Empathic Responses Research Articles

Aligning (In)Congruent Chatbot–Employee Empathic Responses with Service-Recovery Contexts for Customer Retention

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in service recovery is transforming the frontline interfaces across the tourism industry, as AI chatbots are now being designed to show empathy. Using a multi-method approach combining survey, experimental, and field data obtained from hotel guests, this study explores the effects of chatbot–employee collaborative empathic responses on customer retention under various service-recovery contexts. It finds that congruence (vs. incongruence) and higher (vs. lower) levels of congruence in chatbot–employee empathic responses more effectively retain customers. Further, the effects of incongruence and congruence on customer retention diminish when the chatbot’s identity is disclosed but are strengthened when employees’ acceptance of a chatbot increases. Only the negative effects of empathic response incongruence correspondingly increase when chatbot efficiency and flexibility (ambidexterity) increase. These findings suggest that tourism practitioners can rely on chatbot–employee collaboration to accomplish service-recovery tasks but should pay attention to chatbot-side and employee-side uncertainties in a service triad, especially chatbot ambidexterity.

The influence of aggressive exercise on responses to self-perceived and others' pain.

Previous studies have reported relationships between exercise and pain. However, little is known about how aggressive exercise modulates individuals' responses to their own and others' pain. This present study addresses this question by conducting 2 studies employing event-related potential (ERP). Study 1 included 38 participants whose self-perceived pain was assessed after intervention with aggressive or nonaggressive exercises. Study 2 recruited 36 participants whose responses to others' pain were assessed after intervention with aggressive or nonaggressive exercise. Study 1's results showed that P2 amplitudes were smaller, reaction times were longer, and participants' judgments were less accurate in response to self-perceived pain stimuli, especially to high-pain stimuli, after intervention with aggressive exercise compared to nonaggressive exercise. Results of study 2 showed that both P3 and LPP amplitudes to others' pain were larger after intervention with aggressive exercise than with nonaggressive exercise. These results suggest that aggressive exercise decreases individuals' self-perceived pain and increases their empathic responses to others' pain.

Accompaniment and Bearing Witness: The Path Through Liminal Spaces in Healthcare.

Clinician-healers bear witness to suffering and accompany patients and families through the liminal spaces of an illness experience. Bearing witness to a patient's suffering is a form of attunement toward the ill or hospitalized person. Non-action, or wu wei, becomes illustrative of the empathy that develops as clinicians bear witness to the suffering of patients and families. This empathic response highlights the clinician's moral obligation to accompany their patients. Accompaniment is a form of "co-action" which orients the clinician to a mutual relationship with patients and families. Co-action incites new meaning-making within the liminal spaces and holds the potential to change the clinician's identity as practitioner and healer.

Evaluating eating behavior traits of virtual targets: Attitudes and empathy

There are many common stereotypes related to food consumption and eating behaviors that are considered indicative of one's personal character. Negative evaluations of an individual based on their eating behaviors may lead to stigmatization and other harmful psychosocial outcomes. Using vignette scenarios, we examined 582 participants' attitudes towards two target characters who exhibited bitter food dislike and high reward-based eating drive respectively. In open-ended text responses, participants were more likely to respond negatively and use stigmatizing language when describing the character with high reward-based eating drive versus the character with bitter food dislike. In addition, empathic responses depended on whether participants believed they, themselves, exhibited reward-based eating drive. Participants tended to be more empathetic and more positive towards the target who shared their own reward-based eating behaviors. Interestingly, the same was not true for those who shared bitter food distaste. These results suggest that eating behaviors that are perceived as more controllable and unusual may be more negatively perceived. Targeted education or support to reduce negative attitudes about such traits may be beneficial.

Integrating between-session homework in psychotherapy: A systematic review of immediate in-session and intermediate outcome

The present study examines (a) the unique effects of chairwork on emotional process and intervention outcomes across treatments in the context of individual psychotherapy and (b) how these effects compare to other treatment interventions. Based on the appropriateness of the data available, meta-analyses with estimated effect sizes and narrative syntheses were conducted for psychotherapy process as well as symptom outcomes. Single-session chairwork was found to be more effective in deepening client experiencing than empathic responding (d = .90), although it may have an effectiveness similar to other interventions for facilitating emotional arousal or shifting the credibility of core beliefs. A single session of chairwork also has noteworthy pre-to-post symptom change (d = 1.73), although these improvements may be comparable to other methods of intervention (d = .02). However, when chairwork was used multiple times over the course of a treatment, it accumulated a meaningful effect (d = .40) compared to treatments that did not use chairwork. Therapeutic orientation emerged as a potential moderator. Incorporating chairwork into treatments may bolster process and intervention outcomes. We conclude the article with training implications and therapeutic practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Using Virtual Patients to Support Empathy Training in Health Care Education: An Exploratory Study.

