Empathy

Question 1

According to the uncertainty reduction function, what is a likely outcome for individuals who perceive themselves as peripheral members of a group?

a. Decreased conformity to in-group norms

b. Increased comfort with their distinctiveness

c. Greater conformity to in-group norms in an attempt to become more prototypical and reduce uncertainty

d. A focus on highlighting their personal identity to distinguish themselves from the group

Answer 1

c. Greater conformity to in-group norms in an attempt to become more prototypical and reduce uncertainty

Question 2

What are the various Definitions of Empathy?

Answer 2

From the German “einfuhlung” : feeling into

• “An affective response more appropriate to someone else’s situation
  than to one’s own”
• “The drive to identify another person’s emotions and thoughts, and to
  respond to these with an appropriate emotion”

Question 3

Empathy is a three part model, explain the three parts?

1. Cognitive Empathy
2. Affective Empathy
3. Prosocial Motivation

(In short)

Answer 3

Cognitive Empathy:
- Empathic accuracy
- Mentalizing
- Perspective-takin

Affective Empathy:
- Emotion contagion
- Emotion sharing
- Personal distress

Prosocial Motivation:
- Empathic concern
- Helping behaviour

Question 4

What is Affective Empathy?

Answer 4

Sharing another person’s emotional state
* Can be negative or positive emotional state

Question 5

Affective Empathy

What is Emotion contagion?

Answer 5

the spontaneous spread of emotions from one person to another

Question 6

How do we assess affective empathy?

Answer 6

Most commonly assessed via self-report
- E.g. The Basic Empathy Scale
* “After being with a friend who is sad about something, I usually feel sad.”
* “I get frightened when I watch the characters in a good scary movie.”
* “I often get swept up in my friend’s feelings.”

Limitations:
* Socially desirable to report higher empath

Question 7

What is Mimicry?

Answer 7

Reflexive mirroring another person’s behaviour
- Facial expressions (ex.yawning)
- Body posture

• Emerges in infancy and apparent throughout life
• In humans, mimicry contributes to emotion
  contagion by eliciting the corresponding emotions
  associated with the mimicked behaviour

Question 8

Why is mimicry important to empathy?

Answer 8

Idea is: because we spontaneously mimic other people, this contributes to emotion contagion because it links emotion.

Question 9

How might our facial expressions impact what emotions we feel? (Cartoon study)

Answer 9

Participants watched funny cartoons while
holding a pen in their mouth

• Teeth: Participants held a pen in their teeth without letting their lips touch it, which facilitates the muscles associated
  with smiling
• Lips: Participants held a pen in their mouth making sure that their lips touched it, which inhibits the muscles associated with smiling
• Rated level of amusement while watching cartoon

FOUND:
Participants in the teeth condition found the
cartoons funnier

Question 10

How might our facial expressions impact what emotions we feel? (Botox study)

Answer 10

Method: Participants watched
emotional video clips pre and post
cosmetic procedure
* Botox (partial facial muscle paralysis)
* Restylane (no facial paralysis)
* Self-reported emotional intensity

• Results: Botox group reported
  decreased emotional intensity, but
  only to mildly positive videos
• Partially supports the idea that facial
  expressions influence emotion

Question 11

How did we use neural resonance to see empathy?

Answer 11

The same neural systems are activated when we experience an affective state as when we simply observe another person
experiencing that same affective state

• Shown for motor intentions, physical, and disgust

Question 12

What is Simulation Theory?

Answer 12

We understand others, by recreating / simulating their experiences

Low-level/ bottom-up simulation: automatic and rapid
* Mimicry
* Neural resonance

Question 13

What are the steps of empathy with Simulation Theory? (5 steps)

Answer 13

1. Perception of the target’s expressions
2. Shared neural activation
3. Automatic mimicry
4. Emotional contagion
5. Understand the emotions of another

Question 14

What is Low-level/ bottom-up simulation:

Answer 14

automatic and rapid
* Mimicry
* Neural resonance

Question 15

How does automatic mimicry actually cause you to feel someone else’s emotions?

