An fMRI investigation of empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior

Masten, Carrie L.; Morelli, Sylvia A.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.060

Cited by 382 publications

(372 citation statements)

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“…Taken together, the evidence suggests that the anterior insular cortex plays a critical role in egalitarian behavior in humans. This conclusion is consistent with a broader view of the insular cortex as a neural substrate (17) that processes the relationship of the individual with respect to his or her environment (19). The predominately left-lateralized activation may point toward the possibility of a positive valence or energy-preserving mode-(17) related processing during egalitarian behavior (i.e., individuals may see the group as a greater good that is worth preserving).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…These and other results suggest that the insular cortex in general is critical for the perception of internal states (16), and that the anterior insula is particularly important for awareness of our own feelings as they relate to others (17), which may be especially relevant for empathy in decision-making situations (18). Insula activation has also been linked to volitional prosocial behavior induced by em- pathy toward other's emotional or physical pain (19). Thus, we expected that this brain region would be a likely candidate for involvement in egalitarian behaviors.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

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Neural basis of egalitarian behavior

Dawes

Loewen

Schreiber³

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Individuals are willing to sacrifice their own resources to promote equality in groups. These costly choices promote equality and are associated with behavior that supports cooperation in humans, but little is known about the brain processes involved. We use functional MRI to study egalitarian preferences based on behavior observed in the "random income game." In this game, subjects decide whether to pay a cost to alter group members' randomly allocated incomes. We specifically examine whether egalitarian behavior is associated with neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the insular cortex, two regions that have been shown to be related to social preferences. Consistent with previous studies, we find significant activation in both regions; however, only the insular cortex activations are significantly associated with measures of revealed and expressed egalitarian preferences elicited outside the scanner. These results are consistent with the notion that brain mechanisms involved in experiencing the emotional states of others underlie egalitarian behavior in humans.behavioral economics | egalitarianism

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Neural basis of egalitarian behavior

Dawes

Loewen

Schreiber³

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…One such study by Masten, Morelli, and Eisenberger (2011) investigated empathy for "social pain" and subsequent prosocial behaviour. Results showed that activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is often associated with cognitive empathy (Blair, 2005), played a crucial role in the link between empathy and prosocial behaviour.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

If I Cry, Do You Care?

Lockwood

Millings

Hepper

et al. 2013

Journal of Individual Differences

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Crying is a powerful solicitation of caregiving, yet little is known about the cognitive processes underpinning caring responses to crying others. This study examined (1) whether crying (compared to sad and happy) faces differentially elicited semantic activation of caregiving, and (2) whether individual differences in cognitive and emotional empathy moderated this activation. Ninety participants completed a lexical decision task in which caregiving, neutral, and nonwords were presented after subliminal exposure (24 ms) to crying, sad, and happy faces. Individuals low in cognitive empathy had slower reaction times to caregiving (vs. neutral) words after exposure to crying faces, but not after sad or happy faces. Results are discussed with respect to the role of empathy in response to crying others.

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“…For example, in one fMRI study (Jackson et al, 2005), subjects had more activity in two brain regions that are active during firsthand experiences of pain, the anterior insula (AI) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), when they viewed photographs of hands and feet in painful situations (e.g., being cut with a knife) than when they viewed photographs of hands and feet in non-painful situations (e.g., next to a knife). Activity in the AI or ACC has also been found for firsthand and vicarious disgust (Phillips et al, 1997;Wicker et al, 2003) and firsthand and vicarious social exclusion (Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003;Masten, Morelli, & Eisenberger, 2011;Meyer et al, 2013). Research on neural overlap for firsthand and empathic experiences of common emotions such as happiness, sadness, embarrassment, and anger is more scarce, though some studies have examined the AI and ACC as components of an automatic empathy system (Blair, Morris, Frith, Perrett, & Dolan, 1999;Bruneau, Pluta, & Saxe, 2012;de Greck et al, 2012;Krach et al, 2011;Morelli & Lieberman, 2013).…”

Section: Mirror Neurons and The Perception-action Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

An appraisal theory of empathy and other vicarious emotional experiences.

Wondra¹,

Ellsworth²

2015

Psychological Review

146

112

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Empathy, feeling what others feel, is regarded as a special phenomenon that is separate from other emotional experiences. Emotion theories say little about feeling emotions for others and empathy theories say little about how feeling emotions for others relates to normal firsthand emotional experience. Current empathy theories focus on how we feel emotions for others who feel the same thing, but not how we feel emotions for others that they do not feel, such as feeling angry for someone who is sad or feeling embarrassed for someone who is self assured. We propose an appraisal theory of vicarious emotional experiences, including empathy, based on appraisal theories of emotion. According to this theory, emotions for others are based on how we evaluate their situations, just as firsthand emotions are based on how we evaluate our own situations. We discuss how this framework can predict empathic emotion matching and also the experience of emotions for others that do not match what they feel. The theory treats empathy as a normal part of emotional experience. Keywords: empathy, emotion, appraisal, vicarious emotion APPRAISAL AND EMPATHY 4 An Appraisal Theory of Empathy and Other Vicarious Emotional ExperiencesWe feel sad when a crying friend's father has passed away. We feel embarrassed for our colleague when he blunders and blushes. We feel joy for our smiling friend when she succeeds.Empathy, feeling what another person feels, is pervasive, and it is a problem.Empathy is a problem because it defies our assumption that emotions are about our own personal goals (Frijda, 1988;Lazarus, 1991;Moors, 2010;C. A. Smith, Haynes, Lazarus, & Pope, 1993). Indeed, empathic emotions are described as more appropriate for someone else's situation than for our own (Hoffman, 2000;Preston & de Waal, 2002). Yet just as we feel emotions when we see a great work of art or step outside on a sunny day, we feel emotions for others when our personal goals are not involved.Emotion and empathy have been studied in isolation from each other. Theories of emotion neglect empathic emotions, and theories of empathy are full of special explanations for empathic emotions that are different from explanations for personal emotions. Nevertheless, empathic emotions are real emotions. They strike us quickly and redirect our attention just as any other emotion does and there is no reason to think that they are different from normal emotion processes. Bringing theories of empathy and emotion together explicitly can advance our understanding of both.We begin with a discussion of what is usually meant by empathy. Then we review and critically examine current theories of empathy. Finally, we present a theory of empathy based on appraisal theories of emotion. What is Empathy?We feel emotions about a wide variety of things. Sometimes we feel emotions because something happens to us. These are firsthand emotions. At other times we feel emotions because APPRAISAL AND EMPATHY 5 something happens to someone else. These are vicarious emotions. In some vicario...

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An fMRI investigation of empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior

Cited by 382 publications

References 50 publications

Neural basis of egalitarian behavior

Neural basis of egalitarian behavior

If I Cry, Do You Care?

An appraisal theory of empathy and other vicarious emotional experiences.

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