Dual circuits originating from the ventral hippocampus independently facilitate affective empathy.

Affective empathy enables social mammals to learn and transfer emotion to conspecifics, but an understanding of the neural circuitry and genetics underlying affective empathy is still very limited. Here, using the naive observational fear between cagemates as a paradigm similar to human affective empathy and chemo/optogenetic neuroactivity manipulation in mouse brain, we investigate the roles of multiple brain regions in mouse affective empathy. Remarkably, two neural circuits originating from the ventral hippocampus, previously unknown to function in empathy, are revealed to regulate naive observational fear. One is from ventral hippocampal pyramidal neurons to lateral septum GABAergic neurons, and the other is from ventral hippocampus pyramidal neurons to nucleus accumbens dopamine-receptor-expressing neurons. Furthermore, we identify the naive observational-fear-encoding neurons in the ventral hippocampus. Our findings highlight the potentially diverse regulatory pathways of empathy in social animals, shedding light on the mechanisms underlying empathy circuity and its disorders.

Moral foundations in autistic people and people with systemizing minds.

BACKGROUND: Do autistic people share the same moral foundations as typical people? Here we built on two prominent theories in psychology, moral foundations theory and the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory, to observe the nature of morality in autistic people and systemizers. METHODS: In dataset 1, we measured five foundations of moral judgements (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity) measured by the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) in autistic (n = 307) and typical people (n = 415) along with their scores on the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systemizing Quotient (SQ). In dataset 2, we measured these same five foundations along with E-S cognitive types (previously referred to as "brain types") in a large sample of typical people (N = 7595). RESULTS: Autistic people scored the same on Care (i.e., concern for others) as typical people (h1). Their affective empathy (but not their cognitive empathy) scores were positively correlated with Care. Autistic people were more likely to endorse Fairness (i.e., giving people what they are owed, and treating them with justice) over Care (h2). Their systemizing scores were positively correlated with Fairness. Autistic people or those with a systemizing cognitive profile had lower scores on binding foundations: Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity (h3). Systemizing in typical people was positively correlated with Liberty (i.e., hypervigilance against oppression), which is a sixth moral foundation (h4). Although the majority of people in all five E-S cognitive types self-identified as liberal, with a skew towards empathizing (h5), the percentage of libertarians was highest in systemizing cognitive types (h6). E-S cognitive types accounted for 2 to 3 times more variance for Care than did sex. LIMITATIONS: Our study is limited by its reliance on self-report measures and a focus on moral judgements rather than behavior or decision-making. Further, only dataset 2 measured political identification, therefore we were unable to assess politics in autistic people. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that some moral foundations in autistic people are similar to those in typical people (despite the difficulties in social interaction that are part of autism), and some are subtly different. These subtle differences vary depending on empathizing and systemizing cognitive types.

Preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy (QAACE) in Children.

BACKGROUND: This article reports the Polish adaptation of the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy (QAACE) by Zoll and Enz - a multidimensional self-report questionnaire used to measure empathy in children aged 8-14. The QAACE is based on a two-factor cognitive-emotional model of empathy. It has a number of international adaptations and offers a convenient Polish-language tool for use with young children and adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: The sample consisted of 677 children aged 8-13. The survey was conducted on school premises, during classes, by an appropriately prepared researcher. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fitting measurement model representing the original underlying factor structure of the QAACE among Polish children. The reliability of the questionnaire as measured by Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω was good. The reliability of the scale as assessed by the test-retest method (after four weeks) was .80. We assessed the validity of the tool by analyzing the correlation of empathy with love and sadism. General empathy, as well as cognitive and affective empathy, is positively related to love. The hypothesis that sadism is significantly related to empathy was also partially confirmed. General empathy and affective empathy are negatively correlated with sadism, while there was no relationship between sadism and cognitive empathy. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire is the first widely available tool of this type to examine empathy and its components appropriate for children and adolescents in Poland. The questionnaire can be a useful screening test for detecting children's level of empathy.

Associations between alcohol consumption and empathy in a non-clinical sample: drinking motives as a moderator.

