Cognitive and affective components of empathy and their relationship with personality dimensions in a Chinese sample

Empathy is an essential component of social interactions and may be related to personality characteristics. However, this issue has not been extensively examined in a Chinese sample. Students at six universities in China (N = 257) completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire‐Revised (EPQ‐R), and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS‐21). Using multiple regression analyses, and after accounting for demographic variables (sex and age), it was found that the affective empathy component Personal Distress positively predicted EPQ‐R Neuroticism scores (β = .49), negatively predicted Extraversion (β = –.21) and Lie scale scores (β = –.22), and positively predicted DASS‐21 Depression (β = .26), Anxiety (β = .34) and Stress scores (β = .39). Empathic Concern positively predicted Lie Scale scores (β = .21), and negatively predicted Psychoticism scores (β = –.24). Individuals with high scores in Empathic Concern were also found to score more highly on Fantasy, Personal Distress, Neuroticism, Stress and Anxiety. Thus, more empathic individuals are likely to experience elevations in negative affectivity when they perceive the emotional suffering of others.     

Parents' Empathic Responses and Pain and Distress in Pediatric Patients

We investigated the relationship between parents' empathic responses prior to their children undergoing cancer treatment procedures and children's pain/distress during the procedures. We hypothesized: (1) parents' empathic distress would be positively associated with children's pain/distress, (2) parents' empathic concern would be negatively associated with children's pain/distress; and (3) parents' enduring dispositions and social support would be associated with their empathic responses. Parents completed: (1) measures of dispositions and perceived social support several weeks before their children underwent the procedures, and (2) state measures of empathic distress and empathic concern just before the procedures. Empathic distress was positively associated with children's pain; empathic concern was negatively associated with children's pain/distress. Predictions about dispositions and social support were also substantially confirmed.     

Hearing others’ pain: neural activity related to empathy

The human voice is one of the principal conveyers of social and affective communication. Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that observing pain in others activates neural representations similar to those from the first-hand experience of pain; however, studies on pain expressions in the auditory channel are lacking. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to examine brain responses to emotional exclamations of others’ pain. The control condition comprised positive (e.g., laughing) or negative (e.g., snoring) stimuli of the human voice that were not associated with pain and suffering. Compared to these control stimuli, pain-related exclamations elicited increased activation in the superior and middle temporal gyri, left insula, secondary somatosensory cortices, thalamus, and right cerebellum, as well as deactivation in the anterior cingulate cortex. The left anterior insular and thalamic activations correlated significantly with the Empathic Concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Thus, the brain regions involved in hearing others’ pain are similar to those activated in the empathic processing of visual stimuli. Additionally, the findings emphasise the modulating role of interindividual differences in affective empathy.     

Empathy and the Self-Absorption Paradox II: Self-Rumination and Self-Reflection as Mediators Between Shame,Guilt, and Empathy

The present study tested the hypothesis that proneness to shame would predict self-rumination (and personal distress) whereas proneness to guilt would predict self-reflection (and perspective taking, and empathic concern). Results supported the majority of these predictions, and revealed that self-reflection mediates the relationship between guilt and perspective taking. Additional results provided some support for the hypothesis that self-rumination mediates the relationship between shame and personal distress. However, results also revealed that shame mediated the relationship between self-rumination and personal distress, suggesting that shame and self-rumination may feed each other within a reciprocal cycle that is likely to result in a maladaptive empathic response (i.e., personal distress). Empathic concern was associated with higher levels of guilt, but results failed to replicate earlier findings demonstrating a positive relationship between empathic concern and self-reflection. The present results replicate and extend past research and suggest several promising avenues for future research.     

自我提升幽默与生活满意度的关系：情绪幸福和社会支持的链式中介模型

基于幽默的释放理论、积极情绪的扩建功能理论和集体文化下生活满意度的预测指标提出自我提升幽默通过情绪幸福和社会支持两个链式中介变量提升生活满意度的假设模型。采用幽默风格问卷中的自我提升幽默维度、主观幸福感量表中的积极情绪和消极情绪维度、多维领悟社会支持量表和生活满意度量表对884名大学生进行调查。构建结构方程模型,联合显著性检验和Bootstrap检验表明了多重中介效应显著,总中介效果量为63.6%,其中通过情绪幸福这一中介路径的中介效果量最大,达47.3%。未来研究可探讨在个体主义文化背景下的不同链式中介效应。     

Empathic distress and concern predict aggression in toddlerhood: The moderating role of sex

Impaired empathy is an important risk factor of aggression, but results are contradictory in toddlerhood. The association between empathy and aggression may differ for empathic distress and empathic concern in response to empathy-evoking situations, and for boys and girls. Therefore, the current study investigated whether empathic distress and empathic concern at age 20 months (N = 133, 69 boys) predicted aggression at ages 20 and 30 months (N = 119, 62 boys), while taking a potential moderating effect of sex into account. Empathic behavior was observed during a distress simulation task 20 months post-partum. Physical aggression was assessed through maternal report, using the Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood. Linear regression analyses revealed sex differences in the associations between empathic distress and concern on the one hand and physical aggression at age 20 months on the other. Furthermore, physical aggression at age 30 months was predicted by the interaction of sex with empathic distress at age 20 months, while controlling for aggression at age 20 months. More empathic distress and concern were associated with less physical aggression in girls, but not in boys. The findings indicate that the prediction of physical aggression by empathic distress was more robust over time than for empathic concern. This study sheds new light on the intricate relationship between empathy, aggression, and sex from a developmental perspective.     

Life Events and Prosocial Behaviors Among Young Adults: Considering the Roles of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern

The authors examined the altruism born of suffering model in a culturally diverse sample of young adults. They hypothesized that major life events would interact with perspective taking to predict empathic concern, which would predict multiple types of prosocial behaviors among young adults. The sample included 202 young adults (M age = 20.94?years; 76.5% girls; 36.5% White, 50.5% Latino) who reported on their exposure to major life events, perspective taking and empathic responding, and tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Life events indirectly, positively predicted prosocial behaviors via empathic concern. Empathic concern and perspective taking also interacted to predict empathic responding. The results demonstrated links that support the altruism born of suffering model, suggesting that life stressors might not always be negative and might promote resilience and social connection among young adults under specific conditions.     

Greater emotional empathy and prosocial behavior in late life

Emotional empathy and prosocial behavior were assessed in older, middle-aged, and young adults. Participants watched two films depicting individuals in need, one uplifting and the other distressing. Physiological responses were monitored during the films, and participants rated their levels of emotional empathy following each film. As a measure of prosocial behavior, participants were given an additional payment they could contribute to charities supporting the individuals in the films. Age-related linear increases were found for both emotional empathy (self-reported empathic concern and cardiac and electrodermal responding) and prosocial behavior (size of contribution) across both films and in self-reported personal distress to the distressing film. Empathic concern and cardiac reactivity to both films, along with personal distress to the distressing film only, were associated with greater prosocial behavior. Empathic concern partially mediated the age-related differences in prosocial behavior. Results are discussed in terms of our understanding both of adult development and of the nature of these vital aspects of human emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Perceiving and expressing feelings through actions in relation to individual differences in empathic traits: the Action and Feelings Questionnaire (AFQ)

Empathy is usually conceived of as independent of the non-verbal behaviors which mediate its experience, though embodied cognition theory predicts that individual differences in action representation will affect empathic traits. The “Actions and Feelings Questionnaire” (AFQ) was designed to capture individual differences in self-awareness of own and others’ actions, particularly those associated with feelings, which we predicted would correlate with levels of empathic traits. A pilot 30-item questionnaire included items on perceptual sensitivity to action, imitation, action imagery, and gestural and facial expression. It was completed by a sample of 278 adults (mean age 21.2 years; 189 females, 89 males) along with the 15-item Empathic Quotient (EQ) Questionnaire. Total scores on the final 18-item questionnaire showed strong internal coherence (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81) and test-retest reliability (ICC=0.88), marked effect of sex and highly significant correlation with EQ. The questionnaire was administered to participants in an fMRI study investigating the neural correlates of facial imitation. Total AFQ score correlated with activity in somatosensory cortex, insula, anterior cingulate, and visual cortex. The AFQ shows promise as a brief and simple self-report measure sensitive to variability in the self-awareness of actions associated with feelings. It suggests that much of the variability of empathic traits in typical populations is accounted for by variance in this capacity. We suggest that being more empathic really is about being “touchy-feely,” and this questionnaire provides a novel measure of action-based empathy.     

Feminism and women's sense of humor

The present study empirically examined the long-standing folk belief that women, especially feminist women, have no sense of humor. Svebak's (1974) revised Sense of Humor Questionnaire [SHQ; (1974b) “Revised Questionnaire on the Sense of Humor,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 15, pp. 328–331], the short version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale [ATW; found in J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich (1978) Masculinity and Femininity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates, and Antecedents, Austin: University of Texas Press], and S. K. Murnen and D. Byrne's Hyperfemininity Scale [HF; (1991) “Hyperfemininity: Measurement and Initial Validation of the Construct,” The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 28, pp. 479–489] were administered to 175 college women. Self-ratings were also obtained of the women's stands on women's issues (from traditional to feminist), their own sense of humor, and how often other people typically laugh at their humor. Significant positive correlations occurred between the latter two measures and Svebak's scale. A significant negative correlation appeared between the ATW and the HF. The lack of a significant association between the women's self-rated sense of humor or the SHQ and either the ATW or HF suggests that no relationship between feminism and sense of humor was demonstrable at least with these instruments in this young adult sample.     

