Understanding individual variation in empathy enhancement
Lead Research Organisation:
Goldsmiths University of London
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
During our daily social interactions, observing others' experiences (e.g. emotion, sensation) can induce a similar experience of our own. When the experience we feel matches that of the person we are interacting with (e.g. feeling sad because you see your friend is sad), we are said to be empathising with them. Building a scientific understanding of how we empathise with others is extremely important as empathy plays a key role in supporting social relationships that are important for health and well-being.
We now know that we empathise with others in a variety of different ways. Results of recent research (including our own) have shown that our ability to mentally distinguish between and focus on the experiences of ourselves and others - our 'self-other control' - plays a key role in engaging the psychological systems that allow us to experience empathy. Moreover, we have shown that it is possible to improve self-other control using behavioural training, and that in doing so we can enhance the ability to empathise with others. These findings indicate that self-other control modulation may be a promising tool to support empathy skills, which offers the potential for developing intervention approaches in groups where improving empathy would be useful (e.g. in healthcare professions or in groups with altered empathy including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), alexithymia, psychopathy, mirror-sensory synaesthesia).
There are still many open questions regarding how our self-other control mediates our ability to empathise with others, which must be addressed before this knowledge can be used widely. The primary aims of our research focus on answering some of these questions. In particular: Can we train individuals' self-other control to enhance their performance across a range of empathy measures (including questionnaires and behavioural tests)? Will certain types of individuals be more susceptible to empathy-enhancement procedures than others? Are empathy enhancement procedures effective in clinical, compared to non-clinical, populations? How does boosting empathy affect the brain? Can we stimulate certain parts of the brain to boost empathy?
Our primary working hypothesis is that improving individuals' self-other control, using behavioural training techniques, will enhance their performance in empathy tests. Second, we believe that the target of this training may benefit certain kinds of individuals more than others, depending on their levels of psychological traits related to social ability, and whether they suffer from a clinical condition. We will integrate a range of methods to address our aims and hypotheses: individuals' empathy will be tested before and after self-other control training using a variety of established, and novel, empathy tests including psychometric, brain imaging, and brain stimulation investigations. Rather than restricting our analysis to one group, we will shift the state-of-the-art by testing people with a wide spectrum of empathic reactions including typical adults, ASD, alexithymia, and mirror-sensory synaesthesia. This will broaden the implications of our work to provide insights on the relationship between self-other control and empathy across a variety of groups. In doing so, we will help to inform our understanding of empathy, clarifying the importance of self-other control, and provide the initial building blocks for future research aspiring to develop treatments and training programs to enhance it.
We now know that we empathise with others in a variety of different ways. Results of recent research (including our own) have shown that our ability to mentally distinguish between and focus on the experiences of ourselves and others - our 'self-other control' - plays a key role in engaging the psychological systems that allow us to experience empathy. Moreover, we have shown that it is possible to improve self-other control using behavioural training, and that in doing so we can enhance the ability to empathise with others. These findings indicate that self-other control modulation may be a promising tool to support empathy skills, which offers the potential for developing intervention approaches in groups where improving empathy would be useful (e.g. in healthcare professions or in groups with altered empathy including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), alexithymia, psychopathy, mirror-sensory synaesthesia).
There are still many open questions regarding how our self-other control mediates our ability to empathise with others, which must be addressed before this knowledge can be used widely. The primary aims of our research focus on answering some of these questions. In particular: Can we train individuals' self-other control to enhance their performance across a range of empathy measures (including questionnaires and behavioural tests)? Will certain types of individuals be more susceptible to empathy-enhancement procedures than others? Are empathy enhancement procedures effective in clinical, compared to non-clinical, populations? How does boosting empathy affect the brain? Can we stimulate certain parts of the brain to boost empathy?
Our primary working hypothesis is that improving individuals' self-other control, using behavioural training techniques, will enhance their performance in empathy tests. Second, we believe that the target of this training may benefit certain kinds of individuals more than others, depending on their levels of psychological traits related to social ability, and whether they suffer from a clinical condition. We will integrate a range of methods to address our aims and hypotheses: individuals' empathy will be tested before and after self-other control training using a variety of established, and novel, empathy tests including psychometric, brain imaging, and brain stimulation investigations. Rather than restricting our analysis to one group, we will shift the state-of-the-art by testing people with a wide spectrum of empathic reactions including typical adults, ASD, alexithymia, and mirror-sensory synaesthesia. This will broaden the implications of our work to provide insights on the relationship between self-other control and empathy across a variety of groups. In doing so, we will help to inform our understanding of empathy, clarifying the importance of self-other control, and provide the initial building blocks for future research aspiring to develop treatments and training programs to enhance it.
