scholarly journals High emotional contagion and empathy are associated with enhanced detection of emotional authenticity in laughter

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (11) ◽  
pp. 2355-2363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Neves ◽  
Carolina Cordeiro ◽  
Sophie K Scott ◽  
São Luís Castro ◽  
César F Lima
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Emotional Contagion ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Communicative Act

Nonverbal vocalisations such as laughter pervade social interactions, and the ability to accurately interpret them is an important skill. Previous research has probed the general mechanisms supporting vocal emotional processing, but the factors that determine individual differences in this ability remain poorly understood. Here, we ask whether the propensity to resonate with others’ emotions—as measured by trait levels of emotional contagion and empathy—relates to the ability to perceive different types of laughter. We focus on emotional authenticity detection in spontaneous and voluntary laughs: spontaneous laughs reflect a less controlled and genuinely felt emotion, and voluntary laughs reflect a more deliberate communicative act (e.g., polite agreement). In total, 119 participants evaluated the authenticity and contagiousness of spontaneous and voluntary laughs and completed two self-report measures of resonance with others’ emotions: the Emotional Contagion Scale and the Empathic Concern scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. We found that higher scores on these measures predict enhanced ability to detect laughter authenticity. We further observed that perceived contagion responses during listening to laughter significantly relate to authenticity detection. These findings suggest that resonating with others’ emotions provides a mechanism for processing complex aspects of vocal emotional information.

scholarly journals Who Moves to Music? Empathic Concern Predicts Spontaneous Movement Responses to Rhythm and Music

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 205920432097421
Author(s):  
Agata Zelechowska ◽  
Victor E. Gonzalez Sanchez ◽  
Bruno Laeng ◽  
Jonna K. Vuoskoski ◽  
Alexander Refsum Jensenius
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Neutral Position ◽  
Dance Music ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Spontaneous Movement ◽  
Electronic Dance Music

Moving to music is a universal human phenomenon, and previous studies have shown that people move to music even when they try to stand still. However, are there individual differences when it comes to how much people spontaneously respond to music with body movement? This article reports on a motion capture study in which 34 participants were asked to stand in a neutral position while listening to short excerpts of rhythmic stimuli and electronic dance music. We explore whether personality and empathy measures, as well as different aspects of music-related behaviour and preferences, can predict the amount of spontaneous movement of the participants. Individual differences were measured using a set of questionnaires: Big Five Inventory, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire. Liking ratings for the stimuli were also collected. The regression analyses show that Empathic Concern is a significant predictor of the observed spontaneous movement. We also found a relationship between empathy and the participants’ self-reported tendency to move to music.

Empathic abilities and their mediators in Tunisian psychiatry trainees

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 317-330
Author(s):  
Bochra Nourhene Saguem ◽  
Zeineb Bouzaâbia ◽  
Amel Braham ◽  
Selma Ben Nasr
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Personal Distress ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to assess empathy dimensions in Tunisian psychiatry trainees and to evaluate their relationship with relevant professional and extra-professional factors. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire survey was administered to the psychiatry trainees affiliated in the four faculties of medicine of Tunisia (n = 120). It comprised, in addition to sociodemographic and professional variables, the interpersonal reactivity index, a multidimensional instrument that evaluates perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress and fantasy. Other self-report measures were used to assess emotion regulation, social support and self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Findings The response rate was 71%. Descriptive statistics showed that personal distress’ scores were lower than the other empathy dimensions’ scores. Perspective taking scores were negatively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties. Personal distress scores were positively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that being an only child significantly contributed to perspective taking and having an extra-professional activity significantly contributed to less personal distress. Perceived stress, social support and having a master’s degree were significant predictors for empathic concern. Self-efficacy was a significant predictor of perspective taking, with emotion regulation difficulties mediating this relationship. Practical implications Interventions dedicated to improve psychiatry trainees’ empathy should focus not only on clinical practice and medical education but also on emotional support and recovery activities. Originality/value A unique feature of this study is the investigation of the potential impacts of emotion regulation difficulties and perceived self-efficacy on empathic abilities of psychiatry trainees.

