Empathic Behavior Research Articles

Is Positive Communication Sufficient to Modulate Procedural Pain and Anxiety in the Emergency Department? A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Research suggests that therapeutic communication could enhance patient comfort during medical procedures. Few studies have been conducted in clinical settings, with adequate blinding. Our hypothesis was that a positive message could lead to analgesia and anxiolysis, and that this effect would be enhanced by an empathetic interaction with the nurse performing the procedure, compared with an audio-taped message. This study aimed to modulate the contents and delivery vector of a message regarding peripheral intravenous catheter (PIC) placement in the emergency department (ED). This study was a 2 + 2 randomized controlled trial registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03502655). A positive versus standard message was delivered through audio tape (double-blind) in the first phase ( N = 131) and through the nurse placing the catheter (single-blind) in the second phase ( N = 120). By design, low practitioner empathic behavior was observed in the first phase (median, 1 of 5 points). In the second phase, higher empathic behavior was observed in the positive than in the standard message (median, 2 versus 3, p < .001). Contrary to our hypothesis, the intervention did not affect pain or anxiety reports due to PIC placement in either phase (all p values > .2). The positive communication intervention did not impact pain or anxiety reports after PIC. There might have been a floor effect, with low PIC pain ratings in a context of moderate pain due to the presenting condition. Hence, such a therapeutic communication intervention might not be sufficient to modulate a mild procedural pain in the ED.

Analisis systematic literature review penguatan pendidik Islam dalam perspektif tafsir, fiqh, dan ilmu sosial prophetic

A The approaches of interpretation, fiqih, and prophetic social science can be used to strengthen the quality of Islamic education in educational institutions. Research aims to find out about the strengthening of Islamic educators from the perspectives of Tetris, fiqih, and social science. The research method uses a systematic literature review study. There are 20 articles that meet the quality assessment of 18. 975 with an article-shaped document type. Researchers are using the Dimensions database as a data source. Data analysis uses Nvivo software to obtain more accurate data. Some of the themes discussed based on Nvivo's analysis include increasing understanding of Islamic teachings, increasing critical thinking ability, strengthening students' Islamic identity, increasing the application of Islamic values, and increasing educators' confidence in teaching about Islam. Improving educators' understanding of Islamic teachings, strengthening educators' ability to interpret the Quran and Hadith, and enhancing educators' ability to integrate Islamic values into teaching, more caring and empathic behavior, more critical and analytical understanding, more open and inclusive attitudes, and more creative and interactive teaching. Research results suggest that Islamic educators have a very important role in developing Islamic education in educational institutions. To provide quality instruction, Islamic educators must have a good understanding of the interpretation of the Qur'an, fiqih, and social science. Through this understanding, Islamic educators will be able to provide proper instruction and be relevant to the context of students' lives.

Autism-associated gene shank3 is necessary for social contagion in zebrafish

BackgroundAnimal models enable targeting autism-associated genes, such as the shank3 gene, to assess their impact on behavioural phenotypes. However, this is often limited to simple behaviours relevant for social interaction. Social contagion is a complex phenotype forming the basis of human empathic behaviour and involves attention to the behaviour of others for recognizing and sharing their emotional or affective state. Thus, it is a form of social communication, which constitutes the most common developmental impairment across autism spectrum disorders (ASD).MethodsHere we describe the development of a zebrafish model that identifies the neurocognitive mechanisms by which shank3 mutation drives deficits in social contagion. We used a CRISPR-Cas9 technique to generate mutations to the shank3a gene, a zebrafish paralogue found to present greater orthology and functional conservation relative to the human gene. Mutants were first compared to wild types during a two-phase protocol that involves the observation of two conflicting states, distress and neutral, and the later recall and discrimination of others when no longer presenting such differences. Then, the whole-brain expression of different neuroplasticity markers was compared between genotypes and their contribution to cluster-specific phenotypic variation was assessed.ResultsThe shank3 mutation markedly reduced social contagion via deficits in attention contributing to difficulties in recognising affective states. Also, the mutation changed the expression of neuronal plasticity genes. However, only downregulated neuroligins clustered with shank3a expression under a combined synaptogenesis component that contributed specifically to variation in attention.LimitationsWhile zebrafish are extremely useful in identifying the role of shank3 mutations to composite social behaviour, they are unlikely to represent the full complexity of socio-cognitive and communication deficits presented by human ASD pathology. Moreover, zebrafish cannot represent the scaling up of these deficits to higher-order empathic and prosocial phenotypes seen in humans.ConclusionsWe demonstrate a causal link between the zebrafish orthologue of an ASD-associated gene and the attentional control of affect recognition and consequent social contagion. This models autistic affect-communication pathology in zebrafish and reveals a genetic attention-deficit mechanism, addressing the ongoing debate for such mechanisms accounting for emotion recognition difficulties in autistic individuals.

