Similar Personality Patterns Are Associated with Empathy in Four Different Countries

Empathy is an important human ability associated with successful social interaction. It is currently unclear how to optimally measure individual differences in empathic processing. Although the Big Five model of personality is an effective model to explain individual differences in human experience and behavior, its relation to measures of empathy is currently not well understood. 

Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the relationship between the Big Five personality concept and two commonly used measures for empathy [Empathy Quotient (EQ), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)] in four samples from China, Germany, Spain, and the United States of America. This approach was designed to advance the way the Big Five personality model can be used to measure empathy. 

We found evidence of medium effect sizes for associations between personality and empathy, with agreeableness and conscientiousness as the most important predictors of affective and cognitive empathy (measured by the respective IRI subscales) as well as for a one-dimensional empathy score (measured by the EQ). Empathy in a fictional context was most closely related to openness to experience while personal distress was first of all related to neuroticism. In terms of culture, we did not observe any distinct pattern concerning cultural differences. 

These results support the cross-cultural applicability of the EQ and the IRI and indicate structurally similar associations between personality and empathy across cultures.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/3ZImGe

By:  Martin C. Melchers,1,* Mei Li,2 Brian W. Haas,3 Martin Reuter,1,4 Lena Bischoff,1 and Christian Montag5,*

¹Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

²Student Counseling Center, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China

³Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

⁴Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

⁵Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

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The Habitual Female Offender Inside: How Psychopathic Traits Predict Chronic Prison Violence

Psychopathy is considered one of the best predictors of violence and prison misconducts and is arguably an important clinical construct in the correctional setting. However, we tested whether psychopathy can be used to predict misconducts in prison environments for women as has been done for men. To date, few studies exist that examine and validate this association in female offender samples. The present study included 182 ethnically diverse female offenders. 

The aim was to prospectively predict violent and nonviolent misconducts over a 9-month period using official records of prior violent criminal history (e.g., homicide, manslaughter, assault), and self-report measures of psychopathy, impulsivity, and empathy. Using negative binomial regression, we found that past violent criminal history, and callous and antisocial psychopathic traits were predictors of violent misconducts, whereas antisocial psychopathic traits and impulsivity best predicted nonviolent misconducts. Although empathy was negatively associated with psychopathy it was not a significant predictor of violent or nonviolent misconducts. Statistical models, which included impulsivity, were considered the most parsimonious at predicting misconducts. 

Our findings demonstrate how risk-factors found to be reliable in male offender samples, such as psychopathic traits, impulsivity, and past violent criminal history, generalize to female offenders for predicting nonviolent and violent misconducts. One notable difference is the importance of callous psychopathic traits when predicting chronic violent misconducts by female offenders. In sum, there are more similarities in psychopathy and impulsivity than differences in the prediction of misconducts among men and women.

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By:  Thomson ND, Towl GJ, Centifanti LC.

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Different Brain Responses During Empathy in Autism Spectrum Disorders vs Conduct Disorder & Callous-Unemotional Traits

BACKGROUND:

Deficits in empathy are reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and also underlie antisocial behavior of individuals with conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits (CD/CU+). Many studies suggest that individuals with ASD are typically impaired in cognitive aspects of empathy, and individuals with CD/CU+ typically in affective aspects. In the current study, we compared the neural correlates of cognitive and affective aspects of empathy between youth with ASD and youth with CD/CU+.

METHODS:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess boys with ASD (N = 23), boys with CD/CU+ (N = 23), and typically developing (TD) boys (N = 33), aged 15-19 years. Angry and fearful faces were presented and participants were asked to either infer the emotional state from the face (other-task; emotion recognition) or to judge their own emotional response to the face (self-task; emotional resonance).

RESULTS:

During emotion recognition, boys with ASD showed reduced responses compared to the other groups in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). During emotional resonance, the CD/CU+ and ASD groups showed reduced amygdala responses compared to the TD controls, boys with ASD showed reduced responses in bilateral hippocampus, and the CD/CU+ boys showed reduced responses in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and anterior insula (AI).

CONCLUSION:

Results suggest differential abnormal brain responses associated with specific aspects of empathic functioning in ASD and CD/CU+. Decreased amygdala responses in ASD and CD/CU+ might point to impaired emotion processing in both disorders, whereas reduced vmPFC responses suggest problems in processing cognitive aspects of empathy in ASD. Reduced IFG/AI responses, finally, suggest decreased emotional resonance in CD/CU+.

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By:  Klapwijk ET1,2, Aghajani M1,2, Colins OF1,2, Marijnissen GM3, Popma A4,5, van Lang ND1,2, van der Wee NJ2,6, Vermeiren RR1,2,4.

• 1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium - Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 2Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 3Centrum Autisme Rivierduinen, Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 4Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• 5Institute of Criminal Law & Criminology, Faculty of Law, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
• 6Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. 

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Rape Crimes Reviewed: The Role of Observer Variables in Female Victim Blaming

This article presents an overview of empirical research on the role of observer variables in rape victim blaming (female attacked by a male perpetrator). The focus is on literature from the last 15 years. The variables observer gender, ambivalent sexism, rape myth acceptance, and rape empathy are discussed in relation to victim blaming. 

Most research on rape is conducted using diverse methods and approaches that result in a great disparity regarding the role of these variables in predicting blame assignments. Despite the inconsistencies, most studies show that men hold the victim more responsible for her own victimization than women. 

Findings further indicate that higher scores on sexist ideologies and rape myth acceptance predict higher victim blame, and that higher rape empathy scores predict lower victim blame. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

...Overall, the analysis of the literature showed that men are more likely to score higher on victim blaming, that higher scores on sexist ideologies and rape myth acceptance predict higher victim blaming, and that higher levels of empathy towards the victim predict lower victim blaming. As such, this theoretical article provides an overview of the current knowledge regarding the impact of these variables upon victim blaming biases. Additional empirical research is needed, however, in order to clarify how these factors affect such biased attributions. As a final point, similar theoretical articles may prove useful in summarizing the influence of other variables on blame attributions, namely those related to situational factors (e.g., type of relationship with the rapist) or the victim’s characteristics (e.g., type of woman, sexual history, clothing, and substance misuse).

Full article at: HTML  http://goo.gl/wKcdyf  PDF https://goo.gl/Fx90CL

By:   Maria Clara Ferrão^*a, Gabriela Gonçalves^ab

[a] Psychology and Educational Sciences Department, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal.[b] CIEO – Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, Faro, Portugal.

 

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The Role of Compassion in Altruistic Helping and Punishment Behavior

Compassion, the emotional response of caring for another who is suffering and that results in motivation to relieve suffering, is thought to be an emotional antecedent to altruistic behavior. However, it remains unclear whether compassion enhances altruistic behavior in a uniform way or is specific to sub-types of behavior such as altruistic helping of a victim or altruistic punishment of a transgressor. 

We investigated the relationship between compassion and subtypes of altruistic behavior using third-party paradigms where participants 1) witnessed an unfair economic exchange between a transgressor and a victim, and 2) had the opportunity to either spend personal funds to either economically a) help the victim or b) punish the transgressor. In Study 1, we examined whether individual differences in self-reported empathic concern (the emotional component of compassion) was associated with greater altruistic helping or punishment behavior in two independent samples. 

For participants who witnessed an unfair transaction, trait empathic concern was associated with greater helping of a victim and had no relationship to punishment. However, in those who decided to punish the transgressor, participants who reported greater empathic concern decided to punish less. In Study 2, we directly enhanced compassion using short-term online compassion meditation training to examine whether altruistic helping and punishment were increased after two weeks of training. Compared to an active reappraisal training control group, the compassion training group gave more to help the victim and did not differ in punishment of the transgressor. 

Together, these two studies suggest that compassion is related to greater altruistic helping of victims and is not associated with or may mitigate altruistic punishment of transgressors.

