Establishing a counter-empathy processing model: evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Counter-empathy significantly affects people’s social lives. Previous evidence indicates that the degree of counter-empathy can be either strong or weak. Strong counter-empathy easily occurs when empathizers are prejudiced against the targets of empathy (e.g. prejudice against outgroup members) and activates brain regions that are opposite to those activated by empathy. Weak counter-empathy may have different neural processing paths from strong ones, but its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. In this work, we used an unfair distribution paradigm, which can reduce participants’ prejudice against persons empathized with, and functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the neural mechanisms underlying counter-empathy. Here, empathy and counter-empathy shared a common neural mechanism, induced by unfair distribution, in the right middle temporal gyrus. Counter-empathy activated distinct brain regions that differed from those of empathic responses in different situations. The functions of these brain regions, which included the middle frontal, middle temporal and left medial superior gyri, were similar and mostly related to emotional regulation and cognitive processing. Here, we propose a process model of counter-empathy, involving two processing paths according to whether or not prejudice exists. This study has theoretical significance and broadens our understanding of the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying empathy and counter-empathy.

Empathy or Counter-Empathy? The Victims’ Empathic Response Toward Offenders Depends on Their Relationships and Transgression Severity

“…Counter-empathy easily occurs when people are prejudiced against others. 23 Due to the lack of familiarity with strangers and a bad impression of persons who had bad relationships with them; after a transgression, people tend to be prejudiced against them and perceive them as “bad men.” Thus, people tend to show increased counter-empathy for the “bad guys” after the transgression. However, after the transgression, they only feel decreased empathy for “good men” (ie, their friends) whose misfortunes are not deserved, rather than counter-empathy.…”

“…A previous study found that counter-empathy requires more cognitive processing than empathy. 23 It means that people may suffer more cognitive stress after being offended by strangers or persons with whom they had bad relationships, compared to being offended by intimate friends. This should be taken seriously by psychological workers in the clinical and counseling fields.…”

Grey-matter correlates of empathy in 4-Repeat Tauopathies

“…Another study 5 , investigating the functional correlated of empathy using functional MRI (fMRI), found activations in the middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyri when respondents had to make empathic judgments in a verbal task. More recently, Jie et al 25 showed that both empathy and counter-empathy, which refers to emotional reactions that are incongruent (or even at odds with the emotional states of others) shared a common neural mechanism in the middle temporal gyrus.…”

Development and Validation of the Counter-Empathy Scale

“…Therefore, screening for counter-empathy characteristics is of great significance for psychological research. A measurement tool for trait counter-empathy would allow the easy identification of people prone to counter-empathy toward others, with theoretical and practical significance (Jie et al, 2022).…”

“…Previous evidence indicates that the degree of counter-empathy can be either strong or weak (Jie et al, 2022). Broadly speaking, counter-empathy refers to emotional reactions that are incongruent, or even at odds, with the emotional states of others (Yamada et al, 2011).…”