Assessment of Empathic Ability and Factors Affecting Empathetic Behavior Regarding Care of Patients with Mental Illness Among Staff Nurses Working in the Selected Government Psychiatric Hospitals, Kolkata

A descriptive study was carried out to assess the empathic ability and factors affecting empathetic behavior regarding care of patients with mental illness among staff nurses working in the selected Government psychiatric hospitals, Kolkata. Health Belief Model of Rosenstoch and Becker (1975) were adopted as a conceptual framework. 96 staff nurses were selected by convenience sampling from Pavlov Mental Hospital, Kolakata-46 and Lumbini Park Mental Hospital, Kolkata-39. Paper/pencil test was used for data collection. The study findings based on descriptive and inferential statistical revealed that male staff nurses had high empathic ability than female staff nurses (M = 20%, F = 16%) and factors affecting empathetic behavior revealed that 53% had high level emotional exhaustion, 53 % had high level of depersonalization and 4% high level personal accomplishment. Calculated ‘r’ for empathic ability with depersonalization is 0.232 and the related ‘t’ values of is 2.29 at df (95); which is significantly associated. There were significant associations between level of empathic ability and type of family (10.8527) and number of family members (14.2415) at df (1)/&lt;0.05 level. Recommendations for future studies are large sample size, replicated with professional and paramedical staff, on specific age groups of student nurses and staff nurses, in different settings. Keywords: Empathic ability and Factors affecting empathic behavior

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.

Lay Perspectives on Empathy in Patient-Physician Communication: An Online Experimental Study

ABSTRACT Research indicates that patients consider empathy as a key factor contributing to the quality-of-care. However, ambiguities in the definition of this multidimensional construct complicate definite conclusions to-date. Addressing the challenges in the literature, and using a hypothetical physician-patient interaction which explored patient-perceived differences between expressions of affective empathy, cognitive empathy, compassion and no empathy, this study aimed to test whether lay participants’ evaluations of the quality-of-care depend on the type of empathic physician behavior, and on the physician’s gender. We conducted a randomized web-based experiment using a 4 (type of empathy) by 2 (physician gender) between-subjects design. Empathy was subdivided into three concepts: first, affective empathy (i.e. feeling with someone); second, cognitive empathy (i.e. understanding); and third, compassion (i.e. feeling for someone and offering support). Perceived quality-of-care was the primary outcome. Compared with non-empathic interactions, quality-of-care was rated higher when physicians reacted cognitively empathic or compassionate (d = 0.71; 0.43 to 1.00 and d = 0.68; 0.38 to 0.98). No significant difference was found between affective empathy and no empathy (d = 0.13; −0.14 to 0.42). The physician’s gender was not related with quality-of-care. Aspects of participants’ personality but not their age, gender or the number of physician visits were associated with quality-of-care. No interactions were observed. In showing that patients rated quality-of-care higher when physician reactions were described as cognitively empathic and compassionate, as compared with affectively empathic or non-empathic, our findings refine views about the kinds of empathy that are important in patient care with implications for clinical practice, education and communication trainings.

The mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship of professional quality of life with caring behaviors in pediatric nurses: A path analysis

ABSTRACT Pediatric nurses are key members in providing health care to children. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in healthcare and healthcare education, and higher emotional intelligence is associated with more compassionate and empathetic patient care, higher knowledge and skills, and better teamwork. This research is a predictive correlation study which was conducted in 2022 on 236 nurses working in pediatric wards. In this study, SPSS22 and AMOS26 and path analysis statistical method were used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that the professional quality of life with caring behaviors in nurses working in pediatric ward (β = 0.339, p < .001) and the professional quality of life with emotional intelligence in nurses working in pediatric ward (β = 0.175 , p = .002) and emotional intelligence correlated with care behaviors in nurses working in the pediatric ward (β = 0.306, p = .001). The ability to explain the final model is 18%. The results of this study showed that having a higher professional quality of life in pediatric nurses, in addition to being effective on the mental health of nurses, can also affect caring behaviors. Pediatric nurses with a higher level of compassion satisfaction and less burnout can have empathic behaviors and more effective communication with the child and its parents as a whole unit of care and provide more humanistic care that is required to care for a sick child.

How to communicate with patients in written asynchronous online conversations: an intervention study with undergraduate medical students in a cross-over design.

