Catharsis and vicarious fear

Nánay, Bence

doi:10.1111/ejop.12325

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“… 9. This view appears to be in line with Nanay's account of vicarious emotions ( 2013 , 2018 ). It is, however, not clear if he would agree with the rest of my account of other-oriented emotions and of sympathy.…”

supporting

confidence: 83%

What is Sympathy? Understanding the Structure of Other-Oriented Emotions

Malbois

2022

Emotion Review

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Sympathy (empathic concern) is mainly understood as a feeling for another and is often contrasted with empathy—a feeling with another. However, it is not clear what feeling for another means and what emotions sympathy involves. Since empirical data suggests that sympathy plays an important role in our social lives and is more closely connected to helping behavior than empathy, we need a more detailed account. In this paper, I argue that sympathy is not a particular emotion but a type of emotional experience: those that have another person as focus. I explain what this means and show that this sheds light on why sympathy, rather than empathy, directly motivates altruistic actions.

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supporting

confidence: 83%

What is Sympathy? Understanding the Structure of Other-Oriented Emotions

Malbois

2022

Emotion Review

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“…Our results also evidence that females with higher trait anxiety expected more legitimation from their peers. The higher trait anxiety levels could make them understand the violence as a catharsis, legitimizing it [ 44 ]. In this line, previous researchers found that girls were more at risk for internalizing adjustment problems as negative affect with stress, anxiety, and depression [ 26 , 27 ], and find adverse interpersonal events more stressful than males [ 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Anxiety, and Legitimation of Violence in Adolescents Facing Simulated Physical Aggression at School

et al. 2021

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We analyzed gender and anxiety differences in middle school students facing a physical peer aggression situation. The participants were 1147 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (male: n = 479; female: n = 668) who watched a 12 s animation representing the situation and filled out a questionnaire to analyze the legitimation of violent behaviors and anxiety levels. We registered their decisions to solve the situation using a categorical scale that included assertive, avoidant, aggressive, submissive, and supportive behaviors. Gender was not associated with the adolescent’s behaviors in facing a simulated peer aggression situation. However, male teenagers tended to perceive adults as sanctioners and neutrals; those who used the diffusion of responsibility and dehumanization to justify their behavior also showed a higher state of anxiety. Female teenagers who expected legitimation from their peers, presented higher anxiety as well. Educational interventions may use these results, helping adolescents to understand that their acts have substantial implications in the lives of others. It is essential to develop group interventions that modify how adolescents manage their conflicts and change gender stereotypes that significantly impact health. We highlight the need for linking families in educational programs facing the challenges of transforming the legitimization of violence in parental practices.

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“…The property of being disgusting for my friend Jane cannot be fully specified without reference to Jane's emotion (of disgust). Some of our most important social emotions work like this ( Smith, 1759 , Nanay, 2016 , Nanay, 2018 , see also Wondra & Ellsworth, 2015 for a related proposal).…”

Section: Vicarious Representationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Vicarious representation: A new theory of social cognition

Nánay

2020

Cognition

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Theory of mind, the attribution of mental states to others is one form of social cognition. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of another, much simpler, form of social cognition, which I call vicarious representation. Vicarious representation is the attribution of other-centered properties to objects. This mental capacity is different from, and much simpler than, theory of mind as it does not imply the understanding (or representation) of the mental (or even perceptual) states of another agents. I argue that the most convincing experiments that are supposed to show that non-human primates have theory of mind in fact demonstrate that they are capable of vicarious representation. The same is true for the experiments about the theory of mind of infants under 12 months.

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Catharsis and vicarious fear

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

What is Sympathy? Understanding the Structure of Other-Oriented Emotions

What is Sympathy? Understanding the Structure of Other-Oriented Emotions

Gender, Anxiety, and Legitimation of Violence in Adolescents Facing Simulated Physical Aggression at School

Vicarious representation: A new theory of social cognition

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