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Personality and Social Contexts

Empathy

Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology

Prediction Of Bystander Intervention Behavior In A Sexual Assault Situation: The Role Of Religiosity, Empathy, And Gratitude, John D. Foubert, Mwarumba Mwavita, Kelva Hunger, Wei-Kang Kao, Pam Pittman-Adkins Mar 2022

Prediction Of Bystander Intervention Behavior In A Sexual Assault Situation: The Role Of Religiosity, Empathy, And Gratitude, John D. Foubert, Mwarumba Mwavita, Kelva Hunger, Wei-Kang Kao, Pam Pittman-Adkins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Bystander intervention in potential sexual assault situations is a common method of helping to address sexual violence on college campuses. Although numerous variables have been shown to mediate bystander intervention behavior, the pool of potential correlates is limited. The present study used regression analysis to determine the relationship between bystander behavior and three predictors: religiosity, gratitude, and victim empathy. Consistent with prior research, both religiosity and gratitude significantly predicted bystander behavior. Contrary to prior research, the relationship between victim empathy and bystander behavior was negative. Findings are discussed relating to potential bystander intervention programs, and future research, particularly on gratitude, …

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Overcoming The Odds: The Effects Of The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity, Lifetime Trauma, And Resiliency On Empathy And Conscientiousness, Victoria West Staples Jan 2022

Overcoming The Odds: The Effects Of The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity, Lifetime Trauma, And Resiliency On Empathy And Conscientiousness, Victoria West Staples

MSU Graduate Theses

This research sought to understand the connection between trauma and the development of resiliency while examining the effects of that relationship on empathy and conscientiousness. Specifically, this study was created to answer four main questions: (1) Does early childhood adversity predict later life trauma? (2) Does childhood adversity and cumulative lifetime traumatic experiences impact the development of resiliency and its subconstructs (i.e., interpersonal resiliency and intrapersonal resiliency)? (3) Is empathy impacted by the presence of resiliency, specifically examining its effect on cognitive and affective empathy (using questionnaires and galvanic skin response)? (4) And is conscientiousness related to resiliency subconstructs? There …

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The Art Of Caring: Increasing Empathy Through Conversation, Joy Harlynking Jan 2019

The Art Of Caring: Increasing Empathy Through Conversation, Joy Harlynking

Honors Program Theses

In our every day lives we use empathy more than we would assume, however a current empathy deficit has led us to wonder how we can increase our empathy. The present study aimed to find a way to increase one’s empathy, specifically through an emotional conversation with another individual. There were 61 participants who were separated into either an emotional or factual conversation group. They first took surveys including the IRI, closeness questions, and the pre Revised Eyes Test and then engaged in conversation with another participant. They then took a post Revised Eyes Test after their conversation. The results …

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Everyone Has A Dark Side: How Personality And Empathy Impact Men’S Sexual Aggressive Persistence On Dating Apps, Samantha Holland Jan 2019

Everyone Has A Dark Side: How Personality And Empathy Impact Men’S Sexual Aggressive Persistence On Dating Apps, Samantha Holland

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

In the world of online dating, there is a major issue of men not respecting clear no-signals from their matches. A no-signal is simply when a woman removes her consent to continue in the conversation. In terms of consent, there has been plenty of research into how men misinterpret ambiguous consent for approval to engage in a sexual act, but there has been very little research examining why men persist through non-ambiguous no-signals. There needs to be more research into this area because these behaviors of disregarding no-signals may lead to more serious behaviors such as rape and sexual assault. …

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Juror Gender And Confession Evidence: An Exploratory Study Of Effects On Empathy And Trial Outcomes For Juvenile Defendants, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jennifer N. Weintraub Jan 2019

Juror Gender And Confession Evidence: An Exploratory Study Of Effects On Empathy And Trial Outcomes For Juvenile Defendants, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jennifer N. Weintraub