Empathy is essential for effective patient care. Yet, research shows suboptimal empathy in patient-practitioner interactions. Intelligent virtual patient simulations may offer an effective educational tool for empathy training. This observational study explored the quality of speech pathology of students' empathy responses in virtual patient simulations. Using the 7-point Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS), we examined 72 students' empathic communication during a 12-week virtual patient interview series as part of their standard curriculum across 4 cohorts (a total of 388 empathic responses). The ECCS data were tallied and graphically displayed. We compared year groups (cohorts from 2015 to 2018), changes over semester, and differences between virtual patients. Median ECCS scores were 4 of a maximum of 6 (interquartile range, 3) across all interviews. Most students (89%) scored between a level 2 (implicit recognition) and level 5 (confirmation) with only a few responses scoring at the lowest 2 levels of empathy (0: denial, 0.5%; 1: automatic recognition, 2%) or the highest level of empathy (6: shared feeling or experience, 9%). Students consistently acknowledged patients' feelings and often offered an action, solution, or reassurance. However, shared feelings or experiences were infrequent. Although virtual patient simulations do not replace experiential learning such as simulation, standardized patients, and clinical practicum, they offer a safe environment to practice skills. This article provides support for designing larger controlled clinical trials and provides insights for educators on how to design virtual patient empathic opportunities of varying complexity for students.

Temporal Unfolding of Racial Ingroup Bias in Neural Responses to Perceived Dynamic Pain in Others.

In this study, we investigated how empathic neural responses unfold over time in different empathy networks when viewing same-race and other-race individuals in dynamic painful conditions. We recorded magnetoencephalography signals from Chinese adults when viewing video clips showing a dynamic painful (or non-painful) stimulation to Asian and White models' faces to trigger painful (or neutral) expressions. We found that perceived dynamic pain in Asian models modulated neural activities in the visual cortex at 100ms-200ms, in the orbitofrontal and subgenual anterior cingulate cortices at 150ms-200ms, in the anterior cingulate cortex around 250ms-350ms, and in the temporoparietal junction and middle temporal gyrus around 600ms after video onset. Perceived dynamic pain in White models modulated activities in the visual, anterior cingulate, and primary sensory cortices after 500ms. Our findings unraveled earlier dynamic activities in multiple neural circuits in response to same-race (vs other-race) individuals in dynamic painful situations.

Creative mindset reduces racial ingroup bias in empathic neural responses.

Spontaneous racial categorization of other-race individuals provides a cognitive basis of racial ingroup biases in empathy and prosocial behavior. In two experiments, we investigated whether fostering a creativity mindset reduces racial ingroup biases in empathy and undermines spontaneous racial categorization of other-race faces. Before and after a creative mindset priming procedure that required the construction of novel objects using discreteness, we recorded electroencephalography signals to Asian and White faces with painful or neutral expressions from Chinese adults to assess neural activities underlying racial ingroup biases in empathy and spontaneous racial categorization of faces. We found that a frontal-central positive activity within 200ms after face onset (P2) showed greater amplitudes to painful (vs. neutral) expressions of Asian compared with White faces and exhibited repetition suppression in response to White faces. These effects, however, were significantly reduced by creative mindset priming. Moreover, the creative mindset priming enhanced the P2 amplitudes to others' pain to a larger degree in participants who created more novel objects. The priming effects were not observed in control participants who copied objects constructed by others. Our findings suggest that creative mindsets may reduce racial ingroup biases in empathic neural responses by undermining spontaneous racial categorization of faces.

