Earlier research showed that children who endure war are more at risk of developing trauma symptoms or PTSD. Trauma symptoms or PTSD can lead to significant disruptions in cognitive empathy and...Show moreEarlier research showed that children who endure war are more at risk of developing trauma symptoms or PTSD. Trauma symptoms or PTSD can lead to significant disruptions in cognitive empathy and high levels of anxiety. The aim of the current study is to look into the relationships between PTSD, cognitive empathy and anxiety in Syrian refugee children, and to test for gender differences. Participants were 33 Syrian refugee children aged 10-18. PTSD was measured using CPSS, cognitive empathy was measured using the EmQue-CA and the EDG (three social conditions were used: neutral individuals, victims and offenders of intentional pain) and anxiety was measured using the SCARED. Results showed that cognitive empathy did not affect Syrian refugee children in social situations. Secondly, anxiety did not affect cognitive empathy levels. Thirdly, anxiety did not affect cognitive empathy differently for boys and girls. Lastly, cognitive empathy is disrupted within Syrian refugee children with trauma symptoms or even PTSD. Suggesting that cognitive empathy is a predictor of PTSD. The findings of the current study could potentially be important for future faster treatment of trauma symptoms or even PTSD by using cognitive empathy levels as a predictive factor.Show less
Social performance monitoring can be defined as one’s ability to detect errors and to adjust one’s behavior accordingly while performing actions in a social context. As such, it might require...Show moreSocial performance monitoring can be defined as one’s ability to detect errors and to adjust one’s behavior accordingly while performing actions in a social context. As such, it might require perspective taking abilities. The present study thus explores the relationship between social performance monitoring and empathy in children and adolescents across different contexts. Participants (N= 107) aged 9-19 completed self-report measures of empathy and engaged in a performance monitoring task (i.e., shooting a moving cannon whenever it lined up with a target) in individual, cooperative, and competitive settings. Results showed that the older children were, the better they performed in the cannonball task, pointing to age-related improvements in performance monitoring capabilities. Surprisingly, task performance did not differ between individual and social contexts. Moreover, neither cognitive nor affective empathy significantly predicted task performance in any condition. Regarding changes in empathy dimensions across development, our results revealed that, in line with our hypotheses, cognitive empathy increased with age, while affective empathy remained stable. Moreover, as expected, no effects of gender on cognitive empathy were found, while girls did report significantly higher levels of affective empathy than boys. Our behavioral study adds new insights to existing literature mostly consisting of electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies, suggesting that children and adolescents’ performance monitoring behavior is possibly neither influenced by the social context, nor by how empathetic they are. Further behavioral research on the potentially complex interplay between empathy and social performance monitoring in children and adolescents is thus warranted.Show less
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
Studying the relationship between empathy and anxiety is important, since previous research shows that different kinds of empathy, cognitive and affective, could predict anxiety in adolescents....Show moreStudying the relationship between empathy and anxiety is important, since previous research shows that different kinds of empathy, cognitive and affective, could predict anxiety in adolescents. Cognitive emotion regulation (CER) could be of importance in this relationship, since it is related to both constructs. This is why this study investigates the relationships between empathy, anxiety and CER in adolescents. A group of 99 adolescents aged 9-19 filled in several questionnaires. The Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to measure affective- and cognitive empathy, the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory to measure anxiety and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire to measure CER. The results showed: 1) Affective empathy was found to be a predictor for anxiety, 2) Cognitive empathy was found to not be a predictor for anxiety, 3) CER was found to not moderate the found relationship between affective empathy and anxiety. In conclusion, the found results regarding the influence of affective empathy on anxiety will prove useful in anxiety treatment. There is more understanding about how affective empathy could influence anxiety treatment, and therefore it can be taken into account when treating anxious individuals. Further research is required on the possible influence of cognitive empathy and CER. This might improve treating anxiety even further.Show less
The complexities of daily life require us to have a flexible mind. Indeed, our world is constantly changing, urging us to respond in an adaptive, flexible manner to external demands. Previous...Show moreThe complexities of daily life require us to have a flexible mind. Indeed, our world is constantly changing, urging us to respond in an adaptive, flexible manner to external demands. Previous research has linked trait anxiety to decreased cognitive flexibility. Although past research has repeatedly implied that higher levels of anxiety in adolescents is related to lower levels of cognitive flexibility, there is little research about protective factors that positively influence this relationship. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate whether different types of empathy have a moderating effect on the relationship between trait anxiety and cognitive flexibility. It was hypothesized that higher levels of trait anxiety predict lower levels of cognitive flexibility, this relationship was expected to be moderated by three types of empathy, namely affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and intention to comfort. In the final sample, a total of 103 healthy participants were included, (51 females, 52 males), around 25 from each of the defined age groups: 9-10 (pre-adolescents), 12-13 (early adolescents), 15-16 (mid-adolescents), 18-19 (late-adolescents). Trait Anxiety was measured with the State-Anxiety Inventory DY (STAI), the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS) was used to assess cognitive flexibility, and the Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (EmQue-CA) measured the level of all three empathy types. Results indicated, concurrent with the first hypothesis, higher levels of trait anxiety predict lower levels of cognitive flexibility. However, inconsistent with the second hypothesis, the relationship between trait anxiety and cognitive flexibility was not moderated by any of the three empathy types. Given that results predicted decreased levels of cognitive flexibility in trait-anxious adolescents, more research is crucial to investigate the protective mechanism of empathy on the interaction between trait anxiety and cognitive flexibility.Show less