(botox and pen study evidence)

Answer 15

Botox impaired recognition of positive and negative emotional facial expressions, compared to control group (if u have botox = less good)

Blocking facial muscle mimicry by biting on a pen impaired recognition of emotional expressions, specifically happiness and disgust

Question 16

Simulation Theory

What is High-level/ top-down?

Answer 16

controlled, slow

• Mentally putting oneself in someone else’s situation

Question 17

What is Cognitive Empathy?

Answer 17

Understanding another person’s mental / emotional state

Synonyms:
* Theory of mind
* Mentalizing
* Empathic accuracy

Question 18

How do we do cognitive empathy? (2 ways)

Answer 18

Can be accomplished via:
* Emotion contagion

• Perspective-taking: Explicitly imagining oneself in another person’s situation

Question 19

Development of Cognitive Empathy (when do we see it in kids)?

Answer 19

• In children, assessed using false-belief tasks
  
  • E.g. Sally-Ann Task
    (Kid learns about two characters)
    (Sally moves marble from basket to box)
    (Where should Anne look?)
    (Kid’s who can understand Anne’s mind, will say she will look in the basket)
• Emerges around age 4
• Across countries, most 3 year olds fail (14% pass rate) and most 5 year olds pass (85%) false belief task

Question 20

How do we assess cognitive empathy?

1. Self-report

(+ limitations)

Answer 20

E.g. The Basic Empathy Scale
* “I can often understand how people feel even before they tell me.”
* “I can usually work out when my friends are scared.”

Limitations:
* Social desirability issues
* How do we know they’re accurate (they might think they are better then they are)

Question 21

How do we assess cognitive empathy?

2. Behavioural measures

Answer 21

assessing empathic accuracy
* Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test

Question 22

What is Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)?

Answer 22

Shot of just eyes

Must determine if this person is feeling

embarrassed / fantasizing / confused / panicked

Question 23

What are some issues with Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)?

Answer 23

• Too easy (we don’t have multiple choice IRL)
• Static when in real-life emotions evolve over time
• Usually also have full face (mouth area has a ton of emotions)

Question 24

What is the Empathic accuracy task?

Answer 24

Target
* Target is filmed while talking about an emotion event
* Watch video and continuously rate how they were feeling

Perceiver
* Watches target’s video and continuously rates how they think the target was feeling

Try measure Empathic accuracy = time-series correlation between the target’s
emotions and the perceiver’s inference of the target’s emotions (are your answers correlated with targets answers)

Question 25

Does Empathic Accuracy Matter?

Answer 25

Empathic accuracy has been associated with a variety of positive relationship outcomes * Targets feeling understood * Better support provision * Greater romantic relationship satisfaction * Better quality friendship

Question 26

A classmate describes feeling overwhelmed by the workload in a difficult course. Which response best represents a high-level simulation approach to understanding their feelings? a. You unconsciously mirror their slumped posture and sigh, feeling a bit tired yourself b. You mentally imagine yourself taking on the same assignments and deadlines, reflecting on the potential challenges and stressors involved in their current situation c. You tell them that many students find the course challenging and they should seek tutoring d. You toss them out the window

Answer 26

b. You mentally imagine yourself taking on the same assignments and deadlines, reflecting on the potential challenges and stressors involved in their current situation

Question 27

How does cognitive empathy help affective empathy?

Answer 27

Informs more accurate emotion sharing * You share the correct emotion * High-level simulation

Question 28

Why are some people more empathetic then others?

Answer 28

There is more variability in target’s ability to accurately express themselves than in perceiver’s ability to accurately “read” targets’ emotions * i.e. The target needs to be sufficiently expressive for individual differences in empathy between perceivers to emerge So: Yes some people are more empathetic But: People also vary in how expressive they are (ppl aren't mind reads, might struggle to read targets)

Question 29

Characteristics of Empathic Perceivers (what makes ppl more empathetic when target shows sufficient info) 1. Trait affective empathy 2. Alexithymia 3. Emotion regulation skills

Answer 29

1. Trait affective empathy * Self-reported affective empathy is positively correlated with empathic accuracy, but only when for expressive targets (more affective empathy is correlated with how accurate they are) 2. Alexithymia * Difficulties describing and recognizing emotions within oneself * Associated with lower cognitive AND affective empathy 3. Emotion regulation skills * Perspective-taking is more accurate when emotional arousal is modulated rather than overwhelming * Associated with increased personal distress when confronted with another’s arousal - People with less emotion regulation = less good at empathy (they get flooded with info and get overwhelmed)

Question 30

What is personal distress with Emotion regulation skills?

