Emerging Infectious Outbreak Inhibits Pain Empathy Mediated Prosocial Willingness

Abstract

BackgroundThe pandemic of COVID-19 sets off public psychological crises and impacts social functioning. Prepandemic research has shown that as the mental resource wears out under long-term distress, empathy exhaustion will happen. While prosocial activities are positively linked to empathy, quantitative research on the pandemic's effect on empathy and prosocial willingness has been insu ciently examined.Prosocial behaviors are carried out during a life-threatening time to promote communication and encourage community members to survive emergencies such as food shortages and natural disasters. MethodsThis study examined the shifts in emotion, empathy and prosocial behaviors between the pre-pandemic and pandemic era in China. Before (N = 520, 11/21/2019-11/23/2019) and after (N = 570, 2/23/2020-2/24/2020) the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored an empathy-driven prosociality relationship through an online task and questionnaires with a total of 1,190 participants. Chi-square test, independent samples ttests, linear regression analysis and correlation analysis were used for the data characteristics comparisons between the pre-outbreak and outbreak peak era datasets. Mediation and moderation models were also computed.

Far from the eyes, far from the heart. COVID-19 confinement dampened sensitivity to painful facial features.

“…In particular, and similarly to the case of heavy physical trauma (Kandel et al, 2000), severe social exclusions are held to trigger regulatory mechanisms to decrease distress, promote coping strategies, and improving resilience towards subsequent painful stimulations (Antico et al, 2018;Bernstein & Claypool, 2012). Our study converges with, but also extend, previous findings, by showing how pandemic-induced isolation: (1) decreases sensitivity to pain, not only in one's own body, but also in the appraisal of others' face (see also Cao et al, 2020); (2) influences preferentially pain-specific facial information.…”

“…We also found that social isolation influenced the way participants reacted to the Cyberball game, specifically in relation to pleasantness scores towards/from the co-players (especially those of inclusive nature). Additionally, and reminiscently of what observed by Cao et al (2020) in the Chinese population, the analysis of empathy scores revealed that subjects from the post-lockdown group were less concerned about others' suffering than those from the pre-lockdown group. These results are consistent with previous findings reporting that being left out by others impacted negatively empathic sensitivity, leading to reduced capacity to understand others' suffering and, in turn, decreased motivation to engage in prosocial acts (e.g., to donate money, offer help and cooperate; Coyne et al, 2011;DeWall & Baumeister, 2006;Twenge et al, 2007).…”

“…To date, only few studies investigated the consequences of the social restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the processing of others' affective facial information. For instance, Cao et al, (2020) documented how Chinese individuals exhibited lesser sensitivity to videos of people reacting to electric shocks following the lockdown, an effect that was paralleled by decreased empathic scores from validated questionnaires (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Davis, 1980). Instead, Meléndez et al (2020) investigated the impact of lockdown on emotional facial recognition comparing the performance of Spanish individuals before and after the confinement.…”

COVID-19 Protective Behaviors Are Forms of Prosocial and Unselfish Behaviors

“…Second, the study was limited to the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cao et al (2020) showed that empathy and prosocial tendencies decreased in the post-outbreak period. Thus, a different pattern could be expected in longitudinal studies.…”

Far from the eyes, far from the heart: COVID-19 confinement dampened sensitivity to painful facial features

“…To date, only few studies investigated the consequences of the social restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the processing of others' affective facial information. For instance, Cao et al, (2020) documented how Chinese individuals exhibited lesser sensitivity to videos of people reacting to electric shocks following the lockdown, an effect that was paralleled by decreased empathic scores from validated questionnaires (Davis, 1980). Instead, Meléndez et al (Meléndez et al, 2020) investigated the impact of lockdown on emotional facial recognition comparing the performance of Spanish individuals before and after the confinement.…”