The influence of professional identity on perceptions of substance use harm reduction among professional counselors

AbstractHarm reduction (HR) approaches to substance use show promising efficacy, but limited research exists exploring professional counselors’ perceptions of HR. An online survey gathered data from 395 substance use providers, including 128 professional counselors. In measuring HR acceptance, t‐tests compared this sample to prior samples, an analysis of variance compared counselors to other providers, and multiple regression explored the influence of counselor identity factors. Empathic responsiveness and positive social justice attitudes were predictors of HR acceptance. Counselors’ perceptions of HR were similar to other providers. Results indicated that counselor identity influences HR perceptions, with implications for practice and training considered.

Biological postural oscillations during facial expression of pain in virtual characters modulate early and late ERP components associated with empathy: A pilot study

There is a surge in the use of virtual characters in cognitive sciences. However, their behavioural realism remains to be perfected in order to trigger more spontaneous and socially expected reactions in users. It was recently shown that biological postural oscillations (idle motion) were a key ingredient to enhance the empathic response to its facial pain expression. The objective of this study was to examine, using electroencephalography, whether idle motion would modulate the neural response associated with empathy when viewing a pain-expressing virtual character. Twenty healthy young adults were shown video clips of a virtual character displaying a facial expression of pain while its body was either static (Still condition) or animated with pre-recorded human postural oscillations (Idle condition). Participants rated the virtual human's facial expression of pain as significantly more intense in the Idle condition compared to the Still condition. Both the early (N2–N3) and the late (rLPP) event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with distinct dimensions of empathy, affective resonance and perspective-taking, respectively, were greater in the Idle condition compared to the Still condition. These findings confirm the potential of idle motion to increase empathy for pain expressed by virtual characters. They are discussed in line with contemporary empathy models in relation to human-machine interactions.

Effect of AI Chatbot’s Interactivity on Consumers’ Negative Word-of-Mouth Intention: Mediating Role of Perceived Empathy and Anger

Although much research has examined chatbot interactivity as one of the most human-like qualities, replicating a conversation norm in human-to-human dialogue, far less has examined the "native state" of two-way communication between humans and chatbots. This study fills the gap by substantiating a synchronous two-way conversation between users and chatbots and testing how chatbot interactivity shapes the users’ perceived empathy. Guided by the computers-are-social-actors (CASA) paradigm, like skilled customer service representatives interacting with customers during product failures, this study designs a between-subject experiment (N = 300) to embody the warm and competent types of human conversation and suggests two versions of chatbot interactivities: social interactivity (high/low) and message interactivity (high/low). We further investigate whether a chatbot’s warm or competent persona manifested in its interaction with consumers elicits empathic responses from consumers, such as calming down their anger in line with social response theory. As a result, both social and message interactivity in chatbots effectively elicit users’ perception of empathy, alleviating customer anger and reducing adverse word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. The findings provide empirical evidence that supports the explanatory framework of social response theory. This research demonstrates how technological features, particularly interactivity, contribute to creating experiential value for customers. Specifically, it elucidates how customers perceive empathy displayed by chatbots, which subsequently influences their level of anger and inclination to engage in negative word-of-mouth communication. Notably, these results offer novel insights into the roles of chatbot interactivity and empathy as psychological mechanisms that enable consumers to express their dissatisfaction by interacting with chatbot service agents, particularly in situations involving product failures. The implications of this study extend to the practical realm, providing valuable guidance on the design and implementation of empathetic chatbots in frontline consumer service contexts.

Fellowship of the fin: Fish empathy and oxytocin.

Zebrafish exhibit fear contagion, a basic form of empathy, and when observing social fellows that have been exposed to predation cues, will themselves exhibit similar distress behaviours. As in mammals, the nonapeptide hormone oxytocin is essential for this empathic response, and homologous areas of the brain are involved, suggesting that the mechanistic basis of empathy may be conserved among vertebrates.

Can fiction lead to prosocial behaviour? Exclusion, violence, empathy, and literature in early modernity

ABSTRACT In this short essay, I want to address the relationship between positivity and negativity in affect theories and literary analysis by focusing on the connection between empathy and literature in early modernity, a period when affect theories emerge robustly and are articulated in treatises such as De anima et vita (1538) by Juan Luis Vives (1492–1590) or Nueva Filosofía (1587) by Oliva de Sabuco (1562–1626?). We begin with the proposition that fictional narratives may move us to care for others and help them. Indeed, the idea that fiction can make us more empathetic and, thus, turn us into better human beings is a powerful hypothesis that has been the subject of a great number of discussions and publications. However, as we continue to investigate whether and how fiction may lead to prosocial behaviour via empathic responses and what are the narrative strategies that authors may employ to elicit empathy in readers, we need to acknowledge that: (1) the connection between empathy and prosocial behaviour, known as the empathy–altruism hypothesis, is still a controversial one and more empirical evidence is needed to back it up; and (2) there is no direct correspondence between empathic authorial intention and audience reception, a phenomenon that can be discussed through notions such as failed empathy or empathic inaccuracy.

