“I've also experienced loss and fear”: Effects of prior similar experience on empathy

Eklund, Jakob Håkansson; Andersson-Stråberg, Teresia; Hansen, Eric M.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00673.x

Cited by 76 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…On the one hand, a human target can be expected to elicit A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals 370 Anthrozoös more empathy than an animal target because it is more similar to the human empathizer. Indeed, similarity has been shown to be a source of empathy for animals (Westbury and Neumann 2008), as well as an important antecedent of empathy in inter-human empathy (Håkansson and Montgomery 2003;Eklund, Andersson-Stråberg and Hansen 2009; see also Davis 1994). On the other hand, an animal target might elicit more empathy than a human target, as the example that opened this paper illustrates.…”

Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals

2011

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Although there is a substantial body of research on inter-human empathy and inter-animal empathy, there is a dearth of research comparing humans' empathic reactions to humans and animals. To address this issue, three experiments were conducted in which participants read a scenario about a human or animal abuse victim in need of medical attention, and indicated the degree of empathy they had on an emotional response scale. In Experiment 1, women had significantly more empathy for animals than for humans, whereas men tended to express more empathy for humans than for animals. In Experiment 2, adult women expressed the same degree of empathy for a child as for a puppy. Similarly, in Experiment 3, adult men and women expressed the same degree of empathy for a baby as for a puppy. Overall, results indicated that people feel at least as much empathy for animals as for humans. We suggest that an animal target elicits a great deal of empathy partly because it is perceived as not being responsible for having caused the need situation. Future research will show whether empathy for animals translates to prosocial behavior toward them as well.

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Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals

2011

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“…Obviously, knowledge of, and experience with, other cultures should facilitate ethnocultural empathy. Further, we believe that a powerful means of overcoming these obstacles is to be found in the results of a recent empirical study of general empathy (Eklund et al, 2009) to which we now turn. Eklund et al (2009) investigated the relationship between empathy and prior similar experience.…”

Section: Perception Of Similarity As a Tool For Increased Ethnoculturmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If one has experience with fear in one culture, one can understand fear in another. If one has slept outside and froze one can understand a homeless person's situation; if one has children one can understand a parent's concern (Eklund, et al, 2009). Hume (1751Hume ( /1957 asserted that since people are similar to each other and have similar experiences it is possible to feel what another person feels if one imagines how it would be to be in the other's situation.…”

Section: Perception Of Similarity As a Tool For Increased Ethnoculturmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas Eklund et al (2009) studied empathy in general, we wish to apply this idea to the domain of ethnocultural empathy. We reason that understanding similarities between other cultures and experiences in one's own culture makes empathic understanding possible.…”

Section: Perception Of Similarity As a Tool For Increased Ethnoculturmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since similarity of experience is a factor behind empathy (see Eklund, Andersson-Stråberg & Hansen, 2009 for a review) differences are expected to render ethnocultural empathy more difficult as with empathy for the opposite sex or another generation. If one wishes to understand the specific difficulties which exist with empathy between the sexes one needs to identify the similarities and differences between men and women.…”

Section: Toward a New Conceptualization Of Ethnocultural Empathymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward a conceptualization of ethnocultural empathy.

Rasoal¹,

Eklund²,

Hansen³

2011

Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology

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Although a number of theoretical frameworks have been developed in previous empathy research, the extent to which these frameworks consider cultural and ethnic aspects is limited. This literature study reviews the most influential frameworks of general and ethnocultural empathy. The core components of ethnocultural empathy are identified as well as factors facilitating empathy for persons from other cultures. Most notably, the realization that people in other cultures have similar worries and goals should facilitate ethnocultural empathy, in both informal and professional contexts. This analysis can provide useful insights and tools for practitioners working with patients and clients from cultures other than their own.

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Rat intersubjective decisions are encoded by frequency‐specific oscillatory contexts

et al. 2017

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IntroductionIt is unknown how the brain coordinates decisions to withstand personal costs in order to prevent other individuals’ distress. Here we test whether local field potential (LFP) oscillations between brain regions create “neural contexts” that select specific brain functions and encode the outcomes of these types of intersubjective decisions.MethodsRats participated in an “Intersubjective Avoidance Test” (IAT) that tested rats’ willingness to enter an innately aversive chamber to prevent another rat from getting shocked. c‐Fos immunoreactivity was used to screen for brain regions involved in IAT performance. Multi‐site local field potential (LFP) recordings were collected simultaneously and bilaterally from five brain regions implicated in the c‐Fos studies while rats made decisions in the IAT. Local field potential recordings were analyzed using an elastic net penalized regression framework.ResultsRats voluntarily entered an innately aversive chamber to prevent another rat from getting shocked, and c‐Fos immunoreactivity in brain regions known to be involved in human empathy—including the anterior cingulate, insula, orbital frontal cortex, and amygdala—correlated with the magnitude of “intersubjective avoidance” each rat displayed. Local field potential recordings revealed that optimal accounts of rats’ performance in the task require specific frequencies of LFP oscillations between brain regions in addition to specific frequencies of LFP oscillations within brain regions. Alpha and low gamma coherence between spatially distributed brain regions predicts more intersubjective avoidance, while theta and high gamma coherence between a separate subset of brain regions predicts less intersubjective avoidance. Phase relationship analyses indicated that choice‐relevant coherence in the alpha range reflects information passed from the amygdala to cortical structures, while coherence in the theta range reflects information passed in the reverse direction.ConclusionThese results indicate that the frequency‐specific “neural context” surrounding brain regions involved in social cognition encodes outcomes of decisions that affect others, above and beyond signals from any set of brain regions in isolation.

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“I've also experienced loss and fear”: Effects of prior similar experience on empathy

Cited by 76 publications

References 21 publications

A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals

A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals

Toward a conceptualization of ethnocultural empathy.

Rat intersubjective decisions are encoded by frequency‐specific oscillatory contexts

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