Aiding behavior vs. fear in the albino rat

Rice, George E.

doi:10.1007/bf03393574

Cited by 38 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In contrast to previous work (10–13), the present study shows pro-social behavior which is accomplished by the deliberate action of a rat. Pro-social behavior occurred in the absence of training or social reward, and even when in competition with highly palatable food.…”

contrasting

confidence: 99%

Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior in Rats

Bartal

Decety

Mason

2011

Science

744

715

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Whereas human pro-social behavior is often driven by empathic concern for another, it is unclear whether non-primate mammals experience a similar motivational state. To test for empathically motivated pro-social behavior in rodents, a free rat was placed in an arena with a cagemate trapped in a restrainer. Within days, the free rat acted deliberately and quickly to open the restrainer and free the cagemate. Rats did not open an empty or object-containing restrainer. Rats freed cagemates even when rewarding social contact was prevented. When liberating a cagemate was pitted against chocolate contained within a second restrainer, rats opened both restrainers and in most trials, shared the chocolate. Thus, rats behave pro-socially in response to a conspecific’s distress, providing strong evidence for biological roots of empathy.

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contrasting

confidence: 99%

Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior in Rats

Bartal

Decety

Mason

2011

Science

744

715

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“…The affective aspect of empathic responding is thought to be related to such phenomena as emotional contagion (Lipps, 1903; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987), emotion comprehension (Haxby, Hoffman & Gobbini, 2000), sympathetic physiological arousal (Levenson & Ruef, 1992) and con-specific altruism (Rice, 1964); all of which are represented in TEQ items. Two items specifically target the perception of an emotional state in another that stimulates the same emotion in oneself (items 1 and 4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire: Scale Development and Initial Validation of a Factor-Analytic Solution to Multiple Empathy Measures

Spreng

McKinnon

Mar

et al. 2009

Journal of Personality Assessment

790

639

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In order to formulate a parsimonious tool to assess empathy, we used factor analysis on a combination of self-report measures to examine consensus and developed a brief self-report measure of this common factor. The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) represents empathy as a primarily emotional process. In three studies, the TEQ demonstrated strong convergent validity, correlating positively with behavioral measures of social decoding, self-report measures of empathy, and negatively with a measure of Autism symptomatology. Moreover, it exhibited good internal consistency and high test-retest reliability. The TEQ is a brief, reliable, and valid instrument for the assessment of empathy. KeywordsEmpathy; Self-report; Questionnaire; Factor analysis Empathy is an important component of social cognition that contributes to our ability to understand and respond adaptively to others' emotions, succeed in emotional communication, and promote prosocial behavior. The term "empathy" is derived from Titchener's (1909;Wispé, 1986) translation of the German word Einfühlung, meaning "feeling into" (Wispé, 1987). Generally speaking, it refers to the consequences of perceiving the feeling state of another as well as the capacity to do so accurately. Despite the prominence of the empathy construct in developmental research (Sagi & Hoffman, 1976;Ungerer, 1990;Zahn-Waxler, Friedman & Cummings, 1983), and cross-species investigations of empathic capabilities (Masserman, Wechkin & Terris, 1964;Rice & Gainer, 1962), a clear, consensual definition of the construct of empathy remains elusive.Corresponding author: R. Nathan Spreng, Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6A 2E1, Phone: 416.785.2500, x.2826, Fax: 416.785.2862 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptRecent research into empathy emphasizes the distinction between cognitive and emotional components of the construct (Preston & de Waal, 2002). These components assume various definitions. Put simply, however, emotional empathy is commonly thought of as an emotional reaction (e.g., compassion) to another's emotional response (e.g., sadness). This reaction is not dependent on a cognitive understanding of why a person is suffering (Rankin, Kramer & Miller, 2005), although it may facilitate understanding and action. By contrast, cognitive empathy involves an intellectual or imaginative apprehension of another's emotional state, often described as overlapping with the construct of theory of mind (understanding the thoughts and feelings of others) and used interchangeably by some authors (Lawrence, Shaw, Baker, BaronCohen, David, 2004). Numerous authors focus on distinguishing empathy from the related concepts of emotional contagion, sympathy and perspective-taking surveyed in some selfreport measures of empathy (Wispé, 1987;Wispé, 1986;Omdahl, 1995). Whereas emotional contagion (also referred to as personal distress) involves the perceiver assuming the emotional state of the target, sympa...

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“…Emotion regulation problems are correlated with personal distress and a lack of helping in preschoolers, older children, college undergraduates, and the elderly (Doherty 1997;Eisenberg et al 1994;Eisenberg & Okun 1996, respectively). The latter situation is interpreted as being too stressful for the subjects, precluding an empathic response (Rice 1964). The latter situation is interpreted as being too stressful for the subjects, precluding an empathic response (Rice 1964).…”

Section: Perception-action Processes Facilitate the Motheroffspring Bondmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal behavioral evidence. Alternatively, rats decrease bar pressing for an object that is being shocked (Church 1959;Rice 1964). This "altruism effect" could not be replicated with a paradigm that used looped recordings of rat squeaks as the stimulus (Lavery & Foley 1963).…”

Section: Emotional Evidence For the Pammentioning

confidence: 99%