Planned Impact
The present research investigates how individual characteristics - including both clinical and subclinical traits - impact on training designed to modify empathy. As such, the research makes contact with many disciplines and has the potential for translational impact. The summary below outlines who will benefit from the research and how. This is expanded upon in the Pathways to Impact statement.
Who?
People with subclinical traits characterised by atypical empathy.
How?
Within the population exists individuals scoring highly in a range of psychological traits that are associated with abnormal empathic responding, these include alexithymia, psychopathy, mirror pain synaesthesia, schizotypal, and autistic traits. Although altered empathy associated with these traits are not sever enough to be classified as a clinical condition, they can still impact on an individuals' social relationships and opportunities. The impact of this can not be underestimated since social relationships play a pivotal role in mental health and wellbeing (e.g. reduced social relationships are one of the largest predictors of mortality rates in humans - Holt-Lunstad et al. 2010. PLoS Medicine). Our research will help raise awareness (among those affected and the general population) of how these individual differences are associated with altered empathy, and offer avenues for the development of tools to support individually tailored empathy training in the future. This will be achieved through stakeholder events, engagement with the public, and interaction with the media.
Who?
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and professionals working with them.
How?
Highlighting that the problems in empathy found in ASD may be linked to specific mechanisms, and that they can potentially be targeted for intervention using behavioural and neurologically informed training techniques will have implications for those with ASD and for those working to support them. This will be acheieved through stakeholder events, engagement with the public, and interaction with the media.
Who?
The general public and wider stakeholders
How?
The general public, media, and policy makers have an interest in empathy and how it shapes both our social interactions and society at large. The notion that different people can empathise with others in different ways, and that this could be modified, has significant implications for policy (e.g. how we teach and treat people who differ; how we train professions where empathy is important), for art and culture (e.g. PI's work has led to symposia at Tate Modern), and for science. This will be achieved via public science events, interactions with stakeholders, use of social media, and interaction with the media.
Who?
Academic beneficiaries. These will consist of researchers from a variety of areas including: social neuroscience and social cognition; clinical psychology; and individual differences. In a broader context the findings will be of interest to researchers working with the methods to be employed including non-invasive brain stimulation, continuous self-report measures, and neuroimaging. These beneficiaries are distributed globally.
How?
The research will increase the scientific knowledge base in these areas, by using cutting-edge methodologies to directly test recent theoretical predictions regarding mechanisms involved in empathy (e.g. Bird & Viding, 2014; Lamm et al., 2016; Ward & Banissy, 2015), and the degree to which it can be moderated. The research will lay the foundations for the potential application of this knowledge to support atypical groups, and in this regard is timely given funding priorities related to health and wellbeing. It will also build capacity for future collaborations among the investigators/institutions (Goldsmiths, Oxford, Queen's) as well as training an early-career RF. This will be achieved through dissemination in leading journals, conferences, and social media outlets.
Who?
People with subclinical traits characterised by atypical empathy.
How?
Within the population exists individuals scoring highly in a range of psychological traits that are associated with abnormal empathic responding, these include alexithymia, psychopathy, mirror pain synaesthesia, schizotypal, and autistic traits. Although altered empathy associated with these traits are not sever enough to be classified as a clinical condition, they can still impact on an individuals' social relationships and opportunities. The impact of this can not be underestimated since social relationships play a pivotal role in mental health and wellbeing (e.g. reduced social relationships are one of the largest predictors of mortality rates in humans - Holt-Lunstad et al. 2010. PLoS Medicine). Our research will help raise awareness (among those affected and the general population) of how these individual differences are associated with altered empathy, and offer avenues for the development of tools to support individually tailored empathy training in the future. This will be achieved through stakeholder events, engagement with the public, and interaction with the media.
Who?
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and professionals working with them.
How?
Highlighting that the problems in empathy found in ASD may be linked to specific mechanisms, and that they can potentially be targeted for intervention using behavioural and neurologically informed training techniques will have implications for those with ASD and for those working to support them. This will be acheieved through stakeholder events, engagement with the public, and interaction with the media.
Who?
The general public and wider stakeholders
How?
The general public, media, and policy makers have an interest in empathy and how it shapes both our social interactions and society at large. The notion that different people can empathise with others in different ways, and that this could be modified, has significant implications for policy (e.g. how we teach and treat people who differ; how we train professions where empathy is important), for art and culture (e.g. PI's work has led to symposia at Tate Modern), and for science. This will be achieved via public science events, interactions with stakeholders, use of social media, and interaction with the media.
