Psychological Dynamics of Empathy Exam #2

Connection between social psych research and parochial empathy

Ingroup outgroup bias

Preoperational stage

2-6 or 7 yrs old. Representing things with words of images, using intuitive rather than logical reasoning. Egocentrism, pretend play, language development. Ex: Piaget’s mountain task.

Theory of Mind

the understanding that others have perspectives, beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one’s own

Measuring ToM abilities in developmental psychology

using false belief concept tasks

False belief concept tasks

Sally-Anne task, Candles in the crayon box, <3 yr olds fail, but >4 yr olds do not

Emotional contagion empathy

Baby hears another babies cry, so they start crying too. This has nothing to do with ToM. It is reflexive, and does not require understanding of other minds

Attributive empathy

Requires understanding of others mind. Greater connection to ToM. Understanding the vantage point of another person. Could also have implications for affect: can we feel connected to another person’s emotion even though you’re not feeling that emotion?

Are emotional contagion empathy and attributive empathy mutually exclusive?

No. It is possible to have neither (cognitively simple animals, plants, inanimate objects). It is possible to have both (neurotypical human adults). It is possible to have emotion contagion empathy without attributive empathy (many social animals, baby humans). It may be possible to have attributive empathy without emotional contagion empathy (possibly certain types of disorders, although this point is hotly contested).

Bad parent theory of autism

Bad parenting leads to autism, no evidence for this.

Deficits in empathy in people with autism

Cognitive empathy: problems “seeing the world” as another person might see it (central to ToM). Adults on the spectrum have similar deficits seen in neurologically typical children aged 2-3

Motor empathy: ability to recognize, “copy” or imitate more responses of the other. Less clear whether adults on the spectrum have this deficit (2-3 yr old children do not have this deficit)

Emotional empathy: ability to emotionally respond when presented with or told about, emotional experience of others. Can be measured in at least 3 ways (behavioral, self report, brain activity). People on the spectrum sometimes, but not always, have deficits here

Do people with autism have a concept of the self?

According to the mirror-self recognition task they do.

Literal perceptual role taking task with children with autism

Asks the children where the researcher is looking. The researcher’s head does not move, but their eyes move. They understand that other’s have a different physical view.

Can people with autism distinguish between their own beliefs and another person’s belief?

Sally-Anne test: most autistic children fail this task (about 75%).

Psychopathology/Anti-social personality disorder

A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, since the age of 15, must meet at least 3 of the following: Failure to conform to social norms concerning lawful behaviors, Deceitfulness, repeated lying/conning others for pleasure or personal profit, Impulsivity/failure to plan, Irritability/aggressiveness, Reckless disregard for safety of self or others, Consistent irresponsibility, Lack of remorse, being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person. The person must be at least 18. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Psychopathy and empathy deficits

Cognitive empathy (ToM): there are no indications of ToM impairment in individuals with psychopathy. Motor empathy (imitation): very little conclusive data on this. Emotional empathy: literature is very clear, psychopaths show reduced emotional reactivity to most emotions of others, especially fear, sadness, and pain. Strongest evidence is through fMRI studies (avoids self report bias), more specifically amygdala activation. This deficit does not include anger, psychopaths are just as good as anyone else at recognizing and reacting to the anger of others. Anger can signal to psychopaths to change behavior in order to achieve goal.

Representative study of emotional empathy deficits in psychopaths (Decety et al., 2013)

Ps classified as low, medium, or high evidence of psychopathy. All Ps placed in the MRI scanner. All Ps instructed to adopt either a self-perspective or an other-perspective while viewing visual stimuli depicting right hands and right feet of individuals in painful and non-painful situations. Emotional empathy measured by amygdala activation. People with medium and high evidence of psychopathy have below baseline activation in the amygdala when asked to think of others. They are just as high as anyone else when asked to think of themselves.

Comparative psychologists generally distinguish between which two types of empathy

Emotional contagion empathy. In this case, it does not require ToM skills. Ex: dogs picking up on humans’ feelings (broadband emotions)

Attributive empathy. Requires ToM skills to some extent. The ability to see the world from another’s perspectives. Almost the same as cognitive empathy. Attributive empathy does not require any emotion, only cognition. The Sally Anne task is an attributive empathy task

Koko the Gorilla

A famous western lowland gorilla who learned sign language. She could communicate with humans using over 1,000 signs and understood about 2,000 spoken words. Koko's ability to communicate showcased the intelligence and emotional depth of gorillas, challenging the notion that humans are the only species capable of complex communication.

Two ToM paradigms researchers use in primate research

Paradigm 1: the observer (nonhuman) is watching real primates interacting only with real primates. Paradigm 2: the observer (nonhuman) is actually watching human beings interacting with other humans.

