Measuring Empathy Across the Adult Lifespan: A Comparison of Three Assessment Types

Grainger, Sarah A.; McKay, Kate T.; Riches, Julia; Chander, Russell J.; Cleary, Rhiagh; Mather, Karen A.; Kochan, Nicole A.; Sachdev, Perminder S.

doi:10.1177/10731911221127902

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(105 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, these prior studies relied on self-report measures for both physical activity and emotional intelligence, whereas in our study, objective measures were used to assess both CRF and social cognition. Prior work has shown that self-report measures do not correlate strongly with objective measures for physical activity or social cognition (see Grainger et al, 2023b ; Prince et al, 2008 ), therefore differences in measurement type might explain the discrepancy in findings. Indeed, a meta-analysis examining the relationship between emotional intelligence and health reported larger correlations for self-report compared to objective measures of emotional intelligence ( Martins et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength Do Not Predict Social Cognitive Capacity in Older Age

Grainger

Alister

Bourdaniotis

et al. 2023

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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Objectives Social cognitive function often declines in older age but the mechanisms underlying these declines are not completely clear. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength have been shown to be positively associated with broader cognitive function in older adults, yet surprisingly, no study has examined whether a similar relationship exists between CRF or muscular strength and social cognition in older age. Method We assessed whether higher CRF and muscular strength were associated with enhanced social cognitive function in a sample of fifty older adults (Mage= 70.08, SD = 3.93). Participants completed a gold-standard cardiopulmonary exercise test to assess CRF, an isometric handgrip strength test to index muscular strength, and validated measures of social cognition to index emotion perception and theory of mind [ToM]. Results The results showed that CRF and muscular strength did not explain any unique variance in older adults’ social cognitive performance. Bayesian analyses confirmed that the evidence for the null hypothesis was moderate for all tested relationships, except for the relationship between CRF and cognitive ToM where the evidence for the null was anecdotal. Discussion This study has provided the first evidence to suggest that CRF and muscular strength – two important modifiable lifestyle factors – are not associated with social cognition in healthy older adults. However, replication studies are now needed to cross-validate these findings, and to clarify whether any moderating variables may be important for understanding the relationship between fitness and social cognition in older age.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength Do Not Predict Social Cognitive Capacity in Older Age

Grainger

Alister

Bourdaniotis

et al. 2023

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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“…A limitation is that the MEQ was validated with selfreports only. Additionally, self-report methods in general are unlikely to capture actual differences in ability as shown as a lack of convergent validity between self-reports and other methods [74][75][76][77][78]. Therefore, we recommend that all mentalizing questionnaires showing good parametric values should be tested on the RF Scale to determine their validity.…”

Section: Limitations and Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of the Mentalizing Emotions Questionnaire: A self-report measure for mentalizing emotions of the self and other

Kasper,

Hauschild,

Berning

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Mentalizing describes the ability to imagine mental states underlying behavior. Furthermore, mentalizing allows one to identify, reflect on, and make sense of one’s emotional state as well as to communicate one’s emotions to oneself and others. In existing self-report measures, the process of mentalizing emotions in oneself and others was not captured. Therefore, the Mentalizing Emotions Questionnaire (MEQ; current version in German) was developed. In Study 1 (N = 510), we explored the factor structure of the MEQ with an Exploratory Factor Analysis. The factor analysis identified one principal (R2 = .65) and three subfactors: the overall factor was mentalizing emotions, the three subdimensions were self, communicating and other. In Study 2 (N = 509), we tested and confirmed the factor structure of the 16-items MEQ in a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFI = .959, RMSEA = .078, SRMR = .04) and evaluated its psychometric properties, which showed excellent internal consistency (α = .92 - .95) and good validity. The MEQ is a valid and reliable instrument which assesses the ability to mentalize emotions provides incremental validity to related constructs such as empathy that goes beyond other mentalization questionnaires.

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“…Third, in testing criterion validity, we assumed that measures of mindreading ability should be uniquely related to psychosocial functioning, however, it could be that this is only true for some individuals under certain circumstances (e.g., interaction effects). Fourth, we used a broad selection of self-report measures to assess impairments in psychosocial functioning, but informant reports (see, e.g., Grainger et al, 2022) or expert ratings by mental health professionals are another important source that could result in different conclusions.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mindreading Measures Misread? A Multimethod Investigation into the Validity of Self-Report and Task-Based Approaches

Wendt¹,

Zimmermann²,

Spitzer³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Self-reports and tasks are often used to assess mindreading ability, which is the ability to recognize and understand the mental states of other human beings. However, concerns have been raised about the validity of such measures. In one of the largest multimethod investigations into mindreading ability to date, we tested the validity of seven self-report scales and four tasks of mindreading ability in a sample of the general U.S. population (N = 700). Whereas convergent validity was substantial within measures of the same method, there was a lack of heteromethod convergent validity, indicating that different methods assess different constructs. When testing the criterion validity of self-reports and tasks in predicting impairments in psychosocial functioning, we controlled for two important alternative interpretations (i.e., mindreading tasks reflecting general cognitive ability, self-reports reflecting the positivity of self-evaluations) and found that incremental effects were absent or did not work in the theoretically expected direction. To provide further insights into what constructs the measures might capture instead (if not mindreading ability), we showed that performance in mindreading tasks largely reflected general cognitive ability and that self-reports of mindreading ability were associated with perceived performance rather than actual performance in mindreading tasks. In summary, although widespread self-reports and tasks may not be appropriate for measuring mindreading as a specific ability, self-reports appear to be useful for capturing self-perceptions of mindreading.

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Measuring Empathy Across the Adult Lifespan: A Comparison of Three Assessment Types

Cited by 8 publications

References 55 publications

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength Do Not Predict Social Cognitive Capacity in Older Age

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength Do Not Predict Social Cognitive Capacity in Older Age

Development and validation of the Mentalizing Emotions Questionnaire: A self-report measure for mentalizing emotions of the self and other

Mindreading Measures Misread? A Multimethod Investigation into the Validity of Self-Report and Task-Based Approaches

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