Below:  The association between trait compassion and third-party altruistic behavior after an unfair dictator transfer

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/UEk9mv

By:   

Helen Y. Weng, Richard J. Davidson

Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Helen Y. Weng, Andrew S. Fox, Heather C. Hessenthaler, Diane E. Stodola, Richard J. Davidson

Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America

Helen Y. Weng, Andrew S. Fox, Heather C. Hessenthaler, Diane E. Stodola, Richard J. Davidson

Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America

Andrew S. Fox, Richard J. Davidson

Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America

Richard J. Davidson

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America

 

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The Evolution of Empathy and Women’s Precarious Leadership Appointments

Glass cliffs describe situations in which women are promoted to executive roles in declining organizations. To explain them, some authors suggest that people tend to “think crisis-think female.” However, the root cause of this association remains elusive. 

Using several subfields of evolutionary theory, we argue that biology and culture have shaped the perception of women as being more empathic than men and, consequently, as capable of quelling certain crises. Some crises are more intense than others and, whereas some brew within organizations, others originate from the external environment. We therefore propose that women will be selected to lead whenever a crisis is minimal to moderate and stems primarily from within the organization. 

Men, on the other hand, will be chosen as leaders whenever the crisis threatens the very existence of the firm and its source is an external threat. Leadership is a highly stressful experience, and even more so when leaders must scale glass cliffs. 

It is imperative that we understand what gives rise to them not only because they place women and potentially other minorities in positions where the likelihood of failure is high, but also because they help propagate stereotypes that undermine their true leadership ability.

Women and Leadership: From Glass Ceilings to Glass Cliffs

Today, more than ever before, women who pierce the glass ceiling are joining the ranks of executive leadership once considered the sole province of men. Despite this progress, few of them hold top positions in government, business, law, and medicine (Anderson and Court, 2012). A global study on the percentage of board seats occupied by women in the largest companies found that women held 19.2% of seats in the US (S&P 500) and 20.8% in Canada (S&P/TSX 60) (Catalyst, 2015). In Europe and Asia-Pacific, respectfully, their participation ranged from 7% in Portugal (PSI-20) to 35.5% in Norway (OBX Index), and from 3.1% in Japan (TOPIX Core 30) to 19.2% in Australia (S&P/ASX 200). Demand for gender equality in boardrooms is surging, and efforts requesting diversity through lobbies and quotas have peaked (Catalyst, 2014). For example, in Canada, a country known for labor-market gender equity, the Ontario Securities Commission recommended that companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange disclose how they recruit and select women executives (Canadian Press, 2014). Women’s managerial involvement has not been without its critics, however, some of whom have condemned women leaders for ruining firm performance:

“So much for smashing the glass ceiling and using their unique skills to enhance the performance of Britain’s biggest companies. The march of women into the country’s boardrooms is not always triumphant—at least in terms of share price performance. Analysis of FTSE 100 shares shows that companies that decline to embrace political correctness by installing women on the board perform better than those that actively promote sexual equality at the very top.” (Judge, 2003, p. 21)

At best, the above claim published in the British press could be seen as a mismatch between society’s moral obligation to give women a fair shot at leadership and women’s actual performance as leaders. At worst, it could be interpreted as a mismatch between one’s gender and one’s leadership ability. Stated plainly, women’s “unique skills” as organizational leaders are simply ineffective. Given its controversy, this claim led to the burgeoning of studies exploring the relationship between organizational performance and leader gender (for a comprehensive review, see Bruckmüller et al., 2014). Findings from this research unearthed evidence that women breaking through the glass ceiling must overcome an added hurdle in their quest to attain executive roles—that of scaling a glass cliff...

