Affect as a foundational psychological process for spirituality and empathy |
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| Authors: | Brick Johnstone Wesley J. Wildman Dong Pil Yoon Daniel Cohen Jane Armer Sean Lanigar |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Health Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA;2. School of Theology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA;3. School of Social Work, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA;4. Department of Religious Studies, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA;5. University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA |
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| Abstract: | There is growing interest in understanding the manner by which spiritual experiences, religious beliefs and behaviours, and prosocial traits (e.g., empathy, altruism) are related. Research has recently focused on determining those psychological constructs (e.g., affective, behavioural, cognitive) that are common to these related constructs, although the specific relationships remain unclear. The current study evaluated relationships among spiritual experiences and affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy in 98 participants with heterogeneous health conditions. Results indicate that spirituality is significantly related to affective empathy, but not cognitive empathy. These findings suggest that individuals’ propensity to be both spiritual and empathetic is primarily related to a greater disposition towards emotional connection with others (i.e., whether with the divine or other people). Research and practical implications are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | Spirituality cognitive empathy affective empathy BMMRS |
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