If I cry, do you care? Individual differences in empathy moderate the facilitation of caregiving words after exposure to crying faces

Lockwood, Patricia, Millings, Abigail, Hepper, Erica G. and Rowe, Angela C. (2012) If I cry, do you care? Individual differences in empathy moderate the facilitation of caregiving words after exposure to crying faces. Journal of Individual Differences. (In Press)

Abstract

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 non-words were presented after subliminal exposure (24ms.) 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 in relation to the role of empathy in response to crying others

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics