scholarly journals Cognitive and Affective Empathy Relate Differentially to Emotion Regulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Thompson ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum ◽  
Bhismadev Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Emotional Stroop Task ◽  
Emotional Interference ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Component Processes

AbstractThe constructs of empathy (i.e., understanding and/or sharing another’s emotion) and emotion regulation (i.e., the processes by which one manages emotions) have largely been studied in relative isolation of one another. To better understand the interrelationships between their various component processes, this manuscript reports two studies that examined the relationship between empathy and emotion regulation using a combination of self-report and task measures. In study 1 (N = 137), trait cognitive empathy and affective empathy were found to share divergent relationships with self-reported emotion dysregulation. Trait emotion dysregulation was negatively related to cognitive empathy but did not show a significant relationship with affective empathy. In the second study (N = 92), the magnitude of emotion interference effects (i.e., the extent to which inhibitory control was impacted by emotional relative to neutral stimuli) in variants of a Go/NoGo and Stroop task were used as proxy measures of implicit emotion regulation abilities. Trait cognitive and affective empathy were differentially related to both task metrics. Higher affective empathy was associated with increased emotional interference in the Emotional Go/NoGo task; no such relationship was observed for trait cognitive empathy. In the Emotional Stroop task, higher cognitive empathy was associated with reduced emotional interference; no such relationship was observed for affective empathy. Together, these studies demonstrate that greater cognitive empathy was broadly associated with improved emotion regulation abilities, while greater affective empathy was typically associated with increased difficulties with emotion regulation. These findings point to the need for assessing the different components of empathy in psychopathological conditions marked by difficulties in emotion regulation.

scholarly journals Cognitive and affective empathy relate differentially to emotion regulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas M Thompson ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum ◽  
Bhismadev Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Interference Effects ◽  
Emotional Interference ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
The Relationship

The constructs of empathy (i.e. understanding/sharing another’s emotion) and emotion regulation (i.e. the processes by which one manages emotions) have largely been studied in relative isolation of one another. To better understand the interrelationships between their various component processes, this manuscript reports two studies that examined the relationship between empathy and emotion regulation using a combination of self-report and task measures. In study 1 (N=137), trait cognitive and affective empathy were found to share divergent relationships with self-reported emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation was negatively related to cognitive empathy but showed no relationship with affective empathy. In the second study (N=92), the magnitude of emotion interference effects (i.e. the extent to which inhibitory control was impacted by emotional relative to neutral stimuli) in variants of a Go/NoGo and Stroop task were used as proxy measures of implicit emotion regulation abilities. Trait cognitive and affective empathy were found to share different relationships with both task metrics. Higher affective empathy was associated with increased emotional interference in the Emotional Go/NoGo; no such relationship was observed for trait cognitive empathy. In the Emotional Stroop, higher cognitive empathy was associated with reduced emotional interference, but no such relationship was observed for affective empathy. Together, these studies demonstrate that greater cognitive empathy was broadly associated with improved emotion regulation abilities, while greater affective empathy was typically associated with increased difficulties with emotion regulation. This finding points to the need for assessing the different components of empathy in psychopathological conditions marked by difficulties in emotion regulation.

scholarly journals Psychopathy and Aggression: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626051990094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Garofalo ◽  
Craig S. Neumann ◽  
Patrizia Velotti
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Verbal Aggression ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Shared Variance ◽  
Reactive And Proactive Aggression

The importance of psychopathy in the forensic and criminal justice domains is largely due to its robust associations with aggression and violent behavior. Hence, investigators have increasingly been interested in elucidating potential mechanisms linking psychopathy and aggression. Recent research highlighted previously overlooked associations between psychopathy and difficulties in emotion regulation, the process responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and managing one’s emotional experience, as well as for guiding behavior under intense emotional arousal. Yet, it remains unclear whether emotion dysregulation may be helpful to explain well-documented associations between psychopathy and aggression. The present study examined whether emotion dysregulation mediated associations (i.e., explained a significant portion of the shared variance) between psychopathy and aggression across community ( N = 521) and offender ( N = 268) samples. Participants completed self-report measures of psychopathy, emotion dysregulation, trait aggressiveness (i.e., anger, hostility, physical and verbal aggression), as well as reactive and proactive aggression. Across both samples, psychopathy had significant indirect effect on all indices of aggression through emotion dysregulation, with the exception of verbal aggression. These findings support the relevance of emotion regulation for the construct of psychopathy and its maladaptive correlates and highlight the potential relevance of focusing on emotion regulation as a possible target for interventions aimed at reducing aggression among individuals with psychopathic traits.