Experimentally observed responses to humor are related to individual differences in emotion perception and regulation in everyday life

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilona Papousek ◽  
Günter Schulter ◽  
Helmut K. Lackner ◽  
Andrea Samson ◽  
H. Harald Freudenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Adaptive Trait ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Cognitive Understanding

AbstractThis study aimed to investigate the relevance of an individual's typical emotion perception and emotion regulation behavior to his or her responsiveness to humor. This was studied behaviorally by examining responses to different types of humorous stimuli in an experimental paradigm, in a sample of n = 54 participants aged between 18 to 41 years (29 women, 25 men). Individual differences in emotion perception and regulation were assessed by relevant subscales of an established self-report instrument. Higher scores on emotion perception were related to higher amusement ratings in response to the humorous stimuli. Higher scores on emotion regulation were associated with shorter response latencies for the amusement ratings, particularly when it was important to mentalize with the characters in the cartoons in order to understand the humor. The cognitive understanding of the humor was unaffected. The findings suggest that good emotion perception and emotion regulation skills may contribute to greater humor responsiveness in everyday life, which may be an adaptive trait promoting successful functioning and resilience.

scholarly journals Individual differences in multiple dimensions of aggression: a univariate and multivariate genetic analysis

Twin Research ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A Vernon ◽  
Julie M McCarthy ◽  
Andrew M Johnson ◽  
Kerry L Jang ◽  
Julie Aitken Harris
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Aggressive Behaviour ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Genetic Analyses ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Multivariate Genetic Analysis ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Dimensions

AbstractPrevious behaviour genetic studies of aggression have yielded inconsistent results: reported heritabilities for different types of aggressive behaviour ranging from 0 to 0.98. In the present study, 247 adult twin pairs (183 MZ pairs; 64 same-sex DZ pairs) were administered seven self-report questionnaires which yielded 18 measures of aggression. Univariate genetic analyses showed moderate to high heritabilities for 14 of these 18 measures and for a general aggression factor and three correlated aggression factors extracted from the measures. Multivariate genetic analyses showed sizeable genetic correlations between the different dimensions of aggression. Thus, individual differences in many types of aggressive behaviour are attributable to some extent to genetic factors and there is considerable overlap between the genes that operate on different types of aggressive behaviour.

The association of temperament and maternal empathy with individual differences in infants’ neural responses to emotional body expressions

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4pt1) ◽  
pp. 1205-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purva Rajhans ◽  
Manuela Missana ◽  
Kathleen M. Krol ◽  
Tobias Grossmann
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
Infant Temperament ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Developmental Neuroscience ◽  
Fearful Expression ◽  
Novel Objects

AbstractWe examined the role of infant temperament and maternal dispositional empathy in the neural processing of happy and fearful emotional body expressions in 8-month-old infants by measuring event-related brain potentials. Our results revealed that infants’ tendency to approach novel objects and people was positively correlated with the neural sensitivity (attention allocation) to fearful expressions, while infant fearfulness was negatively correlated to the neural sensitivity to fearful expressions. Maternal empathic concern was associated with infants’ neural discrimination between happy and fearful expression, with infants of more empathetically concerned mothers showing greater neural sensitivity (attention allocation) to fearful compared to happy expressions. It is critical that our results also revealed that individual differences in the sensitivity to emotional information are explained by an interaction between infant temperament and maternal empathic concern. Specifically, maternal empathy appears to impact infants’ neural responses to emotional body expressions, depending on infant fearfulness. These findings support the notion that the way in which infants respond to emotional signals in the environment is fundamentally linked to their temperament and maternal empathic traits. This adds an early developmental neuroscience dimension to existing accounts of social–emotional functioning, suggesting a complex and integrative picture of why and how infants’ emotional sensitivity varies.

scholarly journals Nodding off but can’t disconnect: development and validation of the iNOD index of Nighttime Offline Distress

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Scott ◽  
Stephany Biello ◽  
Heather Woods
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social World ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Measurement Tools ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Interactive Experience ◽  
Report Measure

