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.     

Depressive Attributional Style: The Role of Self-Esteem

Two studies evaluate the role of self-esteem in the depressive attributional style. In the first study, college students completed four measures of depression, four measures of self-esteem, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Regression analyses revealed that across measures, self-esteem was a better predictor of attributional style for negative events than was depression. In study two, psychiatric inpatients completed a measure of self-esteem, a measure of depression, and the ASQ. In this clinical sample, self-esteem and depression were highly correlated and both predicted ASQ scores. But when variation in depth of depression and social desirability were removed statistically from the association between self-esteem and attributions for negative outcomes, there remained a significant association between self-esteem and internal, stable, and global attributions for negative outcomes. Controlling for the variation in self-esteem eliminated the relation between depression and depressive attributional style. These findings demonstrate the importance of self-esteem in depressive attributional style in both normal and clinical populations, as well as potential differences in the relations among self-esteem, depression, and attributional style in clinical versus normal samples.     

USING ABERRANT BEHAVIORS AS REINFORCERS FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN

In a series of experiments, we assessed the efficacy of using autistic children's aberrant behaviors as reinforcers to increase their correct task responding. In Experiment 1, reinforcer conditions of stereotypy, food, and varied (food or stereotypy) were compared. In Experiment 2, the conditions were delayed echolalia, food, and varied (food or delayed echolalia), and in Experiment 3, perseverative behavior was compared with stereotypy and food as potential reinforcers. A multielement design was used for all comparisons, and side-effect measures were recorded during and after teaching sessions as well as at home. Results indicated that, in general, task performance was highest when brief opportunities to engage in aberrant behaviors were provided as reinforcers. Edibles were associated with the lowest performance. Furthermore, no negative side effects (e.g., an increase in aberrant behaviors) occurred. The results are discussed in terms of suggesting a more pragmatic treatment approach by addressing the contingent use of autistic children's aberrant behaviors as reinforcers.     

Similarity in Religiousness of the Solicitor,the Potential Helper,and the Recipient as Determinants of Donating Behavior1

In a 2 × 2 × 2 field experiment, 107 religious and secular subjects were requested by a religious/secular solicitor to donate money for a religious/secular needy family. Religious subjects donated significantly more than secular ones. The pattern of the cell means suggested that whereas the behavior of the religious subjects was guided by the need for positive self-presentation, the secular subjects were influenced by their similarity in religiousness to the solicitor and the recipient.     

Personality and Parenting: Exploring the Mediating Role of Transient Mood and Daily Hassles

ABSTRACT In order to explore the role that transient mood and daily hassles might play in mediating the impact of enduring personality on parenting, naturalistic home observations of mothering and fathering were conducted when firstborn sons were 15 and 21 months of age. Observationally based, behavioral ratings of mothering and fathering were related to three self-report personality scales (Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion), administered to parents when their children were 10 months of age, and to self-reports of transient mood (positive and negative) and daily hassles obtained prior to each observation of family interaction. Results indicated that (a) mothering was more consistently predicted by personality and mood/hassles than fathering; (b) Extraversion played a larger role in predicting fathering than mothering, with the reverse being true of Agreeableness; (c) Neuroticism was the most consistent predictor of men's and women's parenting; and (d) there was little support for affect-specific linkages between personality, mood/hassles, and parenting. Finally, some evidence of mediation by transient mood and daily hassles emerged, more consistently for mothers than fathers, though more strongly for fathers than mothers. These results are discussed in terms of the primacy of the role of parenting for men and women.     

Planning processes in preschool children

This study investigated different types of planning skills in 4- and 5-year-olds. The planning tasks consisted of three search tasks and two clustering tasks. Each task was measured in three ways: by a planning score, the Bronson task attack strategy measure of ongoing behaviors, and by self-report. A varimax rotation of the scores in a factor analysis produced the same two factors for both the planning scores and the Bronson task attack strategy scores. One factor was formed by tasks that allowed for a variety of open-ended solutions, but also had heavy information-processing demands. Tasks that allowed for only one task-imposed solution, but with lighter information-processing demands, formed the second factor. Two of the primary planning tasks used in prior research with preschoolers did not load on the same factor, the grocery store search task (Gauvain & Rogoff, 1989) and the Wellman search task (Wellman, Fabricus, & Sophian, 1985), which suggests that these tasks measure different types of planful search. Self-report data indicated that children were not able to adequately describe their plans. In addition, the one task that required semantic clustering was too difficult for the majority of the preschoolers. Taken together, this suggests that language-based planning measures will underestimate preschoolers' actual planning capacity.     

No confirmation of Geschwind's hypothesis of associations between reading disability,immune disorders,and motor preference in ADHD

Geschwind and colleagues have proposed an association among reading disability, immune disorder, and motor preference. Although reading disability commonly overlaps with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ADHD has not been previously examined in studies evaluating Geschwind's hypothesis. In this paper we evaluate whether ADHD is associated with either asthma or left motor preference and whether asthma and left motor preference are associated with each other. Subjects were 6- to 17-year-old boys with DSM-III-R ADHD (n= 140) and normal controls (n= 120). Information on reading disability, asthma, and motor preference was obtained in a standardized manner blind to the proband's clinical status. Neither ADHD nor reading disability was associated with either asthma or left motor preference nor was asthma and left motor preference associated with one another. Our results are not consistent with Geschwind's hypothesis linking reading disability, immune disorder, and left motor preference. This work was supported, in part, by USPHS (NIMH) grant RO1 MH-41314-01A2 (J.B.). We thank Drs. Benjamin, Kolodny, and Krauss from the Pediatric Department of the Harvard Community Health Plan and Dr. James Perrin from the Pediatric Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital for their contribution to this work.Address all correspondence, including reprint requests, to Joseph Biederman, M.D., Pediatric Psychopharmacology, ACC-725, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.     

Couples coping with cancer: Research issues and recent findings

The diagnosis of cancer in one partner can impose numerous changes for both the individual diagnosed with cancer and his or her healthy spouse. In this article, the literature on spouse social support in the context of cancer is reviewed. The importance of understanding support given and received within a close relationship using an interactional, contextual perspective is emphasized. Examining support-related interactions and understanding the personal characteristics that determine the type and amount of support that providers give and the kind of support individuals prefer, and investigating why significant others respond in supportive or critical ways is important. In addition, the study of support interactions must be placed in the both in the context of a marriage and in the context of a catastrophic life event such as cancer. A longitudinal study of patients with gastrointestinal cancer and their healthy partners was undertaken to examine these issues, and the design of this study is described. General problems conducting research with couples undergoing a severe life stressor as well as specific problems our research group has encountered while setting up a research program in the cancer setting are reviewed.