The patient-physician encounter is the core element in the treatment of patients and the diagnosis of disease. In these times of digitalization, patient-physician communication is increasingly taking place online: patients embrace new possibilities offered digitally, and physicians are encouraged to adapt accordingly. Since a huge part of online communication is written, this study aims to investigate how medical students communicate with patients online by focusing on their written competencies and whether an intervention might improve their competencies. This study was performed in an explanatory cross-sectional manner with a cross-over design. Second-year medical students participated. An intervention was developed on how to formulate an appropriate written response to a patient's request and integrated a longitudinal communication class. The intervention consists of education on general set-up (e.g., greetings), syntax, spelling, content and kind of communication (e.g., appreciative attitude). After meeting a patient in a simulated role play medical students received the patient's request via a digital platform. The control group had the same simulated role play and the same task but they received the intervention on communication afterwards. Intervention and control group were statistically compared based on a checklist. Twenty-nine medical students took part in the study. The results showed that the medical students had basic competencies in dealing with written communication independent if they received the intervention (CG: M = 3.86 ± 1.23 vs. IG: M = 4.07 ± 1.03; p = 0.625). Similar results were also for the emotional competency ratings (MCG = 3.36 ± 1.08; MIG = 3.67 ± 0.98; p = 0.425).The intervention was able to lead to a more appreciative response toward patient. Intervention on basic competencies such as simple language and clear presentation might not be needed as an integral part in medical education. However, medical students should learn how to present empathic and authentic behavior in written online communication.

Towards the Challenges of Cross-Cultural Research: Experience on COVID-19 Project

Anthropologists and psychologists engaged in cross-cultural research face numerous methodological challenges. These studies aim to identify universal behavioral traits across all populations on Earth, as well as culturally specific features. This article attempts to describe and comprehend the main problems that researchers encounter while carrying out such projects, using specific examples from the author’s field practice. The primary example is data from a large-scale cross-cultural project that studied anxious, aggressive, and empathic behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in 23 countries worldwide. Existing experience in cross-cultural research demonstrates how various terms and concepts transform under the influence of globalization processes. On the one hand, cultural boundaries become less defined, while on the other hand, the desire for self-identity strengthens. Familiar biological and social constructs such as sex or marital status are modified and require new understanding and analysis. Thanks to the methods of social anthropology and the anthropological approach to humans as biosocial beings, the data obtained can be interpreted, taking into account the cultural specifics and behavioral norms of each society.

Effect of Different Listening Behaviors of Social Robots on Perceived Trust in Human-robot Interactions

With the increased use of social robots in prominence and beyond functional performance, they are expected to foster trust and confidence in people. Various factors involve providing social robots with more trustworthy behavior. This study investigated whether the listening behavior of a social robot can affect the perception of being trustworthy in human–robot interaction. Therefore, we designed four different listening behaviors, including nonactive listening, active listening, active empathic listening, and verbal-only empathic listening, for a social robot and evaluated the impact of each behavior on the participants’ likelihood of trusting the robot, using a between-subject design. Participants in the four conditions conversed with a robot that simulated one of the listening behaviors, and their general, cognitive and affective trust toward the robot was measured. The results indicated that active empathic listening behavior provided the participants with the highest impression of trustworthiness, specifically in affective trust. Both active listening and active empathic listening were evaluated higher than nonactive listening in general, affective, and cognitive trust. However, active empathic listening behavior was differentiated from active listening behavior only in terms of affective trust. For verbal and nonverbal dimensions of listening behaviors, it was confirmed that nonverbal behaviors such as nodding, body movement, and eye gaze along with verbal behaviors, had a significant effect in eliciting higher affective trust in human-robot interaction. Consequently, we concluded that designing social robots with active (empathic) listening behavior can enhance trust perception in human-robot interaction in different fields such as education, healthcare, and business.

The “zipper model of empathy” applied to violence in schizophrenia: A search for social cognitive underpinnings of lack of empathic behavior

BackgroundThe “zipper model of empathy” has been proposed for psychopathy. It postulates that empathic behavior may fail to arise due to impaired facial emotion recognition. In this study, we examined if the model may be of relevance for schizophrenia. MethodsIn a sample of participants with schizophrenia and a history of severe interpersonal violence, associations between measures of social cognition (emotion recognition, theory of mind) and aspects of psychopathy (lack of empathy, lack of remorse) were investigated. A non-violent sample experiencing schizophrenia served as a control group. ResultsCorrelation analyses revealed a specific and statistically significant association between facial emotion recognition and lack of empathy in the violent sample. Follow-up analyses identified that neutral emotions were of particular importance. Logistic regression analyses confirmed that impairments in facial emotion recognition predicted levels of empathy in the violent sample experiencing schizophrenia. ConclusionsOur results suggest that the “zipper model of empathy” may be relevant for schizophrenia. The findings further point to the potential benefit of including social cognitive training in the treatment of persons with schizophrenia and a history of interpersonal aggression.