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: We explored how relations among juror gender, confession evidence, and empathy impacted verdicts for a juvenile defendant accused of a serious crime. Methods: Jury-eligible women and men (N = 128) participated in a mock trial involving a girl defendant who had either maintained her innocence, confessed voluntarily, or confessed under coercion. Participants reviewed case materials, received juror instructions, and reported their verdict and empathy for the girl defendant. A manipulation check ensured participants attended to details surrounding the confession and participants were grouped by whether they perceived the confession as voluntary or coerced. A logistic regression analysis examined main …

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Development And Validation Of The Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (Sites), Sara Konrath, Brian P. Meier, Brad J. Bushman Apr 2018

Development And Validation Of The Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (Sites), Sara Konrath, Brian P. Meier, Brad J. Bushman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Empathy involves feeling compassion for others and imagining how they feel. In this article, we develop and validate the Single Item Trait Empathy Scale (SITES), which contains only one item that takes seconds to complete. In seven studies (N = 5724), the SITES was found to be both reliable and valid. It correlated in expected ways with a wide variety of intrapersonal outcomes. For example, it is negatively correlated with narcissism, depression, anxiety, and alexithymia. In contrast, it is positively correlated with other measures of empathy, self-esteem, subjective well-being, and agreeableness. The SITES also correlates with a wide variety of …

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Social Anxiety And Subtypes Of Empathy: The Moderating Influence Of Biological Sex, Samantha K. Berg Jan 2018

Social Anxiety And Subtypes Of Empathy: The Moderating Influence Of Biological Sex, Samantha K. Berg

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Only a few studies have examined relationships between social anxiety and subtypes of empathy. Findings are mixed. The present study examined social anxiety severity on a continuum and how it related to affective and cognitive empathy in 684 nonpsychiatric adults (77% female). Participants completed an online battery of measures that included: a self-report measure of social anxiety severity (Fear of Negative Evaluation), a self-report measure with subscales for affective and cognitive empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index), and a behavioral measure of cognitive empathy (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task; MIE). After statistically covarying for general anxiety severity, biological sex moderated …

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Why Some Take Pleasure In Other People’S Pain: The Role Of Attachment, Competition, And Cooperation On Schadenfreude, Alison Baren Jun 2017

Why Some Take Pleasure In Other People’S Pain: The Role Of Attachment, Competition, And Cooperation On Schadenfreude, Alison Baren

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

When witnessing someone’s misfortune, some people may feel empathy and offer to help while others may feel schadenfreude (i.e., joy at other’s misfortunes) and not help. This research examined why people react to others with compassion while others respond more callously. I investigated how individual differences in attachment, empathy, personal distress, and schadenfreude, and the effects of competition versus cooperation, impacted prosocial behavior. As a novel contribution, I looked at attachment’s association with not only state schadenfreude but also trait schadenfreude. After developing a measure of trait schadenfreude (Study 1), I determined if attachment related to schadenfreude (Study 2) and …

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The Roles Of Race And Empathy On Contagious Yawning, Daroon M. Jalil May 2017

The Roles Of Race And Empathy On Contagious Yawning, Daroon M. Jalil

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Social Psychologists often consider race to be a marker of in-group or out-group status. When looking at race, implicit bias can take forms that are more subtle than outwards racism. Two research questions were asked in this study to better understand the psychology behind racial issues. The first question was if the number of contagious yawns (CY) a person experiences depends on the race of the stimuli being viewed. Contagiously yawning more to in-group members is a phenomena seen in chimpanzees, but has not been studied in humans in a racial context. Black and white males and females were recruited …

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I Love Your Face: Attraction And Facial Expressions Of Emotion, Kendall Swinney Jan 2017

I Love Your Face: Attraction And Facial Expressions Of Emotion, Kendall Swinney

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of two individual differences on ratings of attraction toward male facial expressions of emotion. Specifically, the influence of participants’ empathy and romantic attachment style on their attraction ratings of a target that displayed one of four emotions (i.e., sad, angry, happy, or neutral expression) was analyzed. This study found no relationship between empathy and participants’ attraction ratings; however, participant romantic attachment style did predict her attraction toward male emotional expressions. Specifically, individuals categorized as having an avoidant attachment style were less attracted to the happy expression than were those categorized …