Full article at: http://goo.gl/O63iX1

By:   John G. Vongas* and Raghid Al Hajj

Department of Management, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Edited by: Stephen M. Colarelli, Central Michigan University, USA

Reviewed by: Thomas Pollet, VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands; Rachael G. Falcon, University of New Mexico, USA

*Correspondence: John G. Vongas, ac.aidrocnoc@sagnov.nhoj

This article was submitted to Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

 

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Nice Guys and Gals Finish Last? Not in Early Adolescence When Empathic, Accepted, and Popular Peers are Desirable

Little is known about attributes that elicit romantic desirability in early adolescence. The current study, with a sample of 531 sixth-grade students (45 % boys) attending ethnically diverse middle schools, used a resource control framework to explore which self-reported behaviors (e.g., empathy and aggression) and peer-reported status (e.g., acceptance and perceived popularity) predict the likelihood of being considered romantically desirable (i.e., receiving at least one "crush" nomination from an opposite sex grademate). 

Self-reported empathy was positively associated with students' romantic desirability (primarily for those with high peer acceptance), whereas self-reported aggression on its own did not. Both peer-acceptance and popularity also were positively associated with students' romantic desirability, and aggressive behavior reduced popularity's effect. Althoughaggression may be integral for obtaining high peer status across cultures, prosocial behaviors were romantically valued. 

Our findings suggest that peer-vetted social status elicits romantic interest and during early adolescence, nice guys and gals really do not finish last.

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By:  Bower AR1, Nishina A2, Witkow MR3, Bellmore A4.

• 1Human Development Graduate Group, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA. andbower@ucdavis.edu.
• 2Human Development Graduate Group, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
• 3Department of Psychology, Willamette University, Willamette, OR, 97301, USA.
• 4Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA. 

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Aggressive and Prosocial? Examining Latent Profiles of Behavior, Social Status, Machiavellianism, and Empathy

The present study tests whether aggression and prosocial behavior can coexist as part of a socially functional and adaptive profile among early adolescents. Using a person-centered approach, the study examined early adolescents' likelihood of being classified into profiles involving aggressive and prosocial behavior, social status (popular, liked, cool), machiavellianism, and both affective and cognitive components of empathy (empathic concern and perspective taking, respectively). 

Participants were 1170 early adolescents (10-12 years of age; 52 % male) from four schools in metropolitan Santiago, Chile. Through latent profile analysis, three profiles emerged (normative-low aggressive, high prosocial-low aggressive, and high aggressive-high popular status). Both empathic concern and perspective taking were higher in the high prosocial-low aggressive profile, whereas the high aggressive-high popular status profile had the lowest scores on both empathy components as well as machiavellianism. No profile emerged where aggressive and prosocial behaviors were found to co-exist, or to be significantly above the mean. 

The results underscore that aggressive behavior is highly contextual and likely culturally specific, and that the study of behavioral profiles should consider social status as well as socio-emotional adjustment indicators. These complex associations should be taken into consideration when planning prevention and intervention efforts to reduce aggression or school bullying and to promote positive peer relationships.

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By:  Berger C1, Batanova M2, Cance JD3.

• 1Escuela de Psicologia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, 7820436, Santiago, Chile. cberger@uc.cl.
• 2Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. milena.batanova@tufts.edu.
• 3The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. jdcance@austin.utexas.edu. 

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Improving Empathy in the Prevention of Sexual Abuse Against Children and Youngsters

The aim of this research is to study the improvement of empathy in child-care professionals (i.e., teachers, psychologists, social workers) involved in the prevention of sexual abuse against children and youngsters. An E-Learning training pilot program was conducted with pre- and post-measures (T1 = at the beginning and T2 = after 6 months) using the program's standardized questionnaires of Situational Empathy and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) as a Dispositional Empathy measure. 

A sample of 42 experienced professionals involved in activities with children and youngsters was obtained from the International Movement of Popular Education in Latin America called "Fe y Alegría." Significant progress was found in the scales of Situational Empathy and in some Coping subscales. The final outcomes seem to indicate that the prevention program elicits important changes in the cognitive sphere and that these changes are more intense when the implication level for the situation is greater. 

This research shows that empathy can be improved through professional experience and careful situational involvement.

