and
| | - Tanja C Hamacher-Dang
- b Department of Social Cognition , Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany , and
| | - Daria Knoch
- c Social Psychology and Social Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern , Switzerland
| | - Isabel Dziobek
- b Department of Social Cognition , Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany , and
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