Empathic Capacity Research Articles

Cognitive, Affective, and General Empathy in Individuals Convicted of a Sexual Offense: A Meta-Analysis.

Empathy has an important role in promoting proper societal functions. Those who violate societal functions, such as those convicted of having committed a criminal offense, are theorized to possess deficits in their empathic capacity. This assumption has been adopted by many criminological models, including for individuals convicted of a sexual offense (ICSO). However, contradictory research results have resulted in conflicting theories regarding the level of empathy within ICSO. This meta-analysis compiled available data to provide empirical clarity in a divided theoretical field. Results of the meta-analysis indicate that ICSO have lower levels of cognitive (Hedges's g = -.303, p = .007) and general empathy (Hedges's g = -.188, p = .020) than those in the general population but do not have significantly lower levels of affective empathy (Hedges's g = .023, p = .849). Several moderator analyses were conducted, including type of sexual offense, assessment instrument used, and age at conviction.

Chronic trauma impairs the neural basis of empathy in mothers: Relations to parenting and children’s empathic abilities

Early life stress carries long-term negative consequences for children's well-being and maturation of the social brain. Here, we utilize a unique cohort to test its effects on mothers' social brain, targeting mothers' neural empathic response in relation to caregiving and child empathic abilities. Mother-child dyads living in a zone of repeated war-related trauma were followed from early childhood and mother-child behavioral synchrony was repeatedly observed. At pre-adolescence(11–13 years) children's empathic abilities were assessed and mothers(N = 88, N = 44 war-exposed) underwent magnetoencephalography(MEG) while exposed to vicarious pain. All mothers showed alpha suppression in sensorimotor regions, indicating automatic response to others' pain. However, trauma-exposed mothers did not exhibit gamma oscillations in viceromotor cortex, a neural marker of mature empathy which utilizes interoceptive mechanisms for higher-order understanding and does not emerge before adulthood. Mother-child synchrony across the first decade predicted mothers' viceromotor gamma, and both synchrony and maternal viceromotor gamma mediated the relations between war-exposure and child empathic abilities, possibly charting a cross-generational pathway from mothers' mature neural empathy to children's empathic capacities. Our findings are first to probe the maternal social brain in adolescence in relation to parenting and underscore the need for targeted interventions to mothers raising children in contexts of chronic stress.

Relationships among social support, empathy, resilience and work engagement in haemodialysis nurses.

To describe the levels of work engagement, and to analyse the reciprocal relationships between social support, empathy, resilience and work engagement among haemodialysis nurses in China. Work engagement is a critical workplace health indicator. Previous studies have examined work engagement perceived by nurses working in diverse hospital wards, or a specialty area (emergency care or intensive care), no previous studies have highlighted work engagement and its affecting factors among haemodialysis nurses. Participants in the cross-sectional study were 345 haemodialysis nurses employed in 17 hospitals in Chengdu, China. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out to analyse the relationships between social support, empathy, resilience and work engagement in haemodialysis nurses. Resilience was the strongest positive significant contributor to work engagement, followed by other support and perspective taking (cognitive empathy). Nurses with longer occupational tenure reported higher levels of work engagement. Male nurses also reported greater work engagement than female nurses. Influence of work engagement was explored by social support, empathy and resilience, reflecting the need of haemodialysis nurses to understand the significance of focusing on their personal and environmental factors. Positive resilience, other support and cognitive empathy can result in increased work engagement. Training programs, such as mindfulness meditation training and empathy skills training, are recommended for nursing managers to enhance resilience and empathic capacity in nurses. Nursing policies should be developed to establish supportive work environments in clinical practice settings and to support the education and training of psychological resilience and empathic capacity in order to foster work engagement.

Davidson, Reasons, and Causes: A Plea for a Little Bit More Empathy

In this essay, I will suggest ways of improving on Davidson’s conception of the explanatory autonomy of folk psychological explanations. For that purpose, I will appeal to insights from the recent theory of mind debate emphasizing the centrality of various forms of empathy for our understanding of another person’s mindedness. While I will argue that we need to abandon Davidson’s position of anomalous monism, I will also show that my account is fully compatible with Davidson’s non-reductive and interpretationist account of meaning and mental content. Indeed, my account does more justice to the empathic capacities underlying our interpretive capacities, which Davidson himself has to acknowledge in thinking about the constitutive features of thought and meaning. More specifically, I will propose a new way of philosophically safeguarding the causal-explanatory autonomy of our ordinary action explanations by showing how our empathic capacities are involved in epistemically delineating the domain of rational agency.