Two factors of restraint: concern for dieting and weight fluctuation

Factor analysis of the Restraint Scale produced two replicated factors: Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation. Concern for Dieting reflects heightened attention to and emotional association with eating. Weight Fluctuation reflects extent of previously-experienced weight gain and loss. Weight Fluctuation was more highly positively correlated with indices of overweight status than was Concern for Dieting. Concern for Dieting was positively correlated with Public Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety while Weight Fluctuation was not. Both versions of Restraint were weakly and inversely correlated with Body Image, although this relationship was mediated by degree of overweight status. The findings indicate that the two factors are sufficiently distinct to preclude combination into a single scale. Furthermore. Weight Fluctuation appears to be the more promising subscale for future research.     

Emotional empathy and associated individual differences

Emotional empathic tendency is defined as an individual’s characteristic inclination to respond with emotions similar to those of others who are present. Within a three-dimensional framework for describing temperament, more empathic persons were found to be more arousable, and secondarily, more pleasant. Greater skin conductance and heart-rate responses of more empathic persons to emotional stimuli confirmed their greater arousability. Also, more empathic individuals were more emotional, evidenced by their greater tendency to weep. Males were found consistently to be less empathic than females. Compared with parents of low-empathy subjects, those of high-empathy subjects were found to spend more time with their children, display more affection for them, and to be verbally more explicit about feelings. Also, more emphatic mothers were more tolerant of infant cries and were less prone to engage in child abuse. High-empathy, compared with low-empathy, subjects engaged more in altruistic behaviors, were less aggressive, more affiliative, rated positive social traits as more important, scored higher on measures of moral judgment, and volunteered more to help others. A modified Emotional Empathic Tendency Scale (EETS) for children correlated negatively with teacher ratings of child aggressiveness.     

Humor As a Stress Moderator in the Prediction of Blood Pressure Obtained during Five Stressful Tasks

In five consecutive stressful tasks we examined the role of humor as a potential stress moderator using systolic and diastolic blood pressure as an indication of cardiovascular reactivity. In all five tasks, the Coping Humor Scale interacted with sex in the prediction of blood pressure. The same pattern was found in response to each of the five tasks: Females who were higher in coping humor exhibited lower systolic blood pressure than females scoring lower on coping humor, while the reverse characterized males; males who scored high on the coping humor scale exhibited higher systolic blood pressure than males scoring low on that scale. Similar though less robust results were found when the Situational Humor Response Questionnaire was used as the measure of humor. In the Cold Pressor Task, which involves pain and endurance, interactions were found between humor, sex, and trials indicating a stress-moderator effect. The absence of interactions indicating stress moderation in most of the analyses with the other four stress tasks suggests that humor may play more of a role in moderating the impact of uncontrollable and passively experienced stressors. Tasks requiring more active, problem-solving behavior may be less amenable to the beneficial effects of humor. The findings do not clearly resolve the questions about the role of humor in effecting responses to stress. However, they do suggest that the subjects' sex may be an important consideration when evaluating the impact of humor as a stress moderator.     

Relationship Between Mother,Father, and Peer Attachment and Empathy With Moral Authority

We explored the relationship between mother, father, and peer attachment security, empathy, and moral authority in order to clarify certain problems of previous empirical research on such relationships. A sample of 202 Persian-speaking undergraduate students completed questionnaires pertaining to these constructs. The results revealed that mother and father attachment were significantly correlated with family, society welfare, and equality sources of moral authority, whereas peer attachment security was related only to society welfare and equality sources of moral authority. Out of the empathy subscales, only empathic concern was associated with moral authority sources. Empathic concern was also related to mother, father, and peer attachment, whereas perspective taking was correlated with mother and peer attachment. The combination of empathic concern and mother, father, and peer attachment predicted significant amount of variance of “principle source of moral authority” (including society welfare and equality sources). Findings support existence of a strong relationship between attachment security and the content of moral thought of adolescents, and findings redress an empirical imbalance in research literature on the relation of attachment and morality.     

