Empathic disequilibrium as a new framework for understanding individual differences in psychopathology.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Empathy is part of basic social cognition and is central to everyday interactions. Indeed, emotional and cognitive empathy deficits are related to various psychopathologies, yet the links reported have been inconsistent. Thus, the mechanism underlying these inconsistent links is poorly understood. At least a partial answer may lie in that the dependency between cognitive and emotional empathy has been overlooked. Here, we examined the (dis)equilibrium between emotional and cognitive empathy and how it relates to individual differences in clinical traits. We further examined a possible mediator of these links-emotional reactivity.

Methods

Participants (N = 425) from the general population reported on their empathy, emotional reactivity, autistic traits, ps

SUBMITTER: Shalev I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10236526 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature