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

If I cry, do you care? Individual differences in empathy moderate the facilitation of caregiving words after exposure to crying faces
If I cry, do you care? Individual differences in empathy moderate the facilitation of caregiving words after exposure to crying faces
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
1614-0001
Lockwood, Patricia
45f820f1-9ed4-4a1a-83bc-912aa50c334e
Millings, Abigail
c759d261-4073-4279-a892-2f74e01d115a
Hepper, Erica G.
fe969931-cea2-4781-a474-d41a89b213ae
Rowe, Angela C.
961710a1-32ad-4659-8ff2-4239d67974a5
Lockwood, Patricia
45f820f1-9ed4-4a1a-83bc-912aa50c334e
Millings, Abigail
c759d261-4073-4279-a892-2f74e01d115a
Hepper, Erica G.
fe969931-cea2-4781-a474-d41a89b213ae
Rowe, Angela C.
961710a1-32ad-4659-8ff2-4239d67974a5

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)

Record type: Article

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

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Accepted/In Press date: 23 August 2012
Organisations: Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 342471
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/342471
ISSN: 1614-0001
PURE UUID: 0d2b9ad5-1579-4c4b-bc10-cc1eda5d6a34

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Date deposited: 31 Aug 2012 14:32
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 00:51

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Contributors

Author: Patricia Lockwood
Author: Abigail Millings
Author: Erica G. Hepper
Author: Angela C. Rowe

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