scholarly journals The cost of empathy: Parent-adolescent conflict predicts emotion dysregulation for highly empathic youth

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caspar J. Van Lissa ◽  
Skyler T. Hawk ◽  
Hans M. Koot ◽  
Susan Branje ◽  
Wim H. J. Meeus
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Consolidation Process ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Mood Variability ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Adolescent Parent ◽  
Parent Conflict ◽  
Over Time

Empathy plays a key role in maintaining close relationships and promoting pro-social conflict resolution. However, research has not addressed the potential emotional cost of adolescents’ high empathy, particularly when relationships are characterized by more frequent conflict. The present six-year longitudinal study (N = 467) investigated whether conflict with parents predicted emotion dysregulation more strongly for high-empathy adolescents than for lower-empathy adolescents. Emotion dysregulation was operationalized at both the experiential level, using mood diary data collected for three weeks each year, and at the dispositional level, using annual self-report measures. In line with predictions, we found that more frequent adolescent-parent conflict predicted greater day-to-day mood variability and dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation for high-empathy adolescents, but not for average- and low-empathy adolescents. Mood variability and difficulties in emotion regulation, in turn, also predicted increased conflict with parents. These links were not moderated by empathy. Moreover, our research allowed for a novel investigation of the interplay between experiential and dispositional emotion dysregulation. Day-to-day mood variability predicted increasing dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation over time, which suggests that experiential dysregulation becomes consolidated into dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that, for high-empathy adolescents, conflict was a driver of this dysregulation consolidation process. Finally, emotion dysregulation played a role in over-time conflict maintenance for high-empathy adolescents. This suggests that, through emotion dysregulation, high empathy may paradoxically also contribute to maintaining negative adolescent-parent interactions. Our research indicates that high empathy comes at a cost when adolescent-parent relationships are characterized by greater negativity.

Not just ‘callous-unemotional’: Psychopathic traits are associated with emotion dysregulation dimensions

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S181-S181
Author(s):  
P. Velotti ◽  
M. D’aguanno ◽  
C. Garofalo ◽  
G. Rogier
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Male Offenders ◽  
Callous Unemotional ◽  
Callous Unemotional Traits ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionHistorically, psychopathic individuals have mainly been described as characterized by pervasive callous-unemotional traits, with dramatic implications for clinical and forensic practices – such as the tendency to deem psychopathic individuals as untreatable. However, recent evidence with community samples have highlighted that psychopathic traits may be in fact related to emotion dysregulation rather than being the mere reflection of an underlying ‘unemotionality’. Yet, it is no clear if this association extends to populations with more severe forms of psychopathy (i.e., offenders).ObjectivesWe wanted to replicate previous evidence of an association between emotion dysregulation and psychopathic traits in a sample of incarcerated offenders.AimsTo investigate the associations among emotion dysregulation dimensions and psychopathic traits, exploring similarities and differences between the Interpersonal-Affective and the Antisocial-Lifestyle facets of psychopathy.MethodsA sample of male offenders incarcerated in Italian jails completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-4; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, 2015) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004).ResultsIn line with the expectations, emotion dysregulation dimensions did predict higher levels of psychopathic traits. Structural Equation Modelling revealed that selected dimensions of emotion dysregulation were associated with different facets of psychopathy.ConclusionsBased on our findings, we argue that psychopathic traits may be associated to a certain extent with emotion dysregulation, and thus a focus on improving emotion regulation skills may hold the promise to dampen the therapeutic pessimism when dealing with psychopathic offenders.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Intimate Partner Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: Indirect Effects Through Negative and Positive Emotion Dysregulation