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By: Man-Ging CI1, Böhm B2, Fuchs KA3, Witte S2, Frick E4.

• 1a Department of Palliative Medicine , Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich , Munich , Germany.
• 2b Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , Ulm University Medical Center , Ulm , Germany.
• 3c Centre for Child Protection , Pontifical Gregorian University , Rome , Italy.
• 4d Spiritual Care Research Center, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy , Medical School, Technical University of Munich , Munich , Germany.  

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Physical Attractiveness & Sex as Modulatory Factors of Empathic Brain Responses to Pain

Empathy is a process that comprises affective sharing, imagining, and understanding the emotions and mental states of others. The brain structures involved in empathy for physical pain include the anterior insula (AI), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). High empathy may lead people to undertake pro-social behavior. It is important to understand how this process can be changed, and what factors these empathic responses depend on. Physical attractiveness is a major social and evolutional cue, playing a role in the formation of interpersonal evaluation. 

The aim of the study was to determine how attractiveness affects the level of empathy both in relation to self-rated behavior and in terms of activation of specific empathy-related brain regions. Twenty-seven subjects (14 female and 13 male) were studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method while they were watching short video scenes involving physically more and less attractive men and women who exhibited pain responses. In the absence of behavioral effects in compassion ratings, we observed stronger activation in empathic brain structures (ACC; AI) for less attractive men and for attractive women than for attractive men. 

Evolutionary psychology studies suggest that beauty is valued more highly in females than males, which might lead observers to empathize more strongly with the attractive woman than the men. Attractive mens’ faces are typically associated with enhanced masculine facial characteristics and are considered to possess fewer desirable personality traits compared with feminized faces. This could explain why more empathy was shown to less attractive men. 

In conclusion, the study showed that the attractiveness and sex of a model are important modulators of empathy for pain.

Below:  The actors selected as (A) the more attractive woman, (B) the less attractive woman, (C) the more attractive man and (D) the less attractive man

Full article at: http://goo.gl/Q8bCpn

By: Kamila Jankowiak-Siuda,1,* Krystyna Rymarczyk,1,2 Łukasz Żurawski,2 Katarzyna Jednoróg,2 and Artur Marchewka3

1Department of Experimental Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland

2Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland

3Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Centre, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland

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Support for the Hypothesis that Sexual Breast Stimulation Is an Ancestral Practice and a Key to Understanding Women's Health

Women's health is seriously impacted by sexual dysfunction, mental depression, breast cancer, and gynecological cancers. Breast feeding has been found to reduce the risk of in-situ cervical cancer, endometrial cancer of the uterus, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. This protective effect of breast feeding supports the notion that another functional use of the breast, sexual breast stimulation, promoted by women to incite their sexual arousal and orgasm, is a practice which also reduces the risk of these same cancers, and protects against sexual dysfunction and mental depression. 

The significance of the practice of breast sex or "sexual breast love" lies with its deeply rooted past in the founding of our species, Homo sapiens. No other species exhibits breast sex, a human cultural activity that is implicated in women's desire, sexual satisfaction, and the development of human sociality. For species females as a whole, nipple stimulation by a partner during sex, over the adult life of a female, has occurred since the inception of H. sapiens, so that the failure to engage in this activity is counter to a species typical practice and endangers women's health. 

Breast sex results in nipple erection, and may micmic the effects of breast feeding, causing an increase of oxytocin in the body. Breast sex is an enriched type of sexuality that enables love between the sexes and the pair bond. The intimacy of breast sex creates a common ground of sexual knowledge, allowing empathy, cooperation, commitment, and communication. It induces reciprocity and therefore happiness. 

With breast sex, there is an increase of the positive emotions over the chimpanzees, promoting advanced cognition. Research into whether oxytocin release is caused by stimulation of the breasts in non-lactating women is inconclusive, but cultural studies demonstrate that breast stimulation induces sexual arousal, and research has shown that sexual arousal is associated with oxytocin release.

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By: Robinson VC1.

1Cleveland State University, United States.

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