A systematic review of aggression and empathy / Una revisión sistemática de la agresión y la empatía

Abstract The evidence on the relationships between aggression and empathy is unclear in the literature. A recent meta- analysis indicated that associations are limited, while repeated research in recent years has reported both positive and negative correlations. This systematic review seeks to establish the current evidence on different studies that have been conducted on the relationships between proactive and reactive aggressive behavior and empathy, from the cognitive and affective subdomains, in adolescents, youth and young adults. Method: Systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines. Results: 8 articles were found that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria described and discrepancies between the associations of the two variables addressed are reported. Conclusion: there seems to be a certain degree of acceptance of the inhibitory role of empathy against aggression, particularly that of affective empathy. No conclusive results were found for cognitive empathy with the different types of aggression.

Resumen La evidencia sobre las relaciones entre la agresión y la empatía no están claras en la literatura. Un metaanálisis reciente indicó que las asociaciones son limitadas, mientras que reiteradas investigaciones de los últimos años han reportado correlaciones positivas y negativas. Esta revisión sistemática busca establecer la evidencia actual sobre diferentes estudios que se han llevado a cabo sobre las relaciones entre la conducta agresiva de tipo proactivo y reactivo y la empatía, desde los subdominios cognitivo y afectivo, en adolescentes, jóvenes y adultos jóvenes. Método: Revisión sistemática de acuerdo con las directrices PRISMA. Resultados: se encontraron 8 artículos que cumplían los criterios de inclusión y exclusión descritos y se reportan las discrepancias entre las asociaciones de las dos variables abordadas. Conclusión: parece haber cierto grado aceptación en el papel inhibidor de la empatía frente a la agresión, de manera relevante el de la empatía afectiva. No se encontraron resultados concluyentes de la empatía cognitiva con los diferentes tipos de agresión.

Empathy-related differences in the anterior cingulate functional connectivity of regular cannabis users when compared to controls.

It has been reported that cannabis consumption affects the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a structure with a central role in mediating the empathic response. In this study, we compared psychometric scores of empathy subscales, between a group of regular cannabis users (85, users) and a group of non-consumers (51, controls). We found that users have a greater Emotional Comprehension, a cognitive empathy trait involving the understanding of the "other" emotional state. Resting state functional MRI in a smaller sample (users = 46, controls = 34) allowed to identify greater functional connectivity (FC) of the ACC with the left somatomotor cortex (SMC), in users when compared to controls. These differences were also evident within the empathy core network, where users showed greater within network FC. The greater FC showed by the users is associated with emotional representational areas and empathy-related regions. In addition, the differences in psychometric scores suggest that users have more empathic comprehension. These findings suggest a potential association between cannabis use, a greater comprehension of the other's affective state and the functional brain organization of the users. However, further research is needed to explore such association, since many other factors may be at play.

The link between cognitive and affective empathy and interpersonal emotion regulation direction and strategies.

Interpersonal emotion regulation (ER) refers to the different processes aimed at changing the emotional states of others. Some authors have speculated about the pivotal role of empathy for interpersonal ER to happen. However, the very limited empirical evidence suggests that only cognitive empathy as opposed to affective empathy may be a necessary antecedent. As previous research only considered interpersonal affect improvement and showed mixed evidence for the regulation strategies, we aimed to address this gap in the current research. To that aim, 374 adults (M = 30.3 years, 249 female) reported their tendency to engage in cognitive (perspective-taking) and affective empathy (empathic concern and personal distress) as well as their tendency to improve and worsen others' mood, and to use different regulation strategies (situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and modulation of the emotional response) to change others' feelings. Results of the regression analyses showed that while affect improvement was not significantly predicted by any of the empathy variables, affect worsening was positively predicted by personal distress. Concerning the regulation strategies, while cognitive change and situation modification were positively predicted by personal distress, attention deployment was positively predicted by perspective-taking. Overall, the obtained results highlight the need to further investigate the link between empathy and ER and to carefully consider the methods selected for that purpose.