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110063
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Simpson ◽  
Alexa M. Raudales ◽  
Miranda E. Reyes ◽  
Tami P. Sullivan ◽  
Nicole H. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at heightened risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS). Emotion dysregulation has been linked to both IPV and PTS, separately, however, unknown is the role of emotion dysregulation in the relation of IPV to PTS among women who experience IPV. Moreover, existing investigations in this area have been limited in their focus on negative emotion dysregulation. Extending prior research, this study investigated whether physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were indirectly associated with PTS symptom severity through negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Participants were 354 women who reported a history of IPV recruited from Amazon’s MTurk platform ( Mage = 36.52, 79.9% white). Participants completed self-report measures assessing physical (Conflict Tactics Scale), sexual (Sexual Experiences Scale), and psychological (Psychological Maltreatment of Women) IPV; negative (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) and positive (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Positive) emotion dysregulation; and PTS symptom severity (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) via an online survey. Pearson’s correlation coefficients examined intercorrelations among the primary study variables. Indirect effect analyses were conducted to determine if negative and positive emotion dysregulation explained the relations between physical, sexual, and psychological IPV and PTS symptom severity. Physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were significantly positively associated with both negative and positive emotion dysregulation as well as PTS symptom severity, with the exception that psychological IPV was not significantly associated with positive emotion dysregulation. Moreover, negative and positive emotion dysregulation accounted for the relationships between all three IPV types and PTS symptom severity, with the exception of positive emotion dysregulation and psychological IPV. Our findings provide support for the potential underlying role of both negative and positive emotion dysregulation in the associations of IPV types to PTS symptom severity. Negative and positive emotion dysregulation may be important factors to integrate into interventions for PTS among women who experience IPV.

Dysregulation of emotions among pathological gamblers: The role of savoring

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S394-S394
Author(s):  
G. Rogier ◽  
P. Velotti
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Pathological Gambling ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Pathological Gamblers ◽  
Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽  
Regulation Strategies

IntroductionTheories have conceptualized pathological gambling as an attempt to cope with emotional states. However, there is a lack of research about emotion dysregulation in this population. In a similar way, few is known about the nature of emotion regulation strategies used by pathological gamblers. Furthermore, it is not clear if pathological gamblers have difficulties to regulate negative emotions (as sadness) or positive ones (as excitement).ObjectivesWe sought to explore the associations among pathological gambling, emotion dysregulation and different types of emotion regulation strategies, comparing a clinical sample with community participants.AimsTo highlight similarities and differences in emotion dysregulation between pathological gamblers and healthy participants.MethodsA sample of pathological gamblers and a sample of healthy men, were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Difficulties in Emotion regulation Scale-Positive (DERS-P), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Ways of Savoring Checklist (WOSC).ResultsAs expected, both levels of emotion dysregulation and suppression were significantly higher in the clinical sample while levels of savoring and reappraisal were significantly higher in the community sample.ConclusionsSuch results confirm the theorization of pathological gambling as a dysfunctional response to emotional states and underline the role of positive emotions. Specifically, pathological gamblers may be prone to suppress negative emotions instead to engage in functional strategies as reappraisal. Gamblers also fail to regulate positive emotions showing a poor capacity of savoring positive moments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Take my advice: Intrinsic emotion regulation is more effective under external guidance.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Ngombe ◽  
Klaus Kessler ◽  
Daniel J Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Reactions ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Potential Therapeutic Application ◽  
Within Subjects

Traditionally, research into emotion regulation (ER) has focused primarily on the intra-personal processes through which we regulate our own emotions intrinsically. More recently, however, studies have begun to explore the inter-personal nature of intrinsic ER – that is, how we regulate our emotions under the guidance of others. Preliminary evidence suggests that the ER is more effective when implemented inter- rather than intra-personally, but these findings are based exclusively on subjective ratings that capture only the experience of emotions. The current study therefore investigated whether this apparent superiority of inter-personal intrinsic ER could be replicated and extended to physiological measures of affective reactions – namely, metrics of electrodermal activity. In addition, we administered several self-report instruments to measure behavioural phenotypes associated with individual differences in intrinsic ER to identify groups that might benefit maximally from inter-personal guidance. In a within-subjects design, a large sample (N=146) were required to down-regulate their emotional reactions to negatively valenced images using an ER strategy they had chosen themselves intra-personally or one that had been recommended to them inter-personally. Subjective ratings and physiological responses converged to demonstrate the greater effectiveness of inter- over intra-personal ER in decreasing negative affective reactions, illustrating its potential therapeutic application for conditions characterised by emotion dysregulation. Interestingly, though, data from the self-report instruments did not reveal patterns of behaviour associated with its efficacy, and so it remains to be seen if and how the benefits of inter-personal ER extend to clinical populations.