A Concept Analysis of the Empathic capacity of Nurses

본 연구는 간호사-환자 간 상호작용에 주요 변수로 여겨지는 간호사의 공감역량의 개념적 의미를 명확히 하고, 그 속성을 파악하여, 간호사의 공감역량의 성격, 사례 및 결과를 확인하는 데 있다. ‘방법: Walker & Avant(2005)의 개념 분석 방법을 사용하여 개념을 분석했다.’ 자료수집 은 2000년1월에서2018년2월 사이에 발간된 논문...

Reduced capacity for empathy in corticobasal syndrome and its impact on carer burden.

Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is clinically characterised by a wide range of motor, cognitive, and behavioural features but remains challenging to diagnose accurately. Despite recent evidence supporting the presence of social cognition and emotion processing disturbances, few studies have explored the nature of empathic ability in CBS. This study aimed to (a) investigate the extent to which cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy are affected in CBS and (b) to determine the impact of such changes on carer burden. Empathic capacity was assessed in 29 CBS patients and 28 matched healthy controls. We employed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), an instrument measuring: (a) perspective taking, (b) fantasy, (c) empathic concern, and (d) personal distress. A significant change in both perspective taking and empathic concern was observed in CBS following disease onset. Furthermore, affective empathy deficits in CBS patients predicted higher levels of carer burden. Disturbances in both cognitive and affective empathy are present in CBS and lead to increased levels of carer burden.

Sex-specific association of a common GNAS polymorphism with self-reported cognitive empathy in healthy volunteers.

BackgroundIn a recent study, we found associations of a common oxytocin receptor (OXTR) polymorphism with inter-individual differences in empathy, especially with emotional empathy in women. Many other studies found specific associations of oxytocin, arginine-vasopressin, serotonin and dopamine receptor gene polymorphisms with various aspects of trait empathy. As all these receptors belong to the guanine-binding protein (G protein) coupled receptor family, it is a reasonable assumption, that alterations in genes encoding G protein subunits also influence the signal transduction in empathy related circuits. However, to the best of our knowledge, these genomic variations have not yet been studied in genetic research on empathy.MethodsHere, we analysed associations of a common polymorphism of the GNAS gene (C393T) in a previously characterized sample of 421 healthy blood donors (231 M, 190 F; age 18–74). The GNAS gene encodes the G protein adenylyl cyclase stimulator (Gαs) G protein subunit, which activates cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent pathways by stimulating the adenylyl cyclase. Cognitive and emotional aspects of dispositional empathy were tested using Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).ResultsIn the complete sample, associations of C393T genotype with IRI empathy scores, including cognitive empathy (p = 0.055) and perspective taking (p = 0.057) scores did not reach a level of significance. None of the IRI scores was near to being significantly associated with C393T genotype for men alone. In females, however, genotype was significantly associated with cognitive empathy (r = -.204, p = 0.005) and perspective taking (r = -.209, p = 0.004), accounting for 4.2% and 4.4% of variability. The association of genotype with perspective taking remained significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons (p = 0.045). The 393C-allele, which had been identified as a risk factor in several medical conditions such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes, was associated with higher cognitive empathy compared to the T allele in our sample.ConclusionsThe results suggest a significant association of GNAS C393T genotypes with the cognitive empathic capacity of perspective taking. This association could only be found in female participants.

A computational model of empathy for interactive agents

Abstract Empathy has been defined in the scientific literature as the capacity to relate another’s emotional state and assigned to a broad spectrum of cognitive and behavioral abilities. Advances in neuroscience, psychology and ethology made it possible to refine the defined functions of empathy to reach a working definition and a model of empathy. Recently, cognitive science and artificial intelligence communities made attempts to model empathy in artificial agents, which can provide means to test these models and hypotheses. A computational model of empathy not only would help to advance the technological artifacts to be more socially compatible, but also understand the empathy mechanisms, test theories, and address the ethics and morality problems the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community is facing today. In this paper, we will review the empathy research from various fields, gather the requirements for empathic capacity and construct a model of empathy that is suitable for interactive conversational agents.