Propiedades Psicométricas del Test de Empatía Cognitiva y Afectiva (TECA) en Población Mexicana / Psychometric Properties of the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test in a Mexican Sample

Resumen Introducción: Evaluar la empatía es cada vez más necesario dentro de diferentes áreas de investigación. Objetivo: El presente estudio presenta un análisis de las propiedades psicométricas del cuestionario Test de Empatía Cognitiva y Afectiva (TECA) que evalúa la empatía desde una perspectiva integral; siendo uno de los pocos construidos originalmente en el lenguaje español. Método: Sé evaluó la fiabilidad y validez de constructo en 607 adultos (137 hombres/ 470 mujeres) estudiantes de población mexicana. Resultados: Los resultados muestran una adecuada fiabilidad del instrumento en general (α = .86). Sin embargo, los análisis factoriales exploratorios y confirmatorios sugiere la necesidad de revisar los ítems. Discusión: La incorporación de metodologías robustas que consideran la naturaleza ordinal de las escalas Likert, como el análisis factorial con la incorporación del intercepto aleatorio permiten mejorar el ajuste de los modelos sin alterar la estructura factorial original. Por último, la invariancia métrica no es alcanzada entre la muestra española original y la mexicana. Conclusiones: El TECA se puede aplicar en población mexicana pero se sugiere una revisión en la construcción de los ítems.

Abstract Introduction: Assessing empathy is an increasing necessity within different research areas. Objective: The present study aims to analyse psychometric properties of the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test (TECA) questionnaire that assesses empathy from a comprehensive perspective; being one of the few originally built in the Spanish language. Method: The reliability and construct validity were evaluated in 607 adults (137 men / 470 women) students from the Mexican population. Results: The results show adequate reliability of the instrument in general (α = .86). However, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzes suggest the need to review the items. Discussion: The incorporation of new methodologies such as robust factor analysis for ordinal type data (i.e. like Likert scales), with the incorporation of the random intercept, allows improving the fit of the models without altering the original factorial structure. Finally, metric invariance is not reached between the original Spanish sample and the Mexican one. Conclusions: The TECA can be applied in the Mexican population but a review of the construction of the items is suggested.

Reading the Mind in the Eyes: A Population-Based Study of Social Cognition in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Social cognition indicates the cognitive processes involved in perceiving, interpreting, and processing social information. Although it is one of the six core DSM-5 cognitive domains for diagnosing neurocognitive disorders, it is not routinely assessed in older adults. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test assesses Theory of Mind, the social cognition mechanism which forms the root of empathy. OBJECTIVES: To describe the distribution of, and factors associated with, scores on a 10-item version of Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET-10) in older adults. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: Small-town communities in Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 66-105 years (N = 902, mean age = 76.6). MEASUREMENTS: The assessment included RMET-10, demographics, cognitive screening, literacy, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, cognitive composites derived from a neuropsychological test battery, Social Norms Questionnaire, and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). RESULTS: RMET-10 score was normally distributed in our overall study sample. Normative RMET-10 scores among those rated as CDR = 0 were calculated by age, sex, and education. RMET-10 score was significantly higher with younger age, higher education, white race, higher cognitive screening scores, literacy, social norms scores, higher scores in all five domains in cognitive composites, and lower CDR. RMET-10 score was also significantly higher with fewer depression and anxiety symptoms after adjusting for demographics. CONCLUSIONS: The RMET is a potentially useful measure of social cognition for use in the research assessment of older adults. With appropriate calibration it should also have utility in the clinical setting.

