Age differences in three facets of empathy: Performance-based evidence.

Abstract

This study investigated age differences in cognitive and affective facets of empathy: the ability to perceive another's emotions accurately, the capacity to share another's emotions, and the ability to behaviorally express sympathy in an empathic episode. Participants, 80 younger (M(age) = 32 years) and 73 older (M(age) = 59 years) adults, viewed eight film clips, each portraying a younger or an older adult thinking-aloud about an emotionally engaging topic that was relevant to either younger adults or older adults. In comparison to their younger counterparts, older adults generally reported and expressed greater sympathy while observing the target persons; and they were better able to share the emotions of the target persons who talked about a topic that was relevant to older adults. Age-related deficits in the cognitive ability to accurately perceive another's emotions were only evident when the target person talked about a topic of little relevance to older adults. In sum, the present performance-based evidence speaks for multidirectional age differences in empathy.

Empathy and Conversational Enjoyment in Younger and Older Adults

“…Empathy is a complex set of affective and cognitive processes that involve both recognizing and responding to the emotional experiences of others (Bailey, Henry, & Von Hippel, 2008;Grü hn, Rebucal, Diehl, Lumley, & Labouvie-Vief, 2008;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Approaches to the study of empathy frequently distinguish between the cognitive aspect of empathy, namely, the ability to accurately identify emotions in others, and affective empathy, whereby one can share the emotions of others and feel concern for others' distress (Davis, 1983;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011).…”

“…Approaches to the study of empathy frequently distinguish between the cognitive aspect of empathy, namely, the ability to accurately identify emotions in others, and affective empathy, whereby one can share the emotions of others and feel concern for others' distress (Davis, 1983;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Clearly, successful social interactions require empathy: an interlocutor must be able to recognize the conversational partner's reactions (e.g., boredom, interest, joy, distress), but also needs to be motivated to accommodate to the emotional needs of that person for the conversation to be enjoyable and successful.…”

Beyond Age Comparisons: A Plea for the Use of a Modified Brunswikian Approach to Experimental Designs in the Study of Adult Development and Aging

“…Similar arguments regarding the lack of ecological validity have been put forth by Kunzmann and her colleagues in the context of emotion recognition, empathy, and emotion regulation [Kunzmann & Grühn, 2005;Richter, Dietzel, & Kunzmann, 2010;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011], and have recently been elaborated within a Brunswikian framework by Isaacowitz and Stanley [2011] in the context of emotion recognition and aging. The basic argument is that the way emotion recognition by older adults is studied in psychological research does not match well the ways in which emotion recognition is actually done by older adults in everyday settings, because typical research tasks deprive the perceiver of a number of contextual cues (temporal, interpersonal, environmental) that offer additional sources of information to a perceiver outside the laboratory.…”

Empatía en futuros docentes de la Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia

“…Age-based differences on the other TECA scales coincide with research works according to which empathy increases with age, evolving from childhood to adolescence in a predominant way (Decety, 2010;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011;Van der Graaff et al, 2014). The interaction of genetic as well as environmental factors (Knafo et al, 2008) operated in this process makes it possible to reach the end of adolescence being able to assess multiple perspectives (our own and that of others) for the purpose of eventually being able to act (De Waal, 2008).…”

“…Thus, women usually obtain higher scores than men, standing out in the affective dimension (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004;Rose & Rudolph, 2006;Rueckert, Branch, & Doan, 2011). To which must be added that empathy increases as age progresses, from childhood until reaching adulthood (Decety, 2010;Richter & Kunzmann, 2011), which means that genetic as well as environmental factors influence empathy development (Knafo, Zahn-Waxler, van Hulle, Robinson, & Rhee, 2008).…”