Who?
Academic beneficiaries. These will consist of researchers from a variety of areas including: social neuroscience and social cognition; clinical psychology; and individual differences. In a broader context the findings will be of interest to researchers working with the methods to be employed including non-invasive brain stimulation, continuous self-report measures, and neuroimaging. These beneficiaries are distributed globally.
How?
The research will increase the scientific knowledge base in these areas, by using cutting-edge methodologies to directly test recent theoretical predictions regarding mechanisms involved in empathy (e.g. Bird & Viding, 2014; Lamm et al., 2016; Ward & Banissy, 2015), and the degree to which it can be moderated. The research will lay the foundations for the potential application of this knowledge to support atypical groups, and in this regard is timely given funding priorities related to health and wellbeing. It will also build capacity for future collaborations among the investigators/institutions (Goldsmiths, Oxford, Queen's) as well as training an early-career RF. This will be achieved through dissemination in leading journals, conferences, and social media outlets.
Publications
Cuve HC
(2022)
Validation of Gazepoint low-cost eye-tracking and psychophysiology bundle.
in Behavior research methods
Rigato S
(2019)
Interpersonal representations of touch in somatosensory cortex are modulated by perspective.
in Biological psychology
Cuve H
(2021)
Alexithymia explains atypical spatiotemporal dynamics of eye gaze in autism
in Cognition
Ward J
(2018)
The relationship between mirror-touch synaesthesia and empathy: New evidence and a new screening tool.
in Cognitive neuropsychology
Sevi L
(2022)
Egocentric biases are predicted by the precision of self-related predictions
in Cortex
Penton T
(2022)
Investigating the sense of agency and its relation to subclinical traits using a novel task.
in Experimental brain research
Botan V
(2018)
Individual Differences in Vicarious Pain Perception Linked to Heightened Socially Elicited Emotional States.
in Frontiers in psychology
Vafeiadou A
(2022)
Assessing individual differences in attitudes towards touch in treatment settings: Introducing the touch & health scale
in Health Psychology Open
Roberts R
(2020)
Thinking about Others' Minds: Mental State Inference in Boys with Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits.
in Journal of abnormal child psychology
Santiesteban I
(2021)
Individuals with Autism Share Others' Emotions: Evidence from the Continuous Affective Rating and Empathic Responses (CARER) Task.
in Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Description | 1: Better understanding of individual differences in empathy in a variety of groups By developing novel measures of social perception and social cognition, we have been able to capture how different subcomponents of empathy (emotion understanding, affect sharing, and empathic accuracy) contribute to individual differences in a range of groups including autistic people, people with mirror-sensory synaesthesia, people with ASMR, people with high alexithymia, and typical adults. These experiments have included behavioural, neuroscience, and survey-based investigations. They have contributed to the generation of new knowledge via several published articles. The work has also been shared with the public and industry, including new ongoing collaborations/partnerships between the project team and mobile-application development companies exploring tools to measure and support individual differences in social cognitive abilities like empathy. 2. Better understanding of how self-other control training contributes to empathy enhancements Previous research has shown that our ability to mentally distinguish between and focus on the experiences of ourselves and others - our 'self-other control' - plays a key role in engaging the psychological systems that allow us to experience empathy. In this project, we have shown that it is possible to improve self-other control using behavioural training and that in doing so we can enhance the ability to empathise with others. Using novel tasks and studying individual differences, we have found that self-other control training is influenced by the subclinical trait, alexithymia. We have also found that we can target specific components of empathy through training - for example, if we train people to get better at switching their focus towards themselves than other people, we see a reduction in self-distress while maintaining empathic concern for other people. This has important implications for professions where empathy is important, but burnout can occur due to heightened self-distress. Our training results suggest that we can maintain empathic concern while reducing self-distress: based on these findings, we are now working closely with professionals in social care settings to explore the potential to extend the results from the laboratory to real-world settings. This novel collaboration has stemmed from the results of the project. The findings have also contributed to new knowledge sharing through conference dissemination, public talks, and publications. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes of the award have been extended to the education and training of empathy regulation in social care settings. This is an active collaboration involving members of the research team and four local authorities in London. The work also contributed to active collaborations with the media and creative industries, including research team members extending the work on individual differences and empathy in BBC Radio 4's Kindness Test (2022) and Touch Test (2020). The kindness test had over 60,000 members of the public take part, while the Touch Test had over 40,000. The associated media coverage raised awareness of the importance of individual differences in empathy in these domains and has contributed to popular science books (currently translated into three languages) and public talks connected to the outcomes of this project. The industry collaboration resulted in a new product launch for a mobile-based application measuring individual differences in empathy to support social cognition intervention. This collaboration also supported the development of new industry relationships between the team members and the mobile development app agency, Tapptitude, in connection to the measurement and interventions of social cognition in mobile-based technologies. |
Sectors | Healthcare Other |