Pre-coronavirus disease 2019 brain structure might be associated with social anxiety alterations during the pandemic.

Pre-coronavirus disease 2019 brain structure might be associated with social anxiety alterations during the pandemic.

Family Functioning as an Explanatory Factor of Empathic Behavior in Argentine Medical Students.

Ex post facto design: 306 Argentine medical students who had already taken the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Spanish Edition (JSE-S) and the abbreviated Spanish Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-20). A gender-weighted linear regression analysis was made, establishing an ANOVA and multiple comparisons via DMS to determine the effect of functional and dysfunctional families' balanced, intermediate and extreme functioning styles concerning empathy. Students who presented dysfunction in familial cohesion and adaptability showed measures of empathy greater than those classified as functional. Differences of cohesion were statistically significant in compassionate care, perspective taking and general empathy. These components were significantly higher in students from families classified as extreme than balanced ones. Students classified within families with either extreme or dysfunctional styles showed greater levels of empathy than more adaptive and functional ones, except in the 'walking in patient's shoes' component where differences were not observed. Individual resilience as an intervening variable in the presence of empathy is discussed. The study of empathy, its associated variables, and the conditions of its development remains a central theme in relation to students and professionals of the health sciences. To achieve an effective professional practice, it is necessary to develop human capacities such as empathy and personal resilience.

Empathic capacity - fundamental component of the relationship structure

The article reflects of theoretical aspects regarding empathic capacity as a fundamental component of the relational structure. In fact, empathic behavior is a characteristic of the interpersonal relationship, being dependent on the level of manifestation of this personality trait. Recognized as a general aptitude, existing within any relational behavior of the individual, it has been demonstrated that it can also become a special aptitude, indispensable for the exercise of certain professions, and can even be structured in the form of an empathic personality style.

Evolutionarily conserved role of oxytocin in social fear contagion in zebrafish.

Emotional contagion is the most ancestral form of empathy. We tested to what extent the proximate mechanisms of emotional contagion are evolutionarily conserved by assessing the role of oxytocin, known to regulate empathic behaviors in mammals, in social fear contagion in zebrafish. Using oxytocin and oxytocin receptor mutants, we show that oxytocin is both necessary and sufficient for observer zebrafish to imitate the distressed behavior of conspecific demonstrators. The brain regions associated with emotional contagion in zebrafish are homologous to those involved in the same process in rodents (e.g., striatum, lateral septum), receiving direct projections from oxytocinergic neurons located in the pre-optic area. Together, our results support an evolutionary conserved role for oxytocin as a key regulator of basic empathic behaviors across vertebrates.

Neural mechanisms of social empathy in the anterior cingulate cortex

Empathy is a prosocial behavior that perceives the emotional state of others, expresses similar perceptions that match those of others, and mediates different social behaviors. Empathic behaviors for pain and fear also exist in primates and rodents. In the past decades, the neural mechanisms of empathy have been defined as a result of various sensations and perceptions, such as visual and hearing stimuli, which cause mirror activations in brain regions, such as the insular, the inferior frontal, and the medial frontal cortices, among which the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been identified as a core region of the neural network that is associated with the empathic activity in mammals. Most studies on the neural mechanisms underlying empathy have been based on rodent models, which allowed for single-cell resolution mapping of neuronal activity; moreover, the application of optogenetic techniques in rodent models has led to a deeper delineation of neural circuits. Here, we review the role of the ACC in two behavioral paradigms, pain and fear empathy, in rodents at the neuronal and neural circuit levels. Understanding how the ACC mediates empathic behavior in the brain will provide new targets in the treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by empathic disorders.

The typical and atypical development of empathy: How big is the gap from lab to field?

Empathy-understanding and sharing someone else's feelings-is crucial for social bonds. Studies on empathy development are limited and mainly performed with behavioural assessments. This is in contrast to the extensive literature on cognitive and affective empathy in adults. However, understanding the mechanisms behind empathy development is critical to developing early interventions to support children with limited empathy. This is particularly key in toddlerhood, as children transition from highly scaffolded interactions with their parents and towards interactions with their peers. However, we know little about toddlers' empathy, in part due to the methodological constraints of testing this population in traditional lab settings. Here, we combine naturalistic observations with a targeted review of the literature to provide an assessment of our current understanding of the development of empathy in toddlerhood as it is expressed in real-world settings. We went into toddlers' typical habitat, a nursery, and we performed 21h of naturalistic observations of 2-to-4-year-olds. We then reviewed the literature to evaluate our current understanding of the mechanisms that underpin observed behaviours. We observed that (i) emotional contagion, possibly a primitive form of empathy, was observed at the nursery, but rarely; (ii) older toddlers often stared when someone cried, but there was no clear evidence of shared feelings; (iii) teacher and parent scaffolding might be paramount for empathy development; (iv) as some atypical empathic reactions can be observed from toddlerhood, early interventions could be developed. Several competing theoretical frameworks could account for current findings. Targeted studies of toddlers and their interaction partners in both controlled and naturalistic contexts are required to distinguish different mechanistic explanations for empathic behaviour in toddlerhood. We recommend the use of new cutting-edge methodologies to embed neurocognitively-informed frameworks into toddlers' natural social world.

