Deficiencies in empathic functioning are known to lay at the core of psychopathy and have been suggested to explain their immoral behavior. Although empathy can be divided into affective and...Show moreDeficiencies in empathic functioning are known to lay at the core of psychopathy and have been suggested to explain their immoral behavior. Although empathy can be divided into affective and cognitive components which have been shown to play an integral role in information processing when viewing others’ morally laden actions, the individual contribution of each component on the interpersonal behavior remains to be determined. This study set out to investigate whether incarcerated psychopathic offenders evaluate social situations different to non-psychopathic controls. An adapted version of the Dictator Game using an empathy induction protocol was employed to measure prosocial sharing behavior indicative of how an agent’s behavior is evaluated. Psychopaths showed less differentiation in sharing behavior which might be explained by an impairment of the affective component of empathy. Therefore, the tendencies of psychopaths to adjust to these scenarios should be taken into account when creating treatment plans against recidivism in psychopathic offenders.Show less
Evidence suggests that the emotion regulation strategy positive reappraisal offers a constructive approach in dealing with difficult emotions. Positive reappraisal involves viewing difficult events...Show moreEvidence suggests that the emotion regulation strategy positive reappraisal offers a constructive approach in dealing with difficult emotions. Positive reappraisal involves viewing difficult events and emotions as being productive, such as being valuable or beneficial. These benefits were linked, among others, to well-being and decreased depressive symptoms. Previous research indicated empathy and cognitive flexibility’s role in processes related to positive reappraisal. Therefore, this study investigated the interrelatedness between three empathy dimensions, cognitive flexibility, and positive reappraisal. In a within-subjects design, 74 Dutch adolescents filled in the following self-report questionnaires: The Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents’ (EmQue-CA) cognitive and affective empathy subscales, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index’s (IRI) personal distress subscale, the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire’s (CERQ) positive reappraisal subscale. While our findings indicated increased cognitive empathy and cognitive flexibility relating to an increased use of positive reappraisal, relationships between affective empathy and personal distress and positive reappraisal were not found. Furthermore, exploratory additional analyses identified the relationships between cognitive empathy and cognitive flexibility and positive reappraisal being curvilinear U-shaped. In the light of an accentuated and amplified social-cognitive development throughout adolescence, our findings particularly suggest that young adolescents with deficits in cognitive empathy and cognitive flexibility benefit from interventions to increase positive reappraisal’s practise. Replicatory research is needed to confirm our findings.Show less