Description | We have been involved in various activities with international reach that have increased awareness of our work on empathy and individual differences in empathy across groups of interest within the project. This has been achieved through talks at public symposiums, involvement in major public engagement festivals, and international media engagement. On a national scale, Co-I, Bird, is now a member of the Autism Partnership Board (Oxford). PI Banissy and Co-I Bird, have given several talks to industry and charities on empathy in the workplace. |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Developing and assessing the utility of mobile applications to modulate social cognition |
Amount | £33,872 (GBP) |
Funding ID | SIF\R1\181002 |
Organisation | The Royal Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2018 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | BBC Breakfast News Coverage |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A piece about our research was filmed at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. This increased public knowledge of the research and prompted volunteers to contact us and participate in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | BBC Radio 4 - Seriously Programme on Empathy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Raised awareness of research and knowledge exchange |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | BBC Radio 4 All in the Mind; BBC Local Radio; BBC News; BBC Breakfast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interviews given to discuss ongoing research projects. This increased public knowledge of the research and prompted volunteers to contact us and participate in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | BBC Radio 4 The Touch Test |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interviews and co-hosting of a series of radio broadcast on Radio 4 linked to the anatomy of touch. This included discussions of social connectedness and interaction linked to this project. The outcome was increased public awareness, requests to participate in research, and requests for collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dfp3 |
Description | BBC Radio Coverage: Radio 4 Today Programme, World Service, Local radio stations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interviews given to discuss ongoing research projects. This increased public knowledge of the research and prompted volunteers to contact us and participate in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Being Human Now Exhibition |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Prof Banissy played a role as lead researcher featured in Wellcome Collection "What does it mean to be human now?" exhibition. The focus was on empathy and social interactions during and after the pandemic. This increased public knowledge of the research and prompted volunteers to contact us and participate in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/YCQOsBIAACIAaMEN |
Description | Creative Brain (University of Oxford) Public Science Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Increased interest in subject area and requests for research participation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science event on Empathy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Raised awareness of research, knowledge exchange, and requests for further information. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | For All I Care Podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interview for "For all I care" podcast exploring social bonds, wellbeing and social connection before, during, and after the pandemic. Resulted in increased public interest and requests to take part in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/baltic/id/17201282 |
Description | Interview for BBC.com |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Prof Banissy was featured as a global thought leader on the future of "How we will socialise" in a post pandemic world. The article had a global reach and has led to requests for follow up public engagement activity and collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201109-coronavirus-how-cities-travel-and-family-life-will-cha... |
Description | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Main Summer Exhibition and Talk presented at Wellcome Trust Collection, London, UK (Summer 2018) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Raised awareness about research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition: Do You Feel Me? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We organised a stand focused on synaesthesia and empathy for the 2019 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. This was a high-profile public event which reached over 12,000 visitors and generated engagement from synaesthetes, future research participants and the media. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | School Visit (Feltham, England) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Presented talk "The Science of Emotion" to GCSE and A-level students at the Rivers Academy, Feltham, England, with the aim of providing an accessible introduction to the science of emotion and empathy. The audience consisted of approximately 100-200 students. The talk sparked questions and discucssion afterwards, with several students expressing an interest in studying psychology further during their academic career. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Vice article - Super-Empaths Are Real, Says Science |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Raised awareness of research, knowledge exchange, and requests for further information. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop and discussion panel (London, England) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Took part in a workshop and discussion panel (as a panel expert in the application of neuro-stimulation) for a public outreach event organised by, and hosted within, University of the Arts London: Central Saint Martins. The event title was: "Neuroscience Meets Art Experience Day: Mind Generated Images". 11-50 members of the general public attended the event, which consisted of a panel discussion, Q&A session with the audience, and a neuro-stimulation demo session (which included participation by the general public). The event focused on providing an accessible introduction to the science of neuro-stimulation techniques, both present and potential future applications. The audience reported increased interest in the subject area and requested contact details to enquire about participating in related research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |