Implicações da empatia nas funções executivas dos estudantes com problemas de coexistência escolar

Abstract

Introduction: executive functions are the set of cognitive skills necessary to control and self-regulate behavior, and empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what others feel. Both variables interact with each other to regulate aggressive behaviors, thus low levels of empathy and poor performance in executive functions have been associated with different difficulties in school coexistence, including bullying. Objective: this study examined therole of empathy and executive functions in a population of students between 12-17 years old, belonging to a private educational institution in the municipality of Bello, Antioquia. Methodology: the research was descriptive and cross-sectional in scope. Questionnaires on school coexistence, prosocial behavior, and instruments to assess executive functions such as the TMT part B, the Stroop and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were applied. Results: it was evidenced that there is an association between low empathy and deficiencies in the performance of executive functions, and a relationship between adequate levels ofempathy and good performance in executive functions, in the sample of students evaluated. Conclusions: a high level of empathy in prosocial students is related to better executive processing in selective attention, conflict resolution, and inhibitory control.