People consume alcohol for multiple reasons. Negative motives are often associated with alcohol-related problems. These problems might be explained by negative effects of high alcohol consumption on empathy. Past studies have associated alcohol use disorder (AUD) with reduced cognitive and affective empathy. Few studies have focused on non-clinical samples and considered behavioral empathy. We examined the links between alcohol consumption and multiple aspects of empathy, and if these links were moderated by negative drinking motives. We collected online data of 520 unselected individuals. All completed the AUD Identification Test (AUDIT) and a Drinking Motives Questionnaire. Affective and cognitive empathy were assessed using the Empathy Quotient. Behavioral empathy was assessed by asking participants how likely they would help the person in each of 24 scenarios involving pain. Helping others in pain was positively predicted by affective and cognitive empathy. Higher AUDIT scores were associated with helping others less, particularly among participants who scored higher on drinking to cope with negative affect. People who drink more and do so to cope with negative affect appear to have less behavioral empathy. This supports the view that negative drinking motives contribute to AUD risk.

Measuring dispositional empathy in South African children.

OBJECTIVE: Empathy is a key factor to examine in development, because of its predictive associations with both aggression and successful prosocial behaviour. However, established measures of empathy for Low-to-Middle Income Countries, including South Africa, are lacking. In children, parent-report measures are key. However, a local study examining empathy and aggression (Malcolm-Smith et al., 2015) found poor psychometric performance for a widely used parent-report measure of dispositional empathy, the Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM). We thus investigated which of two questionnaires measuring dispositional cognitive and affective empathy perform better in this context. METHOD: We contrasted internal consistency reliability of a simplified version of the GEM (SGEM; n = 160) and a parent-report version of the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE; n = 440) in a low-mid socio-economic status sample. Convergence between the measures and factor structure were also assessed. RESULTS: The parent-report version of the QCAE performed well as a measure of child dispositional cognitive and affective empathy, with good reliability (overall α = 0.90 vs. SGEM α = .63), and confirmatory factor analysis supporting the two-factor structure. The SGEM's reliability and failure to correlate with QCAE indicated poor psychometric performance. CONCLUSION: This is the first psychometric evaluation of the QCAE as a parent-report measure, and our results indicate that it should prove useful for future assessments of dispositional empathy in children across a variety of contexts.

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.

How do Children with Intellectual Disabilities Empathize in Comparison to Typically Developing Children?

OBJECTIVES: Two studies were conducted to better understand how children with intellectual disabilities (ID) empathize with the feelings of others during social interactions. The first study tested hypotheses of developmental delay or difference regarding empathy in 79 children with ID by comparing them with typically developing (TD) children, matched for developmental age or chronological age. The second study examined specific aspects of empathy in 23 children with Down syndrome (DS), compared with 23 nonspecific ID children, matched for developmental age, and TD children, matched for developmental age or chronological age. METHOD: An empathy task was administered to the children while their parents completed the French versions of the Empathy Questionnaire and the Griffith Empathy Measure. RESULTS: The first study showed that ID children showed delayed empathy development but were perceived by their parents as deficient in cognitive empathy. The second study showed that DS children were perceived as being more attentive to the feelings of others than TD children and non-specific ID children, matched for developmental age, and as having affective empathy that was similar to that of TD children matched for chronological age. CONCLUSION: These studies have drawn attention to delays or differences in different dimensions of empathy in children with ID and DS, which need to be taken into account in interventions.

The Influence of Affective Empathy on Online News Belief: The Moderated Mediation of State Empathy and News Type.

The belief in online news has become a topical issue. Previous studies demonstrated the role emotion plays in fake news vulnerability. However, few studies have explored the effect of empathy on online news belief. This study investigated the relationship between trait empathy, state empathy, belief in online news, and the potential moderating effect of news type. One hundred and forty undergraduates evaluated 50 online news pieces (25 real, 25 fake) regarding their belief, state empathy, valence, arousal, and familiarity. Trait empathy data were collected using the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. State empathy was positively correlated with affective empathy in trait empathy and believability, and affective empathy was positively correlated with believability. The influence of affective empathy on news belief was partially mediated by state empathy and regulated by news type (fake, real). We discuss the influence of empathy on online news belief and its internal processes. This study shares some unique insights for researchers, practitioners, social media users, and social media platform providers.

Disrupted cognitive and affective empathy network interactions in autistic children viewing social animation.