scholarly journals Vagal Tone Differences in Empathy Level Elicited by Different Emotions and a Co-Viewer

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 3136
Author(s):  
Suhhee Yoo ◽  
Mincheol Whang
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Vagal Tone ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Emotional Intensity ◽  
Factor Level ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Different Levels

Empathy can bring different benefits depending on what kind of emotions people empathize with. For example, empathy with negative emotions can raise donations to charity while empathy with positive emotions can increase participation during remote education. However, few studies have focused on the physiological differences depending on what kind of emotions people empathize with. Furthermore, co-viewer can influence the elicitation of different levels of empathy, but this has been less discussed. Therefore, this study investigated vagal response differences according to each empathy factor level elicited by different emotions and co-viewer. Fifty-nine participants were asked to watch 4 videos and to evaluate subjective valence, arousal scores, and undertake an empathy questionnaire, which included cognitive, affective and identification empathy. Half of the participants watched the videos alone and the other half watched the videos with a co-viewer. Valence and arousal scores were categorized into three levels to figure out what kind of emotions they empathized with. Empathy level (high vs. low) was determined based on the self-report scores. Two-way MANOVA revealed an interaction effect of empathy level and emotions. High affective empathy level is associated with higher vagal response regardless of what kind of emotions they empathized with. However, vagal response differences in other empathy factor level showed a different pattern depending on what kind of emotions that participant empathized with. A high cognitive empathy level showed lower vagal responses when participants felt negative or positive valence. High identification level also showed increased cognitive burden when participants empathized with negative and neutral valence. The results implied that emotions and types of empathy should be considered when measuring empathic responses using vagal tone. Two-way MANOVA revealed empathic response differences between co-viewer condition and emotion. Participants with a co-viewer felt higher vagal responses and self-reporting empathy scores only when participants empathized with arousal. This implied that the effect of a co-viewer may impact on empathic responses only when participants felt higher emotional intensity.

Emotion dysregulation, temperamental vulnerability, and parental depression in adolescents: Correspondence between physiological and informant-report measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 1023-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Lotte Van Beveren ◽  
Sven C. Mueller ◽  
Caroline Braet
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Emotion Dysregulation ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Parental Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Emotional Responding ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Regulation Strategies

AbstractAlthough numerous studies reveal altered respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) among children, adolescents, and adults who exhibit emotion dysregulation, effects of temperamental vulnerability and parental mental health on RSA remain unclear. We evaluated the relationship among emotion regulation, RSA, and RSA reactivity in a pooled sample of 24 vulnerable and 31 resilient adolescents (mean age = 13.69 years; 60% girls), including associations with temperamental vulnerability and parental depressive symptoms. Participants watched a neutral film clip while their resting RSA was recorded, and then completed a reward and frustration task, using an affective Posner paradigm. Temperament and emotion regulation were assessed via self-report and parent report, and parents reported on their own depressive symptoms. Low resting RSA was associated with temperamental negative emotionality, whereas greater RSA reactivity to frustration was associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. No significant relations were found between RSA and parental depressive symptoms. This study elucidates the role of RSA as a biomarker of individual differences in emotion dysregulation and temperamental vulnerability and stresses the importance of considering multiple units of analyses, as well as functional domains, when studying emotional responding and regulation in adolescents.

Reading other minds

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Djikic ◽  
Keith Oatley ◽  
Mihnea C. Moldoveanu
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Other Minds ◽  
Report Measure

The potential of literature to increase empathy was investigated in an experiment. Participants (N = 100, 69 women) completed a package of questionnaires that measured lifelong exposure to fiction and nonfiction, personality traits, and affective and cognitive empathy. They read either an essay or a short story that were equivalent in length and complexity, were tested again for cognitive and affective empathy, and were finally given a non-self-report measure of empathy. Participants who read a short story who were also low in Openness experienced significant increases in self-reported cognitive empathy (p .05). No increases in affective empathy were found. Participants who were frequent fiction-readers had higher scores on the non-self-report measure of empathy. Our results suggest a role for fictional literature in facilitating development of empathy.

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