Empatia Afetiva e Cognitiva no Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA): uma Revisão Integrativa da Literatura / Affective and Cognitive Empathy on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): An Integrative Literature Review

RESUMO A literatura vem apontando um crescente interesse pelos estudos sobre como a empatia, em seus componentes cognitivo e afetivo, desenvolve-se em pessoas com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA). Assim, esta revisão integrativa da literatura teve o objetivo de investigar a empatia, em seus componentes cognitivo e afetivo, em indivíduos com TEA e fatores associados. Para isso, efetuou-se uma busca por artigos científicos nas bases de dados PubMed, ERIC e PsycINFO. Adotaram-se as palavras-chave e marcadores booleanos Autism [or] ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) [and] Empathy. Como resultado, foram recuperadas 180 publicações, das quais 26 foram analisadas. Os critérios de inclusão foram estudos empíricos - correlacionais e de intervenção - que abordassem as relações entre empatia e TEA, indexados nas bases de dados aqui mencionadas entre os anos de 2005 e 2020. As categorias resultantes da análise foram: empatia afetiva e cognitiva, diferenças associadas ao gênero na empatia e diferenças associadas à idade e ao Quociente de inteligência(QI) em pessoas com TEA. Verificou-se que a empatia cognitiva, que envolve a inferência de emoção do estado mental de outra pessoa, pode ser reduzida em pessoas com TEA, enquanto a empatia afetiva, que se refere à capacidade de compartilhar a emoção dos outros, não apresenta déficit. Além disso, alguns estudos apontaram para a importância do ensino de responsividade empática em crianças com TEA. Contudo, não foram encontrados artigos em bases brasileiras sobre o tema, assinalando uma importante lacuna de pesquisas sobre a empatia em pessoas com autismo no cenário nacional.

ABSTRACT Literature has shown a growing interest in studies on how empathy, regarding its cognitive and affective components, can be developed in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Thus, this integrative literature review aimed to investigate empathy, in its cognitive and affective components, in individuals with TEA and associated factors. For this, a search for scientific papers was carried out in the PubMed, ERIC, and PsycINFO electronic databases. The keywords and Boolean operators Autism [or] ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) [and] Empathy were adopted. As a result, 180 publications were found, and 26 were analyzed. The inclusion criteria were empirical pieces of research - correlational and intervention - that addressed the relationship between empathy and ASD, indexed in the databases already mentioned between 2005 and 2020. The categories resulting from the investigation were: affective and cognitive empathy, gender differences in empathy, and differences related to age and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in individuals with ASD. The studies showed that cognitive empathy, which involves the inference of emotion from another person's mental state, can be reduced in people with ASD, while affective empathy, which refers to the ability to share the emotions of others, does not suffer the same deficit. In addition, some studies have pointed to the importance of teaching empathic responsiveness in children with ASD. No studies were found in Brazilian databases on the topic, signaling an important research gap on empathy in people with autism on the national scene.

Self-Transcendent Aspirations and Life Satisfaction: The Moderated Mediation Role of Gratitude Considering Conditional Effects of Affective and Cognitive Empathy.

Life aspirations are considered one of the most relevant components for human beings to give meaning and purpose to their existence. Different studies emphasized the relevance of intrinsic life aspirations to promote life satisfaction. However, few studies analyze the specific role of the intrinsic aspirations that have been recently categorized as self-transcendent. Self-transcendent aspirations are focused on helping others and improving society and, consequently, are considered aspirations whose purpose transcends oneself. In this sense, the objective of this study is to observe how self-transcendent aspirations are related to life satisfaction through dispositional gratitude. Additionally, we aim to study the moderating role of cognitive and affective empathy. There were 1,356 students (mean age = 21.5, standard deviation = 2.35 years) who took part in a scholarship program funded by the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC), of which 57.7% were men and 42.3% were women. Results show a strong relationship between self-transcendent aspirations, gratitude, and cognitive and affective empathy. In the mediation analysis, an indirect effect of self-transcendent aspirations is observed on life satisfaction via gratitude. However, the moderated mediation showed that the addition of cognitive and affective empathy conditions the mediation effect. In this way, cognitive empathy has a significant interaction in the relationships between self-transcendent aspirations and gratitude, and between self-transcendent aspirations and life satisfaction. Results are discussed to emphasize the relevance of the mediating and moderating mechanisms considered in this study for the understanding of how self-transcendent life aspirations may promote life satisfaction.