Empathy can be divided into two core components, cognitive empathy (CE) and affective empathy (AE), mediated by distinct neural networks. Deficient empathy is a central feature of autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), but it is unclear if this deficit results from disruption solely within empathy networks or from disrupted functional integration between CE and AE networks. To address this issue, we measured functional connectivity (FC) patterns both within and between empathy networks in autistic children (4-8 years, n = 31) and matched typically developing (TD) children (n = 26) using near-infrared spectroscopy during the presentation of an animated story evoking CE and AE. Empathy and social communication ability were also assessed using the Empathy Quotient/Systemizing Quotient (EQ/SQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale, respectively. The results showed that the FC in the AE network of autistic children did not differ from the TD group across conditions; however, the ASC group showed weaker FC in the CE network under the CE condition and weaker FC between networks when processing AE information, the latter of which was negatively correlated with EQ scores in ASC. The empathy defect in ASC may involve abnormal integration of CE and AE network activities under AE conditions.

Adolescent substance use outcomes in response to social consequences of use: the role of empathy.

Evidence suggests empathy deficits have a temporal relationship with substance use severity by late adolescence theorized to decrease use via recognition of social consequences. However, this has yet to be tested empirically along with differences in cognitive and affective empathy. Adolescents admitted to substance use treatment (n= 3,382) were followed through treatment and 12 months after treatment. Variable trajectories were fit using growth curve models; and cross-lagged effects of cognitive and affective empathy on response to social consequences of use were tested along with how response to social consequences affected the mean trajectory of substance use. Results indicate higher cognitive empathy predicted greater response to social consequences of use and response to these consequences at the end of treatment predicted a steeper decrease in substance use. This evidence highlights the importance of cognitive empathy for responding to social consequences of use for motivating less substance use in adolescents.

The role of external factors in affect-sharing and their neural bases.

Affect-sharing, the ability to vicariously feel another person's emotions, is the primary component of empathy that is typically thought to rely on the observer's capacity to feel the emotions of others. However, external signals, such as the target's physical characteristics, have been demonstrated to influence affect-sharing in the neuroscientific literature that speaks to the underappreciated role of external factors in eliciting affect-sharing. We consider factors that influence affect-sharing, including physical cues, emotional cues, situational factors, and observer-target relationships, as well as the neural circuits involved in these processes. Our review reveals that, while neural network activation is primarily responsible for processing affect-sharing, external factors also co-activate a top-down cognitive processing network to modulate the conscious process of affect-sharing. From this knowledge, an integrative framework of external factor interactions with affect-sharing are explained in detail. Finally, we identify critical areas for future research in social and affective neuroscience, including research gaps and incorporation of ecologically valid paradigms.

Validation of the Basic Empathy Scale in an Arabic-speaking population: The BES-Ar.

PURPOSE: The aim of this work was to test the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the BES (Basic Empathy Scale) by establishing its factor structure, its internal consistency and construct validity in the general population. DESIGN AND METHODS: The BES was tested among 526 Tunisian adults. FINDINGS: The two-factor structure of the BES-20 was confirmed. Internal consistency and concurrent validity were very satisfactory. DISCUSSION: This scale will be useful for clinicians in various fields (mental health, psychiatry) in Arabic countries.

Differential Effects of Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder Comorbidity in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on Social Cognition and Empathy.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate social cognition and empathy properties in children among Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) + Attention and Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD); ADHD and healthy controls from Türkiye. METHODS: Twenty-two children with DMDD were compared to matched 30 children with ADHD and 60 healthy controls. We administered Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), KaSi Empathy Scale, Kiddie-SADS, and Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) to evaluate Theory of Mind skills to all study participants. RESULTS: DMDD + ADHD group had lower performance in ToM skills and empathy than in two groups. The ARI scores were found to be statistically significantly higher in the DMDD group than in two groups. It was also found that ARI, empathy, and ToM scores were significantly related in children with DMDD + ADHD. CONCLUSION: These results might be important to understand the difficulties in social functioning and interpersonal relationship in children with DMDD and ADHD. Children with DMDD may attend specific therapeutic programs which include specific techniques in social cognition, emotion regulation, and irritability.

A meta-analytic review of the relations between anxiety and empathy.

