Culture–Sex Interaction and the Self-Report Empathy in Australians and Mainland Chinese

Abstract

Empathy is the ability to understand and share other people’s emotions. Researchers have debated whether Westerners and Asians differ in their self-report empathy. This study aimed to replicate a previously reported culture–sex interaction in self-report empathy using Australian and Mainland Chinese participants, to investigate the cultural differences in self-report empathy in each sex group, and to verify the moderated mediating effects of three empathy-related traits (i.e., independent self-construal, interdependent self-construal, and personal distress) on the cultural differences in self-report empathy in both sex groups. In this study, scores on two self-report questionnaires of empathy, namely, the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), were compared between 196 Australian Caucasian (101 males) and 211 Mainland Chinese (59 males) university students. Results first confirmed the significant culture–sex interaction and illustrated that the cultural differences in empathy scores were significant only for female (i.e., Australian females had higher scores than Mainland Chinese females) but not for male participants. Furthermore, results of moderated mediation analyses indicated that higher self-report empathy in both females and males was related to higher interdependent self-construal (exhibited by Mainland Chinese) and less personal distress (exhibited by Australians), and particularly in females, also related to higher independent self-construal (exhibited by Australian females). The current study is one of few studies that suggest cultural differences in empathy are dependent on the sex of the participant. Moreover, the current findings have added new insights into the explanation of cultural differences in empathy using personal distress and self-construal.

Culture, Sex, and Group-Bias in Trait and State Empathy

“…Empathy is the sharing and understanding of others’ emotions ( Cohen and Strayer, 1996 ; Eslinger, 1998 ; Zhao et al, 2019 ) and is an essential social skill ( Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004 ). This skill can be evaluated in terms of trait and state empathy ( Van der Graaff et al, 2016 ).…”

“…This skill can be evaluated in terms of trait and state empathy ( Van der Graaff et al, 2016 ). Trait empathy reflects one’s general characteristics of empathy ( Song et al, 2019 ), commonly gauged by self-report questionnaires (e.g., Zhao et al, 2019 ). State empathy represents one’s context-specific empathy toward a given stimulus ( Song et al, 2019 ), usually evaluated through computer-based tasks (e.g., Neumann et al, 2013 ).…”

“…State empathy represents one’s context-specific empathy toward a given stimulus ( Song et al, 2019 ), usually evaluated through computer-based tasks (e.g., Neumann et al, 2013 ). Recently, researchers identified a significant culture–sex interaction effect on trait empathy, suggesting a combined impact of cultural background and biological sex on one’s empathy ( Zhao et al, 2019 ). However, to date, the interaction effect has only been explored in terms of the trait (e.g., Melchers et al, 2015 ; Zhao et al, 2019 ) but not state empathy.…”

“…Recently, researchers identified a significant culture–sex interaction effect on trait empathy, suggesting a combined impact of cultural background and biological sex on one’s empathy ( Zhao et al, 2019 ). However, to date, the interaction effect has only been explored in terms of the trait (e.g., Melchers et al, 2015 ; Zhao et al, 2019 ) but not state empathy. The current study aims to examine the culture–sex interaction effect on both trait and state empathy with a cohort of Australian and Mainland Chinese participants.…”

Book Review: The Revolting Self: Perspectives on the Psychological, Social, and Clinical Implications of Self-directed Disgust

“…Sex is the main reason for disgust, along with avoidance of disease (Overton et al, 2018). A recent study by Frontiers in Psychology looked closely at the relationship between sex and culture, which showed cultural differences in emotional reactions to sex (Zhao et al, 2019). Although cultural variances influence emotion, sex is still generally associated with disgust in many populations.…”