Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking: Linear and Quadratic Effects of Age Across the Adult Life Span

O’Brien, Ed; Konrath, Sara; Grühn, Daniel; Hagen, Linda

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbs055

Cited by 268 publications

(236 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Unlike in prior research (O'Brien, Konrath, Grühn, & Hagen, 2013), gender was unrelated to perspective taking, β=.00, p=.96. However, perspective taking was significantly associated with higher social desirability, β=.26, p<.001, as has been found in prior research (Watson & Morris, 1991).…”

Section: Descriptive Statistics Seecontrasting

confidence: 95%

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The Strategic Helper: Narcissism and Prosocial Motives and Behaviors

2016

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Across three studies, we examined the relationship between narcissism, prosocial behaviors, and the reasons why people engaged in them. Specifically, we examined how narcissistic people engaged in charitable donations, taking advantage of a naturally occurring mass charitable donation campaign, the ALS "ice bucket challenge" (Study 1). We also examined how narcissism was related to volunteering and other types of prosocial behaviors (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, we compared and contrasted the prosocial responses of more empathic versus more narcissistic people (Studies 2 and 3). This paper can help scholars and practitioners to determine under which circumstances, and for which reasons, narcissistic people may exhibit prosocial behaviors.Abstract word count: <106>

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Section: Descriptive Statistics Seecontrasting

confidence: 95%

“…Gender was significantly associated with empathic concern, β=-.12, p<.001, with males scoring lower than females as per prior research (O'Brien et al, 2013). In addition, empathic concern was positively associated with social desirability, β=.13, p<.001, also replicating prior research (Watson & Morris, 1991).…”

Section: Descriptive Statistics Seesupporting

confidence: 76%

The Strategic Helper: Narcissism and Prosocial Motives and Behaviors

2016

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“…Despite the extensive history of behavioral psychology and philosophy research, the definition of empathy differs from study to study and has no universally accepted definition (Batson, 2009;Eisenberg, 2000). A large number of studies on empathy stress that the construct is multifaceted, but it is composed of at least two important components (Decety & Jackson, 2004;Decety & Ickes, 2009;Decety, Michalska, & Kinzler, 2012;Eres, Decety, Louis, & Molenberghs, 2015;O'Brien, Konrath, Gruhn, & Hagen, 2013): an affective component, which is defined as the ability to experience an appropriate emotional response of another's state (O'Brien et al, 2013), and a cognitive component, which is related to our capacity to predict and understand another's mental state using cognitive processes (Decety et al, 2012). When we empathize, we vicariously experience the emotional state of the other person while realizing that what we are feeling is not our own affective state but that of another person.…”

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confidence: 99%

Multidimensional assessment of empathic abilities in patients with insular glioma

Chen

Wang

et al. 2016

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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Recent studies have provided evidence that there are two possible systems for empathy: affective empathy (AE) and cognitive empathy (CE). Neuroimaging paradigms have proven that the insular cortex is involved in empathy processing, particularly in AE. However, these observations do not provide causal evidence for the role of the insula in empathy. Although impairments in empathy have been described following insular damage in a few case studies, it is not clear whether insular cortex is involved in CE and whether these two systems are impaired independently or laterally in patients with insular gliomas. In this study, we assessed 17 patients with an insular glioma, 17 patients with a noninsular glioma, and 30 healthy controls using a method that combined a self-report empathy questionnaire with the emotion recognition task, assessment of empathy for others' pain, and the emotional perspective-taking paradigm. We found that patients with an insular glioma had lower scores for empathic concern and perspective taking than did either healthy controls or lesion controls. The patients' abilities to recognize facial emotions, perceive others' pain, and understand the emotional perspectives of others were also significantly impaired. Furthermore, we did not observe a laterality effect on either AE or CE among those with insular lesions. These findings revealed that both AE and CE are impaired in patients with an insular glioma and that the insular cortex may be a central neuroanatomical structure in both the AE and CE systems.

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“…New technology as both a cause and solution for declining empathy Over the past several decades, there have been documented declines in face-to-face social interactions, and in young people's self-perceived ability to care and connect with others (Konrath, Chopik, Hsing, & O'Brien, 2014;Konrath, et al, 2011;O'Brien, Konrath, Grühn, & Hagen, 2013;Putnam, 2000;Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman, 2008). For example, our research has found that the personality trait narcissism has risen since the early 1980s among American college students , while dispositional empathic concern and perspective taking have simultaneously been declining (Konrath, et al, 2011).…”

Section: The Malleability Of Empathymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three commonly used components of empathic character arose from this process: 1) Emotional empathy, also known as empathic concern or compassion (Davis, 1983c;Galinsky, Maddux, Gilin, & White, 2008;O'Brien, et al, 2013), 2) Cognitive empathy, also known as perspective taking or role taking (Batson, Early, & Salvarani, 1997;Davis, 1983c;Galinsky, et al, 2008) (O'Brien, et al, 2013, and 3) Prosocial behavior as a potential consequence of empathy, such as helping or sharing (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987;Eisenberg et al, 1989). Control group messages were designed to capture both the emotional and the cognitive aspects of low empathy.…”

Section: Study Design and Measures Developing The Text Messagesmentioning

confidence: 99%