TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptive Empathy
T2 - Empathic Response Selection as a Dynamic, Feedback-Based Learning Process
AU - Kozakevich Arbel, Elena
AU - Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G.
AU - Hertz, Uri
N1 - Funding Information: Funding. UH was supported by the National Institute of Psychobiology in Israel (211-19-20) and by the Israel Science Foundation (1532/20). Funding Information: UH was supported by the National Psychobiology in Israel (211-19-20) and by the Foundation (1532/20). Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Kozakevich Arbel, Shamay-Tsoory and Hertz.
PY - 2021/7/22
Y1 - 2021/7/22
N2 - Empathy allows us to respond to the emotional state of another person. Considering that an empathic interaction may last beyond the initial response, learning mechanisms may be involved in dynamic adaptation of the reaction to the changing emotional state of the other person. However, traditionally, empathy is assessed through sets of isolated reactions to another's distress. Here we address this gap by focusing on adaptive empathy, defined as the ability to learn and adjust one's empathic responses based on feedback. For this purpose, we designed a novel paradigm of associative learning in which participants chose one of two empathic strategies (reappraisal or distraction) to attenuate the distress of a target person, where one strategy had a higher probability of relieving distress. After each choice, participants received feedback about the success of their chosen strategy in relieving the target person's distress, which they could use to inform their future decisions. The results show that the participants made more accurate choices in the adaptive empathy condition than in a non-social control condition, pointing to an advantage for learning from social feedback. We found a correlation between adaptive empathy and a trait measure of cognitive empathy. These findings indicate that the ability to learn about the effectiveness of empathic responses may benefit from incorporating mentalizing abilities. Our findings provide a lab-based model for studying adaptive empathy and point to the potential contribution of learning theory to enhancing our understanding of the dynamic nature of empathy.
AB - Empathy allows us to respond to the emotional state of another person. Considering that an empathic interaction may last beyond the initial response, learning mechanisms may be involved in dynamic adaptation of the reaction to the changing emotional state of the other person. However, traditionally, empathy is assessed through sets of isolated reactions to another's distress. Here we address this gap by focusing on adaptive empathy, defined as the ability to learn and adjust one's empathic responses based on feedback. For this purpose, we designed a novel paradigm of associative learning in which participants chose one of two empathic strategies (reappraisal or distraction) to attenuate the distress of a target person, where one strategy had a higher probability of relieving distress. After each choice, participants received feedback about the success of their chosen strategy in relieving the target person's distress, which they could use to inform their future decisions. The results show that the participants made more accurate choices in the adaptive empathy condition than in a non-social control condition, pointing to an advantage for learning from social feedback. We found a correlation between adaptive empathy and a trait measure of cognitive empathy. These findings indicate that the ability to learn about the effectiveness of empathic responses may benefit from incorporating mentalizing abilities. Our findings provide a lab-based model for studying adaptive empathy and point to the potential contribution of learning theory to enhancing our understanding of the dynamic nature of empathy.
KW - cognitive empathy
KW - decision-making
KW - empathy
KW - learning
KW - online simulation
KW - reward
KW - social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112614771&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.706474
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.706474
M3 - Article
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 706474
ER -