Answer 30

Feel like another persons problems are actually happening to you

Question 31

What are Gender Differences in Empathy?

Answer 31

* Women consistently self-report higher affective and cognitive empathy * True difference or social desirability? BUT: * On behavioural measures, women tend to show higher affective empathy but there are no gender differences on cognitive empathy

Question 32

Why might we see the gender difference? (why report higher empathy if similar to mens)

Answer 32

Possible explanations: * Biologically based * Socialization of gender roles

Question 33

Situational and State Moderators of Empathy 1. Knowledge of the target

Answer 33

* More emotion sharing and empathic accuracy for close others * Easier to accurately simulate what a person is feeling when we are familiar with them

Question 34

Situational and State Moderators of Empathy 2. Similarity to the target

Answer 34

* More emotion sharing and empathic accuracy for in-group vs. out-group members * Use of self as a model to simulate others’ experience is more likely to be accurate when the target is similar to us

Question 35

Situational and State Moderators of Empathy 3. Motivation to empathize

Answer 35

* Less empathy when it is perceived as costly, e.g. cognitive effort, experiencing distress * More empathy when it is perceived as beneficial to the perceiver, i.e., socially rewarding

Question 36

What is Prosocial Motivation? Empathic concern

Answer 36

Empathic concern: an other-oriented response inducing motivation to help Synonyms: Sympathy, compassion * Generally considered the desired outcome of empathy * Help either via emotional support or instrumental support

Question 37

What is the difference: Empathic Concern vs. Personal Distress

Answer 37

Empathic concern: an other-oriented response inducing motivation to help “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” Personal distress: self-focused, aversive reaction, often leading to withdrawing from the situation to alleviate one’s own discomfort * A form of emotion contagion “When I see someone who badly needs help in an emergency, I go cry with them”

Question 38

What is "Self-Other Merging"?

Answer 38

Psychological overlap in the mental representation between the self and other * Common in close relationships * The outcome/basis of empathy

Question 39

What happens when too much "Self-Other Merging"?

Answer 39

too much seems to be problematic * High self-other merging is associated with personal distress

Question 40

Explain the Self-Other Merging Sweet Spot?

Answer 40

Don't want too much, or too little Too much = distress Too little = not empathizing with other person Want like the average

Question 41

How does self concept clarity contribute to self-other merging? (Teacher's study)

Answer 41

“Katie Banks” Paradigm (tricked ppl into thinking they were researching on podcasts) Make ppl think they were listening to a radio episode Listen to Katie Banks = parents in accident and died, had to take care of siblings (and is McGill student) - She asks for money Then questionnaire = Participants self-report: * Empathic concern: To what extent did you feel: compassionate, sympathetic, moved, warm, soft-hearted, tender? * Personal distress: To what extent did you feel worried, alarmed, grieved, troubled, distressed, perturbed, upset, disturbed? * Self-other merging with Katie * Self-concept clarity Then asked if they'd like to donate

Question 42

How does self concept clarity contribute to self-other merging? (Teacher's study) FINDINGS (3 main ones)

Answer 42

Lower SCC (not sure who they are) was associated with less empathic concern which in turn was associated with less money donated to Katie Lower SCC was associated with MORE personal distress which was associated with less money donated to Katie (this distress got in the way of donating) ***Lower SCC was associated with more self-other merging which in turn was associated with more personal distress

Question 43

What are the implications of the teachers study with Katie?

Answer 43

* Empathic concern, resulting from empathy, motivates us to help others in distress * Although empathy involves some level of “self-other merging”, maintaining a clear distinction between the “self” and “other” is important for mature empathic responding * Having a clear sense of self may help with maintaining adequate self- other distinction in empathy