Vínculo de apego, estilos parentales y empatía en adolescentes / Attachment, parental styles and empathy in adolescent

Resumen El objetivo de la presente investigación fue estudiar las relaciones entre la percepción del vínculo del apego, de las relaciones parentales y los aspectos cognitivos y emocionales de la empatía en un grupo de adolescentes. Se utilizaron los formatos para madre y padre de las adaptaciones argentinas de la Escala de Seguridad de Kerns y de la versión abreviada del Inventario de la percepción de los hijos acerca de las relaciones con sus padres para adolescentes (CRPBI; subescalas: aceptación, control patológico y autonomía extrema). Se utilizó como medida de empatía, la validación argentina del Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal (componente cognitivo: Toma de Perspectiva y Fantasía; componente emocional: Preocupación Empática y Malestar Personal). Los varones manifestaron menores puntajes totales en el IRI respecto de las mujeres (p ≤ .001). Los adolescentes que experimentaron un apego alto hacia su madre y padre percibieron más aceptación en la relación parental con ellos (p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001) y presentaron mayor empatía (p= .018; p= .016). Al igual que los adolescentes que percibieron un estilo parental caracterizado por la aceptación con su madre y padre (p= .008; p= .001). Experimentar un apego seguro en la adolescencia podría depender de percibir una relación interpersonal con los progenitores basada en la aceptación de su individualidad e implicación positiva. El establecimiento de un vínculo de apego seguro y percibir la aceptación como práctica parental permite el desarrollo de la empatía.

Abstract The aim of this investigation was to study the relationship among the perception of attachment, parenting relationships, and emotional and cognitive aspects of empathy in a group of adolescents. In order to measure adolescents' perception of the relationship with their parents we used the formats for mother and father of the Argentinean adaptations: (1) Kerns' safety scale, and (2) the abbreviated version of the Children's Report on Parent Behavior (CRPBI); subscales: acceptance, pathological control and extreme autonomy. The Argentine validation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (cognitive component: Taking Perspective and Fantasy, emotional component: Empathic Concern and Personal Distress) was used as the empathy measure. Considering the total score obtained on the Kerns safety scale, respect to the maternal and paternal figures, high attachment perception groups (mean ≥ + 1 SD) and low attachment perception groups (mean ≤ - 1 SD) were formed. Correlations between parental styles and empathy with the Spearman test were evaluated. Mean comparisons were made with the Mann Whitney U test: on the one hand, between gender and empathy; on the other, among adolescents who perceived a low and high attachment with both parents in relation with empathy and parental styles. Males reported lower total IRI scores in the subscales: fantasy, empathic concern and personal distress (respectively: p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001) as compared to adolescent women. The females that experienced a high attachment towards their parents perceived higher acceptance rate in the relationship with them (p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001). They also showed higher empathy (p = .018; p = .016) and obtained higher scores in the dimensions of the IRI: perspective taking (p ≤ .001; p = .006) and empathic concern (p = .024; p = .022). The adolescents who perceived a more tolerant parenting style showed themselves more empathic (p = .008; p = .001). In addition, the parental style of extreme autonomy with their mother and their father was negatively associated with the total scores of the IRI (p = .006, p ≤ .001), fantasy (p = .011; p = .017) and empathic concern (p ≤ .001; p ≤ .001). Parents with less years of schooling use parenting practices based on punitive and coercive control. The female gender was characterized by an empathic emotional response, although both genders have a similar cognitive ability to understand or take the perspective of the other. However, women react more affectively. These differences can be attributed to socialization stereotyped patterns of male and female parenting that assign to women greater emotional sensitivity. Experiencing a secure attachment in adolescence may depend on perceiving an interpersonal relationship with parents based on the acceptance of their individuality and positive involvement. These results match with several investigations, which show that parents perceived as available and with democratic parenting styles, based on the acceptance of adolescents, establish with their children a secure attachment bond, which is associated with a greater psychosocial adjustment. Experiencing a relationship based on acceptance, on affective and committed reciprocity with significant adults that show first empathy and emotional attunement with their children, is a requisite for adolescents to understand the perspective of others and identify with experience, to feel compassion and concern the discomfort of others. Establishing a secure attachment bond and perceiving acceptance as a parental practice allows the development of empathy, protective factor of aggression and promoter of adolescent prosocial behavior.