“A joke a day keeps the doctor away?” Meta‐analytical evidence of differential associations of habitual humor styles with mental health

Humor and mental health are interconnected as is evidenced by a large number of studies. However, associations are only small and inconsistent as the operationalization of humor poses a methodological challenge. The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ ) differentiates four humor styles that might be beneficial or harmful to mental health. The aim of the present study was to meta‐analytically aggregate studies using the HSQ to assess the associations of different humor styles with four areas of mental health (self‐esteem, life satisfaction, optimism, depression). An extensive electronic database literature search identified 37 studies that reported correlations between the HSQ scales and the four areas of mental health in 45 independent samples (total N = 12,734). In total, 16 meta‐analyses were conducted. Moderating effects of participant age, sex, and geographic region were examined via subgroup analyses and meta‐regression. Humor styles differed in terms of their associations with mental health. Health‐promoting humor styles were overall positively correlated with mental health (small‐to‐medium effect sizes). Self‐defeating humor was overall negatively correlated with mental health. Aggressive humor was overall unrelated with mental health. Moderator analyses suggested geographic differences (Eastern vs. Western samples) and sex differences for some of these associations. Fostering specific humor styles may be beneficial for mental health. In addition, observing the habitual use of humor styles might help therapists to develop a better understanding of their clients. Differences in the utilization and the correlates of humor styles in Eastern and Western societies, and sex differences, need to be addressed in future research.     

Reciprocal Relations Among Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Prosociality Across Time

ABSTRACT The present study examined the longitudinal relations between individuals' prosociality and their self-efficacy beliefs in regard to emotional regulation and responding empathically to others' needs. The participants were 244 females and 222 males with a mean age of 17 years ( SD =1.5) at T1, 19 years ( SD =1.4) at T2, and 21 years ( SD =1.6) at T3. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations assigning empathic self-efficacy a major role in predicting the level of individuals' prosociality. Empathic self-efficacy beliefs mediated the relations of regulative emotional self-efficacy beliefs to prosocial tendencies such as caring, sharing, helping, and empathic concern toward others. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and has implications for interventions designed to promote and sustain prosociality.     

Humor Types Show Different Patterns of Self-Regulation, Self-Esteem, and Well-Being

Humor styles have been found to be associated with well-being, however, no study has addressed the distinct well-being associations of combinations of humor styles, that is, humor types, yet. The present study thus aimed at investigating which combinations of humor styles exist and to which extent these humor types are associated with well-being. In an online questionnaire, the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ, Martin et al. J Res Pers 37:48–75, 2003), self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being instruments were administered to a German sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the underlying structure of the HSQ. With hierarchical clustering, we found evidence for three humor types (endorsers, humor deniers, and self-enhancers), which differed in group means for self-esteem, self-regulatory strategies, and well-being. Findings provide further evidence for the positive well-being correlates of self-enhancing humor, and distinctly address the positive correlates of aggressive and self-defeating humor being absent. It is discussed that humor styles cannot be conceptualized as beneficial or detrimental per se, but have to be regarded in context.     

An investigation of worry and sense of humor

To investigate the relationship between worry and sense of humor, the author administered the Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ; F. Tallis, M. Eysenck, & A. Matthews, 1992) and the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS; J. A. Thorson & F. C. Powell, 1993) to 140 undergraduates. Worry was negatively related to sense of humor. Results of a stepwise regression, using the WDQ as the criterion and the MSHS factors as predictors, showed that the humor production factor of the MSHS loaded negatively on Step 1 and the coping with humor factor loaded positively on Step 2. The results are discussed in relation to W. E. Kelly and M. J. Miller's (1999) cognitive model of worry and worry as a coping strategy.     

That’s not funny: Instrument validation of the concern for political correctness scale

The transformation of common language toward inclusion of all people is the mechanism by which many aim to alter attitudes and beliefs that stand in the way of more meaningful social change. The term for this motivated concern for language is “political correctness” or “PC.” The current project seeks to introduce a new tool for investigations into this phenomenon, the concern for political correctness (CPC) scale. CPC assesses individual differences in concern for politically correct speech. Exploratory and confirmatory structural equation modeling showed consistent factor structure of the two subscales; an emotion subscale measuring negative emotional response to hearing politically incorrect language, and an activism subscale measuring a willingness to correct others who use politically incorrect language. Correlational analyses suggested that concern for political correctness is associated with more liberal beliefs and ideologies and less right-wing authoritarianism. The emotion subscale was also found to be associated with lower emotional well-being and the activism subscale with more frequent arguments. Laboratory-based criterion validation studies indicated that the two subscales predicted negative reactions to politically incorrect humor.     

Sense of humor, emotional intelligence, and social competence

Associations among sense of humor, emotional intelligence (EI), and social competence were examined in 111 undergraduate students using measures of humor styles, trait cheerfulness, social competence, and an ability test of EI. Emotional management ability was positively correlated with self-enhancing humor and trait cheerfulness, and negatively correlated with trait bad mood. Ability to accurately perceive emotions was negatively related to aggressive and self-defeating humor. Positive humor styles and trait cheerfulness were positively correlated with various domains of social competence, whereas negative humor styles and trait bad mood were negatively correlated with social competence. Finally, the emotional management facet of EI was positively correlated with several social competence domains.