Age differences in functional brain networks associated with loneliness and empathy.

Loneliness is associated with differences in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) within and between large-scale networks in early- and middle-aged adult cohorts. However, age-related changes in associations between sociality and brain function into late adulthood are not well understood. Here, we examined age differences in the association between two dimensions of sociality-loneliness and empathic responding-and RSFC of the cerebral cortex. Self-report measures of loneliness and empathy were inversely related across the entire sample of younger (mean age = 22.6y, n = 128) and older (mean age = 69.0y, n = 92) adults. Using multivariate analyses of multi-echo fMRI RSFC, we identified distinct functional connectivity patterns for individual and age group differences associated with loneliness and empathic responding. Loneliness in young and empathy in both age groups was related to greater visual network integration with association networks (e.g., default, fronto-parietal control). In contrast, loneliness was positively related to within- and between-network integration of association networks for older adults. These results extend our previous findings in early- and middle-aged cohorts, demonstrating that brain systems associated with loneliness, as well as empathy, differ in older age. Further, the findings suggest that these two aspects of social experience engage different neurocognitive processes across human life-span development.

Autistic adults' perspectives on appropriate empathic responses to others' emotions.

Although the ability of autistic adults to recognize others' emotions has been extensively studied, less attention has been given to how they respond to these emotions. We examined two aspects of autistic and non-autistic adults' responsiveness to the emotional expressions of non-autistic actors: their perspectives on the appropriate way of responding to others' emotions and their awareness of others' perceptions of the likely appropriateness of such responses. Autistic (N = 63) and non-autistic (N = 67) adult samples viewed videos of 74 dyadic social interactions displaying different examples of 12 emotions expressed by one actor in response to the behavior of the other. After each video, participants (a) nominated the emotion expressed by the first actor, (b) offered their perspective on what would constitute an appropriate empathic response by the second actor, and (c) indicated their confidence in that response. Although the autistic group provided fewer appropriate empathic responses-operationalized via a panel's interpretations of normative responses-than the non-autistic group, within-group variability was marked, and the effect was weak and largely confined to basic emotions. Autistic individuals were, however, considerably less confident in their responses. Examination of the relationships between confidence in and the appropriateness of empathic responses provided no indication in either group of reliable discrimination of appropriate from inappropriate empathic responses or finely tuned metacognitive awareness of variations in appropriateness. In sum, autistic adults' perspectives on the appropriate empathic reactions to non-autistic adults' emotions were not unilaterally or markedly different to those of non-autistic adults.

Outcome Evaluation in Social Comparison: When You Deviate from Others.

Individuals often measure their performance through social comparison. With the increase in the deviation degree between the self and others, the outcome evaluation of individuals' abilities in the social comparison context is still unknown. In the current study, we used a two self-outcomes × three others' outcomes within-participant design to investigate the effect of the deviation degree of the self versus others in the social comparison context. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while participants performed a three-person dot estimation task with two other people. When participants received positive results, the amplitudes of feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 showed a significant gradient change in the degree of deviation between the self and others (even win vs. better win vs. best win conditions). However, we did not find a similar progressive effect when participants received negative results (even loss vs. worse loss vs. worst loss conditions). These findings suggest that the deviation degree affects the primary and later processing stages of social comparison outcomes only when individuals received positive outcomes, which may reflect how people develop an empathic response to others. In contrast, people tended to avoid deeper social comparison that threatened their self-esteem when they received negative outcomes.

Recognition of Empathy from Synchronization between Brain Activity and Eye Movement.