Although theory suggests that empathy may signal a risk for anxiety (Tone & Tully, 2014), the relation between these constructs remains unclear due to the lack of a quantitative synthesis of empirical findings. We addressed this question by conducting three meta-analyses assessing anxiety and general, cognitive, and affective empathy (k's = 70-102 samples; N's = 19,410-25,102 participants). Results suggest that anxiety has a small and significant association with general empathy (r = .08). The relation of clinical anxiety with cognitive empathy was significant but very weak (r = -.03), and small for affective empathy (r = .16). Geographic region and the type of cognitive (e.g., perspective taking, fantasy) and affective empathy (e.g., affective resonance, empathic concern) emerged as moderators. Results suggest that anxiety has a weaker association with general empathy but a stronger association with affective empathy in participants from predominantly collectivistic geographic regions. Further, greater anxiety was weakly associated with less perspective-taking and greater fantasy, and anxiety had a more modest association with empathic concern than other types of affective empathy. Targeting affective empathy (e.g., promoting coping strategies when faced with others' distress) in interventions for anxiety may be beneficial.

Boosting interpersonal emotion regulation through facial imitation: functional neuroimaging foundations.

Empathic function, which is primarily manifested by facial imitation, is believed to play a pivotal role in interpersonal emotion regulation for mood reinstatement. To explore this association and its neural substrates, we performed a questionnaire survey (study l) to identify the relationship between empathy and interpersonal emotion regulation; and a task-mode fMRI study (study 2) to explore how facial imitation, as a fundamental component of empathic processes, promotes the interpersonal emotion regulation effect. Study 1 showed that affective empathy was positively correlated with interpersonal emotion regulation. Study 2 showed smaller negative emotions in facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation (subjects imitated experimenter's smile while followed the interpersonal emotion regulation guidance) than in normal interpersonal emotion regulation (subjects followed the interpersonal emotion regulation guidance) and Watch conditions. Mirror neural system (e.g. inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe) and empathy network exhibited greater activations in facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation compared with normal interpersonal emotion regulation condition. Moreover, facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation compared with normal interpersonal emotion regulation exhibited increased functional coupling from mirror neural system to empathic and affective networks during interpersonal emotion regulation. Furthermore, the connectivity of the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus-rolandic operculum lobe mediated the association between the accuracy of facial imitation and the interpersonal emotion regulation effect. These results show that the interpersonal emotion regulation effect can be enhanced by the target's facial imitation through increased functional coupling from mirror neural system to empathic and affective neural networks.

The Perth Empathy Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Polish Version and Its Mental Health Correlates.

The Perth Empathy Scale (PES) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire that assesses people's ability to recognize emotions in others (i.e., cognitive empathy) and vicariously experience other's emotions (i.e., affective empathy), across positive and negative emotions. Originally developed in English, the aim of our study was to introduce the first Polish version of the PES and test its psychometric performance. Our sample was 318 people (184 females, 134 males) with ages ranging from 18 to 77. The factor structure was verified with confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was tested in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. To explore convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity, we examined relationships between the PES and measures of depression, anxiety, and emotional intelligence. It was shown that the scale was characterized by the intended four-factor solution, thus supporting factorial validity. The internal consistency reliability was also good and test-retest reliability was moderate. The convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity were strong. The clinical importance of assessing affective empathy across both positive and negative emotions was supported. Overall, our results therefore suggest that the Polish version of the PES has strong psychometric performance and clinical relevance as a measure of the multidimensional empathy construct.

Mood congruency affects physiological synchrony but not empathic accuracy in a naturalistic empathy task.

Empathy is a crucial aspect of our daily lives, as it enhances our wellbeing and is a proxy for prosocial behavior. It encompasses two related but partially distinct components: cognitive and affective empathy. Both are susceptible to context, biases and an individual's physiological state. Few studies have explored the effects of a person's mood on these empathy components, and results are mixed. The current study takes advantage of an ecological, naturalistic empathy task - the empathic accuracy (EA) task - in combination with physiological measurements to examine and differentiate between the effects of one's mood on both empathy components. Participants were induced with positive or negative mood and presented videos of targets narrating autobiographical negative stories, selected from a Chinese empathy dataset that we developed (now publicly available). The stories were conveyed in audio-only, visual-only and full-video formats. Participants rated the target's emotional state while watching or listening to their stories, and physiological measures were taken throughout the process. Importantly, similar measures were taken from the targets when they narrated the stories, allowing a comparison between participants' and targets' measures. We found that in audio-only and visual-only conditions, participants whose moods were congruent with the target showed higher physiological synchrony than those with incongruent mood, implying a mood-congruency effect on affective empathy. However, there was no mood effect on empathic accuracy (reflecting cognitive empathy), suggesting a different influence of mood on the two empathy components.

