Abstract
Traditionally, empathy has been described as a process by which an individual “tries on” the negative emotion of others (i. e., empathic concern). A corpus of empirical work has been devoted to the study of this particular form of empathy. However, in this paper, the heterogeneity model of empathy is proposed as a method for counteracting the lack of attention paid to “positive-valence empathy”—our ability to respond to the negative and positive emotion of others with appropriate positive affect. Both empathic concern and positive-valence empathy are argued to have distinguishable behavioral manifestations and at least partially distinguishable neurobiological underpinnings. The potential value of positive-valence empathy induction for therapeutic purposes is also discussed.
Highlights
Empathy has been described as a process by which an individual “tries on” the negative emotion of others (i. e., empathic concern)
The results indicate that the “joy of giving” has an anatomical basis in the brain—the same one that exists for other types of reward—and can be found in the ventral striatum [36]
The proposed “heterogeneity of empathy” model is based on preliminary work that indicates that increased empathy predicts increased positive emotionality [5]; and positive affect is associated with many desirable outcomes, such as problem solving, well-being, longevity, and reduced likelihood of dementia
Summary
The so-called “empathy circuit,” which tends to include the anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula most prominently, is often described in the literature regarding the experience of empathy for physical pain [e.g., [23]]. The results from a separate behavioral study involving children under the age of 2-yearsold provide evidence that young children experience greater happiness when giving treats to others rather than receiving treats themselves [45], further supporting the role of positive emotion in empathy. There is likely a bi-directional route by which the lateral aspect of the prefrontal cortex is involved in processing the initial affective signal generated by the amygdala (i.e., which carries information about the emotional state of the target) as proposed by Decety [47], and plays a role in generating the first kernels of the other-oriented feeling of goodwill in the empathizer, a form of positive affect, that may get elaborated by prefrontal cortex. It is hypothesized that the prefrontal cortex is largely responsible for the higher order feeling of goodwill that is central to the proposed model of empathy, though subcortical structures likely contribute too, such as the nucleus accumbens, which is involved in reward
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