In the era of user-generated content (UGC) and virtual interactions within the metaverse, empathic digital content has become increasingly important. This study aimed to quantify human empathy levels when exposed to digital media. To assess empathy, we analyzed brain wave activity and eye movements in response to emotional videos. Forty-seven participants watched eight emotional videos, and we collected their brain activity and eye movement data during the viewing. After each video session, participants provided subjective evaluations. Our analysis focused on the relationship between brain activity and eye movement in recognizing empathy. The findings revealed the following: (1) Participants were more inclined to empathize with videos depicting pleasant-arousal and unpleasant-relaxed emotions. (2) Saccades and fixation, key components of eye movement, occurred simultaneously with specific channels in the prefrontal and temporal lobes. (3) Eigenvalues of brain activity and pupil changes showed synchronization between the right pupil and certain channels in the prefrontal, parietal, and temporal lobes during empathic responses. These results suggest that eye movement characteristics can serve as an indicator of the cognitive empathic process when engaging with digital content. Furthermore, the observed changes in pupil size result from a combination of emotional and cognitive empathy elicited by the videos.

Close to me but unreachable: spotting the link between peripersonal space andempathy.

The space surrounding the body [i.e.peripersonal space (PPS)] has a crucial impact on individuals' interactions with the environment. Research showed that the interaction within the PPS increases individuals' behavioral and neural responses. Furthermore, individuals' empathy is affected by the distance between them and the observed stimuli. This study investigated empathic responses to painfully stimulated or gently touched faces presented within the PPS depending on the presence vs absence of a transparent barrier erected to prevent the interaction. To this aim, participants had to determine whether faces were painfully stimulated or gently touched, while their electroencephalographic signals were recorded. Brain activity [i.e. event-related potentials (ERPs) and source activations] was separately compared for the two types of stimuli (i.e.gently touched vs painfully stimulated faces) across two barrier conditions: (i) no-barrier between participants and the screen (i.e. no-barrier) and (ii) a plexiglass barrier erected between participants and the screen (i.e. barrier). While the barrier did not affect performance behaviorally, it reduced cortical activation at both the ERP and source activation levels in brain areas that regulate the interpersonal interaction (i.e. primary, somatosensory, premotor cortices and inferior frontal gyrus). These findings suggest that the barrier, precluding the possibility of interacting, reduced the observer's empathy.

Empathic communication between clinicians, patients, and care partners in palliative care encounters

ObjectivePalliative care encounters often involve empathic opportunities conveyed by patients and their care partners. In this secondary analysis, we examined empathic opportunities and clinician responses with attention to how presence of multiple care partners and clinicians shapes empathic communication. MethodsWe used the Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) to characterize emotion-focused, challenge-focused, and progress-focused empathic opportunities and responses in 71 audio-recorded palliative care encounters in the US. ResultsPatients expressed more emotion-focused empathic opportunities than did care partners; care partners expressed more challenge-focused empathic opportunities than did patients. Care partners initiated empathic opportunities more frequently when more care partners were present, though they expressed fewer as the number of clinicians increased. When more care partners and more clinicians were present, clinicians had fewer low-empathy responses. ConclusionThe number of care partners and clinicians present affect empathic communication. Clinicians should be prepared for empathic communication focal points to shift depending on the number of care partners and clinicians present. Practice implicationsFindings can guide development of resources to prepare clinicians to meet emotional needs in palliative care discussions. Interventions can coach clinicians to respond empathically and pragmatically to patients and care partners, particularly when multiple care partners are in attendance.

The Role of Empathic Concern and Gender on Interspecific Contagious Yawning in Humans.

Interspecific contagious yawning (CY), whereby yawns from one species trigger yawning in different species, has now been reported across various taxa. This response to human yawning appears common among animals in captivity and has been interpreted as an empathic response towards human handlers/caregivers. A recent study found that humans also display interspecific CY, though this response was not modulated by proxies of empathic processing (i.e., phylogenetic relatedness or social closeness to the animals). Here, we explored this relationship more explicitly by assessing how interspecific CY to yawns from common household pets relates to self-reported empathic concern. Participants (N = 103) completed a survey measuring empathic concern and then reported on their yawning behavior following exposure to a control condition or yawning images either from domesticated cats or domesticated dogs. The results provide further evidence for interspecific CY in humans, but empathic concern was negatively predictive of this response. There was also no sex difference in interspecific CY, though when comparing the sexes across CY conditions, women reported a higher frequency of yawning in response to dog yawns, and men reported a higher frequency of yawning in response to cat yawns. Overall, these findings do not support a strong connection between interspecific CY and empathy or emotional contagion.