A systematic validation of the Empathic Handover approach guided by five factors that foster empathy in design

This study aims at validating the transferability of the Empathic Handover approach, which we originally developed for the co-design process of a dementia simulator. We argue that empathy in design is operationalised using five factors: emotional interest, sensitivity, self-awareness, personal experience, and mixed perspectives. This heuristic proved useful in systematically comparing the empathic capacity of design students using the Empathic Handover and traditional user research approaches. Our comparative study indicates that the Empathic Handover approach enables designers to develop empathy with vulnerable users they did not meet in person (both people with dementia and people who mourn). Additionally, the study enables us to develop an elaborate notion of the working mechanisms of empathy in design as well as practical improvements to the Empathic Handover approach.

Papel de los tractos de fibras largas de asociación en la empatía

The empathic capacity is a field of research that has been studied from various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, or ethology and recently the field of neuroscience has been added. Thus, there has been an increase in studies using structural and functional neuroimaging, which has allowed to establish the brain structures that underlie its functioning. On the other hand, the appearance of measurement instruments such as diffusion tensor, have allowed us to begin to understand the role of white matter and neural connectivity in empathy. To review the results obtained from the relation of the long fiber tracts of association with the functions associated with the empathic capacity. Emphasis is placed on the division of empathy into its cognitive and affective components. The scientific literature has been revised using the Google Scholar, Science Research, Chemedia, PubMed, Dialnet and Teseo search engines. Both the functions associated with empathic capacity and empathy itself appear to be related to white matter fascicles. Likewise, in disorders characterized by a deficit in empathy, a relationship is suggested between the white matter tracts and alterations in important functions so that the empathic capacity dies. In this sense, the white matter tracts most related to empathy are the fronto-occipital fasciculus, the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, the superior longitudinal fasciculus and the uncinate fasciculus. Considering these results, it could be argued that neuronal connectivity, independently of structural and functional aspects, could play an important role in empathic function.

Coping mediates the association between empathy and psychological distress among Japanese workers

Previous studies have demonstrated an association between low empathy and high psychological distress. However, few studies have explored the mediators of this association. The present study examined how coping mediates the effect of empathy on psychological distress. Participants were 1232 Japanese workers who completed a comprehensive coping scale comprising eight subscales. We conducted a cross-sectional mediation analysis. The findings showed that low empathy was associated with high psychological distress and that this association was mediated by the cognitive reappraisal of approach coping and by the abandonment and responsibility-shifting of avoidance coping. These results offer a useful model of how empathic capacity impacts perceived psychological distress by demonstrating the protective and enhancing role of specific coping.

I like that you feel my pain, but I love that you feel my joy: Empathy for a partner’s negative versus positive emotions independently affect relationship quality

Given the myriad ways in which close relationships impact human well-being, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to healthy relationship functioning. One such factor is the extent to which partners empathize with each other’s emotional experiences. To date however, research examining empathy’s relevance for social relationships has focused overwhelmingly on empathy for others’ specifically negative emotions. Building on recent scholarship demonstrating the separability of empathy for others’ negative versus positive emotions, the present work argues that both of these empathic capacities contribute to relationship quality and that they do so via different pathways. A first study showed that whereas perceptions of a partner’s negative empathy and positive empathy were each independently associated with relationship quality, this association was substantially stronger for positive empathy. A second, experimental study demonstrated independent causal effects of negative empathy and positive empathy and showed that these effects were mediated by different mechanisms. These results suggest that although having a partner who empathizes with one’s negative emotions is good for relationships, having a partner who (also) empathizes with one’s positive emotions may carry even greater benefits.

