Perceiving emotion in non-social targets: The effect of trait empathy on emotional contagion through art

Abstract

This research examines the role of trait empathy in emotional contagion through non-social targets—art objects. Studies 1a and 1b showed that high- (compared to low-) empathy individuals are more likely to infer an artist’s emotions based on the emotional valence of the artwork and, as a result, are more likely to experience the respective emotions themselves. Studies 2a and 2b experimentally manipulated artists’ emotions via revealing details about their personal life. Study 3 experimentally induced positive vs. negative emotions in individuals who then wrote literary texts. These texts were shown to another sample of participants. High- (compared to low-) empathy participants were more like to accurately identify and take on the emotions ostensibly (Studies 2a and 2b) or actually (Study 3) experienced by the “artists”. High-empathy individuals’ enhanced sensitivity to others’ emotions is not restricted to social targets, such as faces, but extends to products of the human mind, such as objects of art.

Susceptibility to others' emotions moderates immediate self-reported and biological stress responses to witnessing trauma

“…The result is an emotional and physiological state matching between a target and an observer (de Waal & Preston, 2017). EC and empathy are proposed to be distinct but partially overlapping constructs (de Vignemont & Singer, 2006;Luckhurst, Hatfield, & Gelvin-Smith, 2017;Stavrova & Meckel, 2017). In particular, EC can be seen as a precursor of empathy, which does not involve self-other distinction (Klimecki & Singer, 2013).…”

Poetry-elicited emotions: Reading experience and psychological mechanisms.

“…In sum, the contribution of dispositional empathy to emotions elicited by artworks is still unclear. Studies are still very few (e.g., Stavrova & Meckel, 2017), as research on fiction and empathy has been mostly concerned with how reading improves social–cognitive abilities and empathy (Kidd & Castano, 2013; Mar et al, 2011; Mar et al, 2009). We believe that further investigating the relation between reading experience, empathy and art-induced emotions can only expand this line of research.…”

“…Although the consequences (e.g., emotional responses) of these two engagement styles have not been investigated, what these results suggest is that some readers might be more inclined to empathize with fictional characters than others, perhaps due to higher trait empathy. Other studies have found that more empathetic readers are better at inferring the emotions felt by the writer while creating the text, and more prone to feeling these same emotions while reading the text (Stavrova & Meckel, 2017). These findings considered, we suggest that trait empathy is another reader characteristic worth investigating in relation to poetry-elicited emotions.…”

Emotional Analysis of Twitter Posts During the First Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece: Infoveillance Study

“…Emotional contagion has long been recognized in epidemiology [ 31 - 33 ], literature [ 34 - 38 ], politics [ 39 ], and the arts [ 40 ]. It does not need personal (vis-à-vis) contact, as the limbic system is intended to recognize and interpret nonverbal cues of “others” via empathy processes [ 41 ].…”