There is a pressing need to update sleep models, education and treatment to better reflect the realities of sleep in a 24/7 connected social world. Progress in this area has been limited to date by available measurement tools, which have largely restricted their focus to recording the frequency or duration of individuals’ social media use, without capturing crucial sleep-relevant aspects of this inherently social and interactive experience. This study uses data from 3,008 adolescents (aged 10-18 years) to rigorously develop and validate a new 10-item self-report measure that quantifies the extent to which individuals struggle to disengage from social media interactions at night: the index of Nighttime Offline Distress (iNOD). The current findings indicate considerable individual differences, with most participants reporting little difficulty disconnecting but a minority experiencing unhelpful bedtime concerns around Staying Connecting and Following Etiquette to varying extents. Those with higher scores on these subscales tended to report using social media for longer after they felt they should be asleep, with shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. Results also indicated that extended periods of wakefulness in bed before attempting to sleep are common amongst today’s adolescents, pointing towards a potentially fragmented process of sleep displacement for those who may struggle to disconnect - and to stay disconnected - from social interactions in order to allow sufficient uninterrupted sleep opportunity. These findings can inform current models for understanding normal and disordered sleep during adolescence, whilst highlighting specific social concerns as important potential targets for sleep education efforts. The iNOD equips researchers and clinicians with a short validated self-report measure that can support efforts to move evidence and practice in this area forwards.

scholarly journals A Preliminary Study of Empathy in Romanian College Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-317
Author(s):  
Valentin Lupu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Elementary School ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Self Report ◽  
School Level ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Personal Distress ◽  
Preliminary Study

KeywordsThe Interpersonal Reactivity Index is a self-report instrument used for assessing empathy. The theoretical model of empathy for IRI assumes that empathy is multidimensional in nature containing affective aspects (Empathic Concern and Personal Distress) and cognitive aspects (Perspective Taking and Fantasy). The objective of this study was to compare the level of empathy in Romanian college students to the level of empathy in American college students and to compare empathy in college students based on gender and field of study. The IRI was administered to a sample of 216 Romanian college students. We were interested only on Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking scales. The results revealed that Empathic Concern in Romanian college students is lower than in American college students, women score higher than men on the two scales used and students studying at humanities colleges have a higher Perspective Taking than students studying at science colleges. Our suggestion as a result of this study is to introduce more classes in the curriculum at the elementary school level to teach children empathy using diverse methods.

The Structure Among Measures of Personality, Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazar Stankov
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Correlation Matrix ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Ethnic Group Differences ◽  
Inside Out

Abstract. This paper presents the results of a study that employed measures of personality, social attitudes, values, and social norms that have been the focus of recent research in individual differences. These measures were given to a sample of participants (N = 1,255) who were enrolled at 25 US colleges and universities. Factor analysis of the correlation matrix produced four factors. Three of these factors corresponded to the domains of Personality/Amoral Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms; one factor, Conservatism, cut across the domains. Cognitive ability showed negative correlation with conservatism and amoral social attitudes. The study also examined gender and ethnic group differences on factor scores. The overall interpretation of the findings is consistent with the inside-out view of human social interactions.

Individual differences related to present and future mental orientation predict the sense of time

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Wittmann ◽  
Henrike Fiedler ◽  
Wilhelm Gros ◽  
Julia Mossbridge ◽  
Cintia Retz Lucci
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Waiting Period ◽  
Frequency Scale ◽  
Temporal Intervals ◽  
Sense Of Time

With this cross-sectional study we investigated how individual differences regarding present- and future-oriented mental processes are related to the experience of time in the seconds and minutes range. A sample of students (N = 100) filled out self-report measures of time perspective (ZTPI), mindfulness (FMI), impulsiveness (BIS), and the daydreaming frequency scale (DDFS). Furthermore they were asked to (a) retrospectively judge the duration of a waiting period of five minutes, and (b) to prospectively perform an visual duration reproduction task with intervals of 3, 6, and 9 seconds. Regression models show that (a) being more present fatalistic (ZTPI) and more impulsive are related to longer duration estimates of the waiting period, and (b) having a stronger propensity to daydream leads to a stronger under-reproduction of temporal intervals. These findings show how personality traits related to present orientation are associated with the state-like perception of duration.

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