Testing ToM with chimpanzees

If the trainer has a blindfold on, will the chimpanzee still reach out for food? Which trainer will the chimpanzee reach out to? The person who is facing the chimp or the person who is not? Conditions: blindfolded, with a paper over their face, hands over the eyes. The “correct” response is the chimp reaching out to the trainer they should reach out to (the trainer that is able to see the chimp). Results: chimps failed in all the conditions except the one where one researcher was solely facing the chimp. What is it about this position exactly that is eliciting high rates of accuracy? It is not using human props.

“Gesture to the trainer facing forwards” aka forward facing hypothesis

Test of H1: everything about the trainer’s body is held constant, except for whether her face is directed forward, towards the chimp. Results: they were just as likely to reach towards both trainers, failing the task.

Body facing forward theory

Chimps are naturally oriented to pay attention to the trainer whose body is most frontally oriented towards the trainer. Eye contact (and other variables) aren’t important. This hypothesis was supported. Chimp reaches toward the trainer who was facing toward the chimp (even with eyes closed). Chimp’s use a “body facing forward” rule, not theory of mind/attributive empathy.

Research on canines (Udell et al. 2011)

Method: canines had to choose between an attentive (seer) vs. non attentive human (blind) whose visual attention was blocked in one of four ways, such as having back turned vs. not turned, book covering face vs. book next to face, bucket over head vs. bucket next to head, and DSL camera in front of face vs. below face. Which trainer does the dog run towards? Domesticated (pet) dogs run towards the trainer who is facing towards them. Key findings: All dogs and wolves performed well when the trainer was facing towards them. Only the pet dogs performed well when the trainer’s face was hidden behind a book.

Transference relationship

transferring feelings from patient to therapist (imagine I am your mother, what would you say to me?)

Countertransference

transferring feelings from the therapist to the patient (not good!)

Key points of Rogerian therapy

Avoids giving advice. Uses mirroring techniques. Non-directive, but not directionless. It’s about helping the individual to self-direct. Unconditional positive regard.-Recognizing that the therapist and the client are different people, however the therapist experiences the client’s world “as if” it were their own.

Unconditional positive regard

Nonjudgmental acceptance. Intentionally non-skeptical

Necessary and sufficient conditions for effective therapy (according to Rogers)

Two person in psych. Contact. Client: state of incongruence. Therapist: state of congruence. Therapist offers unconditional and positive regard and empathetic understanding. Client perceives unconditional positive regard and empathetic understanding.

Criticisms of Rogers

Acceptance of client’s feelings w/o offering suggestions for healthy change? Does that really work? Most, although not all, modern therapists want to see integration of Rogerian principles with approaches more explicitly focusing on cognition and behavior. CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)

CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy. Thoughts, behaviors, and emotions all influence each other. No single theory of CBT. Emotions are not completely ignored. Approach is largely focused on cognition and how thoughts drive behavior. Future oriented. Therapist will typically (although not always) play a very active role in helping client fr in new/more adaptive ways of thinking and acting.

Therapeutic empathy system

empathic attunement, empathy communication skills, empathic attitude/stance, empathy knowledge.

attunement

therapist’s ability to accurately understand the thoughts and feelings of the client. Note: this is distinct from the client’s perspective.

attitude/stance

is the therapist generally successful in making the client feel comfortable in the room? Does the client feel welcomed? How does the room “feel” to the client? Note: this is distinct from the understanding of the specific problems experienced by the client.

communication

is therapist able to communicate understanding of the specific problem(s) to the client? Does the client believe that they are being understood?

knowledge

basically, general training in the dynamics of empathy.

behavioral manifestation when all four components are working in the therapist

excellent empathy skills, attunement and communication. Authentic, warm, genuine.

behavioral manifestation when there are deficits in the empathic stance of the therapist

appears empathic, but other elements of behavior may suggest dangerously using the relationship for own ends (perhaps seeing clients as objects). At worst, psychopathic.

behavioral manifestation when there are deficits in the empathic attunement of the therapist

authentic and warm, fine with simple emotions, but can struggle with more complex/mixed emotions.

behavioral manifestation when there are deficits in empathic communication skills and knowledge of the therapist

well-tuned in and authentic. May lack skills to communicate empathic understanding as well as emotion, or to frame difficulties within a cognitive conceptualization. Perhaps a novice therapist who assumes that empathy experienced by the therapist is automatically felt by the client (needs to learn the importance of explicitly communicating empathy and how to do this).

behavioral manifestation when there are deficits in attunement, empathic communication skills, and knowledge of the therapist

well-meaning “amateur.” Doesn’t listen well, will tend to gloss over, change subject, or relate personal stories, rather than focus on issues or concern.

behavioral manifestation when there are deficits in attunement and empathic communication skills in the therapist

understanding empathy intellectually and is well-meaning. Has little ability to tune into emotional content and respond appropriately. Perhaps may also find it difficult to tune into own emotions and reflect appropriately.