Are women more empathetic than men? Questionnaire and EEG estimations of sex/gender differences in empathic ability.

ABSTRACT: The debate regarding whether women are more empathetic than men has broad scientific, social and clinical implications. However, previous independent questionnaires and brain imaging studies that tested different samples reported inconsistent results regarding sex/gender differences in empathic ability. We conducted three studies to investigate sex/gender differences in empathic ability using large-sample questionnaires and electroencephalography (EEG) measures. We showed that the estimation of empathic ability using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index questionnaire showed higher rating scores in women than in men in all studies. However, our EEG measures of empathy, indexed by both phase-locked and non-phased-locked neural responses to others' painful (vs neutral) facial expressions, suppo

SUBMITTER: Pang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9976760 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature