The role of physiological arousal for self-reported emotional empathy

The capacity to represent the emotional and mental states of others is referred to by the concept of empathy. Empathy further differentiates into an emotional and a cognitive subcomponent, which in turn is known to require a tacit perspective-taking process. However, whether the empathizer by himself needs to enter an affective state as a necessary precondition for emotional empathy remains a matter of debate. If empathy would require a vicarious emotional reaction, specific physiological markers of affective responding should be detectable in the empathizing person.

Source: Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical - July 26, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Christian E. Deuter, Jan Nowacki, Katja Wingenfeld, Linn K. K ühl, Johannes B. Finke, Isabel Dziobek, Christian Otte Source Type: research