Associations between fetal testosterone and pro-social tendencies, anxiety and autistic symptoms in Williams syndrome: a preliminary study.

Objective: Fetal testosterone (fT) has organizational effects on the developing human nervous system and can be reliably estimated by the ratio between the length of the second and fourth digits - 2D:4D. Previous studies reported altered patterns of fT in some developmental disabilities (e.g. ASD) relative to typically developing individuals (TD). Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by exacerbated empathy and social approach and heightened anxiety. Recent reports also highlight the co-occurrence of significant levels of autistic symptoms. Despite constituting an interesting model to study androgenic contributions to social behavior, no studies have sought to explore fT in WS. The main aims of this preliminary study were two-fold: (a) to compare 2D:4D in WS and TD; (b) to analyze the pattern of associations between 2D:4D and hypersociability, affective and cognitive empathy, anxiety and autistic symptoms in WS. Methods: 2D:4D were measured from digital scans of the ventral surface of the right hand. Hypersociability, empathy, anxiety and autistic symptoms were obtained from parental reports. Results: There were no significant differences in 2D:4D between WS than TD. In WS lower fT (higher 2D:4D) was significantly associated with hypersociability and affective empathy, as well as marginally associated with anxiety/depression scores. In contrast, cognitive empathy was marginally and negatively associated with 2D:4D, while levels of autistic symptoms were unrelated with this measure. Conclusion: Our results suggest that fT may be implicated in the emergence of several cardinal features of WS, namely hypersociability, affective empathy and anxiety, but not in ASD symptoms.

Evidências de validade da versão portuguesa do indice de reatividade interpessoal para casais / Validity evidence of the portuguese version of the interpersonal reactivity index for couples / Evidencia de validad de la versión portuguesa del indice de reactividad interpersonal en parejas

Este estudo teve como principal objetivo traduzir e adaptar para língua portuguesa o Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal para Casais (IRIC), analisando as propriedades psicométricas da versão portuguesa. Esse é um instrumento de avaliação da empatia em casais, que resultou da adaptação de uma das mais usadas escalas de empatia, o Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal de Davis, para o contexto das relações íntimas. O IRIC avalia dimensões de empatia cognitiva (tomada de perspetiva) e emocional (preocupação empática), importantes para a estabilidade e satisfação das relações conjugais. A escala original foi traduzida para português e administrada a 148 sujeitos que estavam numa relação amorosa há pelo menos um ano. A maioria dos sujeitos eram mulheres com uma média de idades de 27 anos. Os resultados revelam uma estrutura fatorial semelhante à escala original, valores adequados de consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach=0,82) e bons níveis de validade externa com uma escala de ajustamento diádico.

The main objective of this study was to translate and adapt the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples (IRIC) to Portuguese, and analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version. This instrument that assesses empathy in couples, resulted from the adaptation of one of the most widely used empathy scales – Davis´s Interpersonal Reactivity Index – for the context of intimate relationships. The IRIC assesses dimensions of cognitive (perspective taking) and emotional (empathic concern) empathy, both essential for stable and satisfactory marital relationships. The original scale was translated to Portuguese and administered to 148 participants involved in an intimate relationship with a minimum duration of one year. Most of the participants were women, with a mean age of 27 years old. Our results revealed the Portuguese version has a factorial structure similar to the original version, adequate internal consistency values (Cronbach’s a=.82), and good external validity with a scale of dyadic adjustment.

