Empathy, emotional contagion, and rapid facial reactions to angry and happy facial expressions

Dimberg, Ulf; Thunberg, Monika

doi:10.1002/pchj.4

Cited by 89 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(110 reference statements)

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“…One measure that has more commonly been employed to study sex differences in empathy is facial electromyographic (EMG), which measures facial mimicry, and is positively associated with empathy (Dimberg et al, 2011; Dimberg and Thunberg, 2012) and facial expression recognition (e.g., Sato et al, 2013). Indeed, a number of studies report greater facial muscle reactivity in females, compared to males, when exposed to facial expressions (Dimberg and Lundquist, 1990; Lundqvist, 1995).…”

Section: Neuronal Mechanisms For Empathymentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior

Christov-Moore

Simpson

Coudé

et al. 2014

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

776

479

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Evidence suggests that there are differences in the capacity for empathy between males and females. However, how deep do these differences go? Stereotypically, females are portrayed as more nurturing and empathetic, while males are portrayed as less emotional and more cognitive. Some authors suggest that observed gender differences might be largely due to cultural expectations about gender roles. However, empathy has both evolutionary and developmental precursors, and can be studied using implicit measures, aspects that can help elucidate the respective roles of culture and biology. This article reviews evidence from ethology, social psychology, economics, and neuroscience to show that there are fundamental differences in implicit measures of empathy, with parallels in development and evolution. Studies in nonhuman animals and younger human populations (infants/children) offer converging evidence that sex differences in empathy have phylogenetic and ontogenetic roots in biology and are not merely cultural byproducts driven by socialization. We review how these differences may have arisen in response to males’ and females’ different roles throughout evolution. Examinations of the neurobiological underpinnings of empathy reveal important quantitative gender differences in the basic networks involved in affective and cognitive forms of empathy, as well as a qualitative divergence between the sexes in how emotional information is integrated to support decision making processes. Finally, the study of gender differences in empathy can be improved by designing studies with greater statistical power and considering variables implicit in gender (e.g., sexual preference, prenatal hormone exposure). These improvements may also help uncover the nature of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in which one sex is more vulnerable to compromised social competence associated with impaired empathy.

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Section: Neuronal Mechanisms For Empathymentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior

Christov-Moore

Simpson

Coudé

et al. 2014

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

776

479

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Consistent with trait activation theory (Tett & Burnett, ), prior research has found that the extent to which empathy‐relevant situations are associated with empathic reactions to those situations depends on the observer's level of trait empathy. For example, research has found that exposing participants to photos of happy and angry faces produces congruent facial expressions in subjects with high trait affective empathy but not low trait affective empathy (Dimberg & Thunberg, ; see also Sonnby–Borgström, ; Westbury & Neumann, ). These findings underscore the need for a multilevel approach when examining how and under what conditions empathy can be changed and are consistent with recent theory outlining how trait empathy may interact with state empathy when predicting outcomes (Cropanzano et al, ).…”

Section: Critical Review Of Empathy Research In Organizational Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“I feel your pain”: A critical review of organizational research on empathy

2019

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Summary Empathy, a multidimensional construct comprised of cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, has been advanced as a critical predictor of prosocial behavior and effectiveness in the workplace. However, despite organizational interest in empathy, there is a lack of consensus on what empathy is, how empathy should be measured, and how empathy research can meaningfully contribute to our understanding of organizational behavior. This paper aims to provide a roadmap for researchers and practitioners interested in empathy in the workplace. We first provide an updated overview of the state of the broader multidisciplinary literature on empathy. On the basis of this literature, we outline the three dimensions of empathy, discuss the distinctions between state/trait and observer/judged empathy, and compare empathy with related constructs. This integrated multidimensional conceptualization provides the basis for our critical review and recommendations. We review the organizational research on empathy (1983–2018), identifying critical issues with how empathy has been conceptualized, measured, and designed, and offer practical recommendations for the advancement of organizational research on empathy. We conclude by highlighting two fundamental questions: (a) is empathy associated with important outcomes of interest to organizations and employees, and (b) can empathy be changed, and if so, how?

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“…The emphasis of AE is representatively focused on experiencing the emotional states of others consciously, which implies a self-other distinction (Eres et al, 2015;Mattan et al, 2016), as well as an understanding of the origin of emotional experience (Bernhardt & Singer, 2012). AE differs from emotion contagion, which responds automatically to another person's emotional state but not necessarily self-other distinction (de Waal, 2012;Dimberg & Thunberg, 2012;Mattan et al, 2016). Emotion contagion may depend on brain regions that are activated in correlation with recognition of others' emotions through facial expression and prosody (Leigh et al, 2013).…”

Section: Evaluation Of Aementioning

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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Empathy, emotional contagion, and rapid facial reactions to angry and happy facial expressions

Cited by 89 publications

References 74 publications

Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior

Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior

“I feel your pain”: A critical review of organizational research on empathy

Multidimensional assessment of empathic abilities in patients with insular glioma

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