Individual differences in emotion regulation moderate the associations between empathy and affective distress

Abstract

Individual differences in empathy can have positive and negative psychological outcomes. Yet, individual differences in the processing and regulation of empathy-induced emotion have not been fully explored within this dynamic. This study was designed to explore whether individual differences in emotion regulation strategies moderated the effects of empathy on common forms of affective distress. Eight hundred and forty four participants completed survey measures of trait empathy, emotion regulation strategies, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Affective empathy typically predicted greater affective distress, but the effects on depression and anxiety were offset when people were effective at reappraising their emotions. Cognitive empathy predicted lower distress on average, but this beneficial effect on anxiety and stress was absent in those who typically suppressed their emotions. Finally, suppression unexpectedly reduced the depression and stress reported for people high in affective empathy. Individual differences in emotion regulation are an important moderator between empathy and psychological health, and thus a useful target for intervention.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11031-018-9684-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The role of social cognition skills and social determinants of health in predicting symptoms of mental illness

“…Although previous studies shown differences in empathy for pain skills in case-control designs in different psychiatric and neurological populations 9,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] , no studies have revealed that individual differences in empathy for pain can predict mental symptoms. However, as in previous reports 9,68 , empathy correlated with emotion recognition in females. Arguably, the preponderant predictive effect of emotion recognition in mental symptoms manifestation could mask the role of empathy in predicting mental symptoms.…”

How Cognitive and Affective Empathy Relate to Emotion Regulation: Divergent Patterns from Trait and Task-Based Measures

“…During the preparation of this manuscript, a study by Powell (2018) was published, which reported the same relationships between reappraisal use and trait cognitive and affective empathy in a large UK sample. The findings of our study provide further support for this recent work by replicating the findings twice, including in a sample from two countries, and demonstrating that the relationships between cognitive/affective empathy and reappraisal use are significantly different.…”

Motivating empathy: Three methodological recommendations for mapping empathy

“…Finally, even if participants attend to relevant information, they can reappraise its meaning—for instance, by altering perceptions of severity, need, and responsibility (for discussion, see Zaki, ). Studies find varying evidence for the relationship between trait reappraisal and empathic emotions (Halperin & Gross, ; Lebowitz & Dovidio, ; Powell, ); other studies find that high trait reappraisal associates with a reduced link between empathy and prosocial behavior (Lockwood, Seara‐Cardoso, & Viding, ), and that reappraisal reduces empathy under certain conditions (Cameron & Payne, ). Indeed, some suggest that the “objectivity” instructions contrasted against empathy in classic empathy‐altruism studies—which encourage people to be detached and non‐emotional in response to others' suffering—might act as a regulation or reappraisal manipulation, reducing empathy compared to baseline (McAuliffe, Forster, Phillippe, & McCullough, ), which suggests that people might be quite adept at distancing themselves from feelings of empathy for others.…”