I understand your pain but I do not feel it: lower affective empathy in response to others' social pain in narcissism.

Introduction: While the relationship between narcissism and empathy has been well-researched, studies have paid less attention to empathic accuracy, i.e., appreciating the precise strength of another person's emotions, and self-other distinction, in terms of the disparity between affective ratings for self and other in response to emotive stimuli. Furthermore, empathic responses may vary depending on whether the pain is physical or social. Methods: We investigated empathic accuracy, affective empathy, and the distinction between pain, emotion and intensity ratings for self and other, in high (n = 44) and low (n = 43) narcissism groups (HNG and LNG, respectively) selected from 611 students, in response to both types of pain. Participants watched six videos where targets expressed genuine experiences of physical and social pain, and rated the perceived affect and pain experienced by the person in the video and their own empathic emotional responses. Results and discussion: The HNG displayed lower affective empathy and empathic accuracy than the LNG for both pain types. Within the HNG there was higher empathic accuracy for social vs. physical pain, despite reduced affective empathy for social pain, in contrast to the LNG. In addition to this paradox, the HNG demonstrated greater differences between ratings for the self and for target others than the LNG, suggesting that narcissism is associated with higher self-other distinction in response to viewing other people describing social pain.

Culture as an effective frame of reference in clinical decision-making: A comparison of Iranian, American, and Canadian psychotherapists.

The therapeutic communication between psychotherapist and client is highly dependent on their socio-cultural background. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of culture on decision-making style of psychotherapists in three dimensions of decision-making: expedience vs. realism, individualism vs. collectivism, and long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation. The sample of this study consisted of 144 psychotherapists (40 Iranians educated in Iran, 33 Iranians educated in the west, 36 Americans, and 35 Canadians). Each of the participants were presented with three scenario that involved clinical challenging situations. For each area of decision-making a statement was considered and the psychotherapist was requested to rate them based on importance in his/her clinical decision-making. Findings indicated that the groups differed significantly on all dimensions with few exceptions when American and Canadian psychotherapists were compared. The decision-making style of Iranian psychotherapists was more with expediency, collectivism and long-term orientation, while the decision-making style of American and Canadian psychotherapists was more with realism, individualism, and short-term orientation. According to the results of current study, socio-cultural background of psychotherapists, as a frame of reference, significantly influenced their clinical decision-making style.

Attachment and joint attention in infants: The role of expectation.

Previous research highlighted the correlation between parent-infant's attachment quality and joint attention skills. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship are still unclear. The aim of this study was to assess whether it is by mediating the expectation component in Internal Working Models that the quality of attachment style can affect joint attention. At first, 12- to 20-month-old infants were classified into secure and insecure groups using the Strange Situation Procedure. On a following day, using a violation-of-expectation paradigm, infants were habituated to two joint attention videos. Finally, the mean looking time duration of secure and insecure infants were compared with each other between two "divergent attention" and "joint attention" videos. Infants looked longer for divergent attention videos suggesting they did have expectation regarding the appropriate response in triadic interactions. In line with our main hypothesis, secure infants, but not insecure ones, looked longer in the divergent attention situation when an attachment-related context was present, revealing the possible mediating role of "expectations" in the correlation between attachment and joint attention.

Decoding and reasoning mental states in major depression and social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND: Major depression (MDD) and social anxiety (SAD) disorders are debilitating psychiatric conditions characterized by disturbed interpersonal relationships. Despite these impairments in social relationships, research has been limited in simultaneously evaluating the dysfunction in MDD or SAD within two aspects of theory of mind (ToM): decoding mental states (i.e., Affective ToM) and reasoning mental states (i.e., cognitive ToM). Taking this into consideration, the current study assesses both decoding and reasoning mental states abilities in MDD, SAD, and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Subjects included 37 patients with MDD, 35 patients with SAD, and 35 HCs. ToM was measured with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and the Faux Pas Task, which assess decoding and reasoning mental states, respectively. RESULTS: Results revealed that in decoding of mental states, both the SAD and MDD groups had lower scores than the HC group; there was no significant difference between the SAD and MDD groups in decoding mental states. Conversely, in reasoning mental states, the SAD and HC groups had higher scores than the MDD group; no differences were found between the SAD and HC groups. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and researchers should further consider parsing generalized impairment in ToM into two aspects: decoding and reasoning of mental states by using the aforementioned measurements. By further understanding the two aspects, we can create a potentially new clinical profile for mental health disorders, such as in this context with both decoding and reasoning mental state impairment in MDD and just a decoding impairment in SAD.

Cultural differences in conceptual representation of "Privacy": A comparison between Iran and the United States.

Culture consists of shared conceptual representations in an individual's cognition. Thus, there may be cultural differences in the representation of a concept. To assess this possibility, we compared the subjective semantic structure of "privacy" in Iran and the United States. Participants were 200 adults, 100 from Iran and 100 from the United States. In the first phase of the experiment, using the associative terms task, we detected nine of the most frequent terms that were associated with the concept of "privacy" in each culture. In the second phase, using the judged-similarity task, we asked participants to rate the degree to which each of the nine terms from the previous phase was associated with every other term and with the concept of "privacy." Results from a correspondence analysis model suggest similarities in the mapping of terms related to "privacy" along the dichotomous dimension of physical vs. informational concerns. However, cultural differences emerged in a second dimension, the extent to which individualism vs. collectivism was stressed. While "personal privacy" and an individual's relationship with the government was important for American adults, the main focus for Iranian adults was "familial privacy" and family-centered living.

Affective and cognitive theory of mind in borderline personality disorder: The role of comorbid depression.

Disturbed interpersonal relationships and misreading of others' intentions are core symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Despite these impairments, some studies have found an enhanced theory of mind (ToM) in BPD patients. Taking this into consideration, the current study attempts to further understand these discrepancies by separating ToM into two domains: affective and cognitive. Moreover, the study considered the role of comorbid symptoms of depression in these patients. Subjects were 21 patients with BPD, 23 patients with BPD and comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD), and 25 healthy controls (HC). ToM was measured with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and the Faux Pas Task, which assessed the affective and cognitive aspects of ToM, respectively. In addition, all participants were evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results showed that in both BPD groups (i.e., BPD without MDD and BPD with MDD) affective ToM scores were higher than in the HC group; however, in the cognitive ToM, the HC group performed better than the both BPD groups. Also, overall the BPD group with MDD had decreased ToM skills. Finally, BPD groups received greater scores on the BDI as compared to the HC group.