El principal objetivo de este estudio fue traducir y adaptar a la lengua portuguesa el Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal para Parejas (IRIP), analizando las propiedades psicométricas de la versión portuguesa. Este es un instrumento de evaluación de empatía en parejas, que resultó de la adaptación de una de las más usadas escalas de empatía, el Índice de Reactividad de Davis, para el contexto de las relaciones íntimas. El IRIP evalúa dimensiones de empatía cognitiva (toma de perspectiva) y emocional (preocupación empática), importantes para la estabilidad y satisfacción de las relaciones conyugales. La escala original fue traducida al portugués y administrada a 148 sujetos que mantenían una relación amorosa desde hace por lo menos un año. La mayoría de los sujetos eran mujeres con una edad media de 27 años. Los resultados revelaron una estructura factorial semejante a la escala original, valores adecuados de consistencia interna (Cronbach’s a=.82) y buenos niveles de validación externa con una escala de ajustamiento diádico.

Evidências de validade da versão portuguesa do Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal para Casais / Validity evidence of the Portuguese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples / Evidencia de validad de la versión portuguesa del Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal en Parejas

Este estudo teve como principal objetivo traduzir e adaptar para língua portuguesa o Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal para Casais (IRIC), analisando as propriedades psicométricas da versão portuguesa. Esse é um instrumento de avaliação da empatia em casais, que resultou da adaptação de uma das mais usadas escalas de empatia, o Índice de Reatividade Interpessoal de Davis, para o contexto das relações íntimas. O IRIC avalia dimensões de empatia cognitiva (tomada de perspetiva) e emocional (preocupação empática), importantes para a estabilidade e satisfação das relações conjugais. A escala original foi traduzida para português e administrada a 148 sujeitos que estavam numa relação amorosa há pelo menos um ano. A maioria dos sujeitos eram mulheres com uma média de idades de 27 anos. Os resultados revelam uma estrutura fatorial semelhante à escala original, valores adequados de consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach=0,82) e bons níveis de validade externa com uma escala de ajustamento diádico.(AU)

The main objective of this study was to translate and adapt the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples (IRIC) to Portuguese, and analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version. This instrument that assesses empathy in couples, resulted from the adaptation of one of the most widely used empathy scales – Davis´s Interpersonal Reactivity Index – for the context of intimate relationships. The IRIC assesses dimensions of cognitive (perspective taking) and emotional (empathic concern) empathy, both essential for stable and satisfactory marital relationships. The original scale was translated to Portuguese and administered to 148 participants involved in an intimate relationship with a minimum duration of one year. Most of the participants were women, with a mean age of 27 years old. Our results revealed the Portuguese version has a factorial structure similar to the original version, adequate internal consistency values (Cronbach’s a=.82), and good external validity with a scale of dyadic adjustment.(AU)

El principal objetivo de este estudio fue traducir y adaptar a la lengua portuguesa el Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal para Parejas (IRIP), analizando las propiedades psicométricas de la versión portuguesa. Este es un instrumento de evaluación de empatía en parejas, que resultó de la adaptación de una de las más usadas escalas de empatía, el Índice de Reactividad de Davis, para el contexto de las relaciones íntimas. El IRIP evalúa dimensiones de empatía cognitiva (toma de perspectiva) y emocional (preocupación empática), importantes para la estabilidad y satisfacción de las relaciones conyugales. La escala original fue traducida al portugués y administrada a 148 sujetos que mantenían una relación amorosa desde hace por lo menos un año. La mayoría de los sujetos eran mujeres con una edad media de 27 años. Los resultados revelaron una estructura factorial semejante a la escala original, valores adecuados de consistencia interna (Cronbach’s a=.82) y buenos niveles de validación externa con una escala de ajustamiento diádico.(AU)