Niveles de empatía y ética profesional en candidatos a sub-especialidad médica

La percepción actual de una atención médica deshumanizada y de baja calidad ha cuestionado la capacidad empática y ética de los profesionales de la salud. Las investigaciones en este campo reportan fluctuaciones en estos atributos a lo largo de la formación de los médicos. Objetivo: Explorar los niveles globales de empatía y ética profesional, así como los niveles de cada componente de ambos atributos, en una muestra de candidatos a subespecialidad médica. Metodología: Se incluyeron 65 residentes que solicitaron cursar subespecialidad en una unidad médica de alta especialidad. Como parte del proceso de solicitud, respondieron el Test de Empatía Cognitiva y Afectiva y la Escala de Actitudes Éticas Profesionales. Resultados: Las puntuaciones promedio de la muestra calificaron como media en empatía y como óptimas en ética profesional. La comparación por género, especialidad y competencias mostró menor empatía afectiva y mejor competencia ética en las mujeres; mayor empatía cognitiva en subespecialidades quirúrgicas; y ausencia de correlación entre las dos variables en general, y en particular por competencia. Conclusiones: Se resalta la importancia de medir las competencias particulares de cada atributo dado que la variación en competencias específicas repercute en diferentes aspectos de la formación del médico, como la elección de especialidad, la selección de candidatos, la elaboración de programas académicos y el adecuado aprendizaje sobre la construcción de una efectiva relación médico-paciente. © Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales.

Impacts of Longitudinal Mentorship to Strengthen the HIV Workforce: Qualitative Evidence of Changes in Clinicians’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice

The Clinician Scholars Program at the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center strengthens the workforce by increasing knowledge and skills related to HIV prevention and care. The 1-year individualized training program for minority-serving clinicians includes intensive mentoring and networking. Qualitative exit interviews (N=50) conducted over 4years demonstrate the effectiveness of the training, including changes at the individual and systems levels. Findings show that almost all graduates reported improvements in knowledge, two-thirds reported changes in empathic capacity and cultural competence, and nearly three-quarters reported changes in clinical practice. Scholars indicated improvements in knowledge and practice of HIV prevention, including pre-exposure prophylaxis and managing medications and comorbidities. A third of the Scholars reported improvements in their clinical practices related to linking and retaining patients in HIV care, which demonstrated positive movement along the HIV care continuum, a key focus area of the National HIV AIDS Strategy.

Explicating the role of empathic processes in substance use disorders: A conceptual framework and research agenda.

Elucidating the role of empathic processes in developmental pathways to substance use disorders could have important implications for prevention. We searched the biomedical and social sciences literature to determine what is known about empathy and psychopathological manifestations of severe lack of empathy in the initiation, development and maintenance of psychoactive substance use. Thirty-seven empirical studies were identified and formally reviewed. Adults with alcohol and stimulant use disorders exhibited detectable impairments in both cognitive and affective empathy, measured behaviourally, neuroanatomically and by self-report, relative to controls. There were no developmental studies specifically designed to test the role of empathy in substance use pathways, but several studies that included measures of empathy suggest that empathy may be protective. Studies on severe empathic deficits were mixed regarding a unique role of empathy in substance use trajectories, independent of interpersonal style, impulsivity and social deviance. Implications and Conclusions. In the context of findings and methodological limitations of this review, we recommend more rigorous examination of empathy across the spectrum of substance use behaviour. Future work should utilise the following: (i) prospective assessment of empathic capacity in substance abusers during and following treatment; (ii) large, developmentally based prospective designs beginning prior to substance initiation incorporating multiple measures of empathy; (iii) assessment of the moderating role of gender, race and ethnicity; and (iv) prospective study of empathy in children at elevated risk for substance use disorders. [Massey SH, Newmark RL, Wakschlag LS. Explicating the role of empathic processes in substance use disorders: A conceptual framework and research agenda.

Relación entre la sensibilidad paterna y los estilos de apego, la personalidad y la capacidad empática, según variables sociodemográficas

Relación entre la sensibilidad paterna y los estilos de apego, la personalidad y la capacidad empática, según variables sociodemográficas

Anxiety Reduces Empathy Toward Outgroup Members But Not Ingroup Members

AbstractSubstantial research concludes that favoritism toward members of people's ingroup, or ingroup bias, motivates people to oppose public programs that assist needy outgroup individuals. I argue that a gap in the empathic capacity for ingroup and outgroup members motivates and maintains ingroup bias in helping behavior and is sensitive to contextual cues that trigger anxiety. Using a novel experimental design, Study 1 demonstrates that anxiety exacerbates the outgroup empathy gap. Study 2 replicates these findings with an explicit measure of outgroup empathy. Study 3 shows that the outgroup empathy gap causes individuals to become less supportive of helping needy outgroup members. These studies suggest that opposition to welfare programs may go beyond simple prejudice.