Prediction of Emotional Empathy in Intelligent Agents to Facilitate Precise Social Interaction

The research area falls under the umbrella of affective computing and seeks to introduce intelligent agents by simulating emotions artificially and encouraging empathetic behavior in them, to foster emotional empathy in intelligent agents with the overarching objective of improving their autonomy. Raising the emotional empathy of intelligent agents to boost their autonomic behavior can increase their independence and adaptability in a socially dynamic context. As emotional intelligence is a subset of social intelligence, it is essential for successful social interaction and relationships. The purpose of this research is to develop an embedded method for analyzing empathic behavior in a socially dynamic situation. A model is proposed for inducing emotional intelligence through a deep learning technique, employing multimodal emotional cues, and triggering appropriate empathetic responses as output. There are 18 categories of emotional behavior, and each one is strongly influenced by multimodal cues such as voice, facial, and other sensory inputs. Due to the changing social context, it is difficult to classify emotional behavior and make predictions based on modest changes in multimodal cues. Robust approaches must be used to be sensitive to these minor changes. Because a one-dimensional convolutional neural network takes advantage of feature localization to minimize the parameters, it is more efficient in this exploration. The study’s findings indicate that the proposed method outperforms other popular ML approaches with a maximum accuracy level of 98.98 percent when compared to currently used methods.

How Parental Support Affects Latina Girls During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract. The current study focuses on a sample of low- to middle-income school-age Latina girls and their parents and examines how children’s distress proneness interacts with parental empathic accuracy and posttraumatic growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to predict children’s empathy and prosocial behavior toward unknown others. Approximately 2–3 months into state-mandated stay-at-home orders, 55 parent–daughter dyads were recruited to participate in this four-session longitudinal study. To assess distress proneness, daughters (ages 8–13 years, 100% Latina) identified their degree of distress in response to pandemic-related stressors. Concurrently, their parents reported how they thought their children would respond to these same pandemic-related stressors, which assessed parental empathic accuracy. Parents also completed an adapted version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, which assessed perceived positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon study completion, a behavioral measure of children’s empathic and prosocial behaviors was collected. Parental empathic accuracy interacted with children’s distress proneness to positively predict children’s affective empathy, such that children’s distress proneness predicted affective empathy at high and mean, but not low, levels of parental empathic accuracy. In a separate analysis, parental posttraumatic growth interacted with children’s distress proneness to positively predict children’s altruistic sharing behavior, such that children’s distress proneness predicted altruistic sharing behavior only at high, but not mean or low, levels of parental posttraumatic growth. The results of this study highlight how positive parental socialization and understanding of children’s tendencies toward distress are associated with children’s empathic and prosocial behaviors, particularly during major global crises.

Oxytocin-Receptor Gene Modulates Reward-Network Connection and Relationship with Empathy Performance.

Empathy traits are highly heritable and linked with reward processing. It is implicated that common variations of the oxytocin-receptor gene (OXTR) play a modulatory effect on empathic performance. However, it is unclear about the neural substrates underlying the modulatory effect of the OXTR genotype on empathic performance. This study aimed to characterize the modulatory effect of common OXTR variations on reward-circuitry function and its relationship with empathy. Based on the seed of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc; a key hub of reward circuitry), we examined differences in spontaneous local activity and functional connectivity between OXTR rs2268493 genotype groups and their relationship with empathic performance among 402 high-homogeneity participants. Comparing with C carriers (CC/CT) group, the individuals with the rs2268493 TT genotype exhibited lower functional connectivity of the right NAcc with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus. Similarly lower functional connectivity was found between the left NAcc and mPFC. Consequently, no significant difference was found in the spontaneous local activity of NAcc. Our findings suggested that common OXTR variations have a modulatory effect on the connection of the NAcc with the hub of empathic networks (mPFC and IFG), which may provide insight on the neural substrate underlying the modulatory effect of OXTR on empathic behavior.