Online Moral Disengagement: An Examination of the Relationships Between Electronic Communication, Cognitive Empathy, and Antisocial Behavior on the Internet.

A consequence of the proliferation of online communication is the concerning presence of antisocial behavior observed in virtual spaces. Research suggests the cognitive component of empathy is hindered by features of electronic communication which facilitates antisocial behaviors online. Investigations into how features of online communication inhibit cognitive empathy are lacking, and findings on moral disengagement and antisocial behavior have yet to be integrated with studies on cognitive empathy and electronic communication. The current study explores these relationships. One hundred and three undergraduate students completed several measures including the Online Moral Disengagement Scale, Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, and Online Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior Scale. Results showed a positive correlation between compulsive internet use and online moral disengagement, as well as a negative correlation between cognitive empathy and moral disengagement online. It was hypothesized that online moral disengagement would mediate the relation between cognitive empathy and antisocial behavior online but this mediation was not supported. However, a moderated relationship was revealed between cognitive empathy and moral justification, by liberalism. This moderation can be explored further and built upon by future research to deepen our understanding of how political ideology relates to virtual behavior. Furthermore, the findings concerning components of empathy and moral disengagement, and their role within the perpetration of antisocial conduct online, can inform future research as well as interventions focused on fostering prosocial behavior online and curbing cyberaggression.

Explaining the Insufficient Relationship between Affective Empathy and Physical Aggression Based on a Double-edged Sword Model.

Affective empathy is generally considered an important inhibitor of aggression. However, the meta-analysis studies on the relationship between affective empathy and aggression have challenged this common-sense view and found no substantial correlation between the two variables. We proposed a double-edged sword model to explain this counterintuitive phenomenon and tested this model by establishing an inconsistent mediation model. A total of 663 college students in China (59.1% female; Mage = 20.69 years) completed questionnaires measuring affective empathy, sympathy, personal distress, anger proneness, and physical aggression. The results showed that on the one hand, affective empathy can indirectly inhibit physical aggression by increasing sympathy; on the other hand, affective empathy can indirectly promote physical aggression through the serial mediation of personal distress and anger proneness. Such two pathways offset each other, leading to an insignificant relation observation between affective empathy and physical aggression. The findings revealed the complexity of the relationship between affective empathy and aggression, which suggested that more efforts to reduce aggression should be made to develop individuals' sympathy, while affective empathy training should be moderate to avoid excessive empathic emotional arousal.

Linking Blood Pressure-Associated Emotional Dampening to Trait Empathy.

Gradual and sustained increases in resting blood pressure are accompanied by gradual and sustained reductions in the capacity to consciously experience several affective and somatosensory processes. Burgeoning theory suggests that this phenomenon, termed cardiovascular emotional dampening, contributes to heart disease risk by interfering with our ability to effectively respond to environmental demands. Interpersonal relationships are contexts in which this risk cascade likely occurs, but prior researchers have paid little attention to how emotional dampening might influence these relationships. As empathy is a construct used to describe facets of emotion-linked responding that facilitate interpersonal relationships, if emotional dampening influences interpersonal relationships, then we might expect resting blood pressure to covary with measures of empathy as it does with other previously studied aspects of affective responding. We recruited 175 healthy undergraduate college student participants (120 Women; M age = 19.17, SD age = 2.08) to complete a counterbalanced procedure in which we measured resting blood pressure and related it to participants' responses on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, and a demographic survey. Bivariate comparisons revealed a significant inverse relationship between average resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) and cognitive empathy, as well as a significant inverse relationship between SBP and affective empathy. Multiple regression analyses revealed that SBP remained a significant predictor of cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy, after controlling for related covariates (i.e., sex, age, and alexithymia). SBP predicted cognitive empathy such that higher SBP was associated with lower cognitive empathy. Thus, people with higher resting blood pressures might experience increased interpersonal distress because of a reduced capacity for empathetic accuracy and perspective-taking. We discuss the implications and future directions of these findings.