In the past, research on prosocial behaviors in antisocial and psychopathic violent offenders focused on their empathetic tendencies and the resulting prosocial behavior under negatively valenced...Show moreIn the past, research on prosocial behaviors in antisocial and psychopathic violent offenders focused on their empathetic tendencies and the resulting prosocial behavior under negatively valenced social situations (e.g. pain inflicted), disregarding the potential of positively valenced situations to elicit such behavior. This study aimed at closing this gap, by assessing prosocial behavior in psychopathic and antisocial violent offenders as opposed to a non-offender group, after presenting them with positively valenced social situations. This was done by employing an Empathy Dictator Game (EDG), in which 50 participants were asked to distribute coins between themselves and a male or female target, which they previously observed in a neutral, positive, or prosocial situation. Results showed that while psychopathic offenders did not differ significantly in their coin offers from antisocial offenders or the control group, the prosociality of the social situation influenced higher coin allocation. This effect was especially strong for individuals higher in empathetic skills. Lastly, male targets generally received more coins than female targets. This effect further influenced the effect of the diagnosis of participants on prosocial behavior, yet not the effect of the valence of the social situation. Taken together, these results suggest that violent offenders lacking empathy do have the capacity to display prosocial behaviors under the right circumstances and practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.Show less
Background: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a form of anxiety distinguished by fear and avoidance of social situations. SAD can be transferred from parent to child. In addition to genetic...Show moreBackground: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a form of anxiety distinguished by fear and avoidance of social situations. SAD can be transferred from parent to child. In addition to genetic inheritance of anxious traits, this transmission of anxiety can occur environmentally when parents verbally communicate threat or anxiety in social situations towards the child. Methods: This study tested whether parents’ verbal threat (versus safety) expressions give rise to more anxious fear beliefs in the child and explored whether this relation is moderated by parents’ trait social anxiety. Sixty-five children (mean age = 4,74, SD = 0,78) participated in this study with their parents. Both parents were asked to fill out the short version of the Social Phobia Avoidance Inventory (SPAI-short). In a lab parents were privately instructed to transfer information regarding two judges to their child. This information consisted of one judge being nice (safe judge) and one being unkind (threat judge). Thereafter, children were asked to sing a song in front of these judges. Afterwards child fear beliefs for each of the judges was measured via the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ). Results: Significantly higher (anxious) fear beliefs for the threat judge were found compared to the safe judge, no moderating effects were found for parental social anxiety. Conclusion: Exposure to verbal expression of anxiety from the parent is related to children’s fear beliefs, however parents’ trait social anxiety has no moderating effect on that relationship. Replication of this study is desired with a between-subject design and diverse sampling.Show less
Emerging evidence indicates that rumination, a core feature of depression, might be responsible for the compromised working-memory (WM) observed in this disorder. The current study aims to explore...Show moreEmerging evidence indicates that rumination, a core feature of depression, might be responsible for the compromised working-memory (WM) observed in this disorder. The current study aims to explore the neural underpinnings of this hypothesized effect by investigating the role of three brain networks using fMRI: the Default Mode Network (DMN; involved in self-referential thought and rumination), the Central Executive Network (CEN; involved in executive cognition and WM), and the Salience Network (SN; involved in detection of novel or relevant stimuli and subsequent prioritizing of functional neural networks). After rumination-induction in thirty-three healthy female participants, functional connectivity within the three networks was measured during a 2-back WM task, which alternated between active and resting blocks. As expected, the DMN showed increased connectivity during the resting blocks, the CEN showed increased connectivity during the active blocks, and the SN showed higher connectivity in the beginning of the active blocks than during the remaining time of the active blocks. As hypothesized, self-reported rumination was correlated with lower SN functional connectivity in the beginning of the active blocks and a slower disengagement of the DMN. CEN functional connectivity showed no significant association with rumination. These results might reflect rumination-related difficulties in re-directing cognitive resources from self-referential thoughts to external stimuli, which may arise due to the weak mapping of external stimuli. The current findings expand understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying the effects of rumination on executive function and indicate that future research should further explore the interactions between these three networks.Show less
Psychopaths are known for their lack of empathy and immoral behaviours, and have shown to be unable to distinguish moral from conventional violations. Research demonstrated that morality can be...Show morePsychopaths are known for their lack of empathy and immoral behaviours, and have shown to be unable to distinguish moral from conventional violations. Research demonstrated that morality can be influenced by empathy, as well as developmental changes. The current study therefore aimed to investigate differences in moral decision-making behaviours between healthy males and psychopathic males in the evaluation of complex social situations. A total of 39 participants took part in this study, with 20 healthy male controls and 19 psychopathic males. The participants observed and evaluated pictures depicting various social situations. These included offenders of intentional pain (IP), offenders of accidental pain (AP), victims of IP, and victims of AP. Participants were then instructed to distribute coins between themselves and a random target from the social situation. The results showed that the controls could differentiate between more conditions than the psychopaths. More specifically, the controls and psychopaths both showed most prosocial behaviour towards victims of IP, followed by victims of AP, and showed most punishing behaviour towards offenders of IP, followed by offenders of AP. However, the psychopaths showed less prosocial behaviour than the controls towards victims of IP and AP. No significant differences were found in punishing behaviour between the controls and psychopaths towards offenders of AP. Finally, no significant correlation was found between age and prosocial behaviour in both the controls and psychopaths towards victims. Taken together, these findings further support the notion that psychopaths’ lack of prosocial behaviour stems from an empathy deficiency, rather than an impairment in moral judgement.Show less