The Empathic Process and Misconceptions that Lead to Burnout in Healthcare Professionals.

Empathy has been identified as a relevant variable in order to predict burnout in healthcare professionals. In addition, assertiveness and self-esteem have been considered relevant variables to develop empathic capacity. In the other hand, misconceptions surrounding empathy constitute a risk factor for burnout. Two adult samples (N = 252 and N = 275) were used to explore and confirm the underlying structure of two questionnaires. The Exercise of Process of Empathy (EPE) scale (18 items) confirmatory factor analysis including 5 dimensions (cognitive and emotional comprehension, attention, clarity and assertiveness), showed reasonable goodness- of-fit indices χ2(130) = 269.63, p < .001; RMSEA = .069 90% CI [0.058 - 0.079]; CFI = .965; TLI = .959. Alpha coefficient resulted .848. Common Misconceptions (EH) of empathy scale (16 items) confirmatory factor analysis, including 3 dimensions (feeling, confluence and character misconceptions) also obtained reasonable goodness-of-fit indices χ 2 (101) = 250.59, p < .001; RMSEA = .075 90% CI [0.063 - 0.087]; CFI = .952; TLI = .943. Alpha coefficient for Character resulted .727 (5 items), for Confluence .764 (5 items) and for Feeling .822 (6 items). The SEM model's R 2 resulted .303, being EH (misconceptions) a risk factor (b* = .171), EPE (empathy process) a protection factor (b* = -.183). The model partially explains how misconceptions empathy process and self-esteem (b* = -.334) relate to burnout syndrome in healthcare professionals; what is more, it heralds a potential means to prevent it.

Social behaviour, socio-cognitive skills and attachment style in school-aged children: what is the relation with academic outcomes?

ABSTRACTThe present research explored the relation between socio-cognitive skills, as Theory of Mind and affective empathy, social behaviour, attachment style and scholastic success in children, aged from 8 to 11 years (N = 159; 90 females, 69 males; Mage = 9,60; DS = .78). Several assessment tools were administered to children on mentalizing abilities (Stories), empathy (FASTE), language (PPVT-R), attachment style (SAT) and learning (M.T. and AC-MT 6-11), while the teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire about every child’s social behaviour (SDQ). The correlational analysis and MANOVA prove that ‘secure’ children show more prosocial behaviour, moral mentalizing and empathic capacities in the classroom, receiving better evaluations from teachers and in learning tests. Moreover, socio-cognitive skills and prosocial behaviour are associated with academic performance, while the affective empathy is only related to teachers’ evaluations. Finally, the implications of these findings for theoretical and research development on socio-cognitive skills are discussed.

Will you help me to suffer less? How about to feel more joy? Positive and negative empathy are associated with different other-oriented motivations

Although the vast majority of existing work on empathy focuses exclusively on the socio-emotional consequences of empathizing with others' negative emotions, mounting evidence supports the view that empathy for others' negative emotions and empathy for others' positive emotions are distinct capacities. The present work seeks to marry this burgeoning literature on the separability of positive and negative empathy to the influential literature on approach and avoidance motivation by examining how these two distinct empathic capacities relate to the (pro)social motivations to assist others to approach positivity vs. avoid negativity. The results of two studies show that whereas positive empathy is associated with an other-focused motivation to assist others to approach positive outcomes and is predictive of helping only when that help is framed as a means of propelling others toward greater positivity, negative empathy is associated with an other-focused motivation to assist others to avoid negative outcomes and is associated with helping only when that help is framed as a means of assisting others to avoid further suffering. In addition to contributing to the emerging literature on the separability of positive and negative empathy, these results also help to extend the influential approach/avoidance distinction to the domain of other-focused motivation.