Feeling for Others: Empathy, Sympathy, and Morality¹

Empathy and motivation for justice: Cognitive empathy and concern, but not emotional empathy, predict sensitivity to injustice for others

“…Psychopaths are characterized by a profound lack of empathic concern for the well-being of other, low sense of guilt and remorse, and little appreciation for moral wrongdoing. They know right from wrong but don’t care (Maibom, 2009). Neuroimaging studies consistently show abnormal anatomical connectivity between the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and a reduced response in that latter region to the emotional and physical distress of others, as well as low or absence of activation when processing moral judgment tasks (Decety, Chen, Harenski, & Kiehl, 2015; Harenski et al, 2010; Motzkin, Newman, Kiehl, & Koenigs, 2011; Remmel & Glenn, 2015).…”

“…Psychopathic personality traits vary along a continuum which extends into the general population, and include a lack of empathy, callous disregard for the wellbeing of others, and lack of concern about moral wrongdoing (Maibom, 2009; Seara-Cardoso & Viding, 2014; Skeem, Polaschek, Patrick, & Lilienfeld, 2011). These traits can be clustered into three high-level factors (Benning, Patrick, Blonigen, Hicks, & Iacono, 2005), which differentially influence behavior, attention, and cognition (Larson et al, 2013; Sadeh & Verona, 2008; Schulreich, Pfabigan, Derntl, & Sailer, 2013).…”

The Longitudinal Relationship Between Media Violence and Empathy: Was It Sympathy All Along?

“…Although we can only speculate at this time as to why this relationship is present, it is possible that the automaticity of sympathy may in part explain this relationship. Sympathy is argued to reflect an automatic response to or awareness of suffering and a subsequent urge to alleviate this suffering (Maibom, 2009;Wispé, 1986). Empathy, on the other hand, is a more or less effortful process of sharing and understanding the emotional state of another person by using mimicry and imagination (Wispé, 1986).…”

Affective empathy as core moral agency: psychopathy, autism and reason revisited

“…Maibom suggests that the stress on empathy is a cultural phenomenon, stemming from particular Western notions concerning morality. According to her, there are various culturally loaded normative systems (such as those resting on 'purity' or 'natural order') that do not incorporate empathy (Maibom 2009). Maibom's claim finds support from a hypothesis offered by Jonathan Haidt and Jesse Graham,84 Elisa Aaltola according to which there are five psychological foundations of morality: harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect and purity/sanctity.…”