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Psychopathy And The Effect Of Imitation On Empathetic Pain, Emily N. Lasko Jan 2017

Psychopathy And The Effect Of Imitation On Empathetic Pain, Emily N. Lasko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Psychopathy is a disorder largely characterized by a marked deficit in empathy, however, the specificity and extent of the deficit is currently unclear. While it has been well-established in the literature that individuals higher in psychopathy tend to have intact Theory of Mind abilities and exhibit a deficient ability for affective empathy (Blair, 2005), the contribution of motor empathy to these abilities, particularly in regard to empathy for pain, has yet to be experimentally examined. Additionally, the possibility of imitation increasing motor empathic abilities has not been tested in this capacity. The goal of the current study was to further …

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Differences In Attitudes Towards Heterosexual And Lgbt Homeless Youth In College Students, Jonathan P. S. Clinkenbeard Jan 2016

Differences In Attitudes Towards Heterosexual And Lgbt Homeless Youth In College Students, Jonathan P. S. Clinkenbeard

All Master's Theses

Youth homelessness, particularly among those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), continues to be an underreported problem in society today. This research was designed to investigate hypothesized differences in college students’ empathy towards heterosexual and LGBT youth, and what factors influence these differences. A sample of 81 female and 36 male participants read one of 12 vignettes describing a homeless youth’s situation and then, using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, rated their level of empathy on a scale of 1 (low) to 7 (high). Vignettes differed by the youth’s gender, sexual orientation, and reason for …

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Personality, Character Strengths, Empathy, Familiarity And The Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Jessica Shanna James May 2015

Personality, Character Strengths, Empathy, Familiarity And The Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Jessica Shanna James

Master's Theses

The stigma associated with mental illness is pervasive and detrimental. The aim of the current study was to assess individual characteristics that may be positively and negatively associated with the stigmatization of mental illness. Two-hundred fifty-nine undergraduate students from the University of Southern Mississippi completed measures of the Big Five personality traits (i.e., Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience), Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy), selected character strengths (i.e., Open-mindedness, Perspective, Bravery, Integrity, Kindness, Social Intelligence, Fairness, Forgiveness and Mercy, and Hope), Empathy, and Familiarity with mental illness. Participants also completed measures of stigmatizing attitudes …

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Easing The Heavy Hand: Humanitarian Concern, Empathy, And Opinion On Immigration, Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Patrick L. Lown, Stanley Feldman Dec 2014

Easing The Heavy Hand: Humanitarian Concern, Empathy, And Opinion On Immigration, Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Patrick L. Lown, Stanley Feldman

Todd K. Hartman

The bulk of the opinion research on immigration identifies the factors leading to opposition to immigration among the American public. In contrast, we identify a key factor and condition under which citizens embrace more permissive and supportive positions on immigration. Past research indicates that humanitarianism is a core value orientation promoting support—albeit limited—for social welfare policy. Extending this research into another highly salient policy domain—immigration—we find that humanitarian concern serves as a significant source of support for permissive positions on government immigration policy. Relying upon secondary analysis of national survey data and an original survey experiment, we demonstrate that humanitarian …

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The Effects Of Tripartite Self-Construal On Prosocial Behavior, Nicole Ruser May 2014

The Effects Of Tripartite Self-Construal On Prosocial Behavior, Nicole Ruser

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The current study examined the effects of both primed and unprimed tripartite self-construal on real helping behavior offered in a laboratory setting. Additional variables commonly associated with prosocial behavior, namely empathy (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and agreeableness (Graziano, Hasbashi, Sheese & Tobin, 2007; Caprara, Alessandri & Eisenberg, 2912), were also assessed. Undergraduate students (N = 119) completed self-report measures of empathy, agreeableness, and chronic self-construal, then completed a self-construal prime before the experimenter requested help with a simple task. It was predicted that the independence prime would increase helping among participants, as seen in the work of Finlay and …

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Some Personality Predictors Of Tolerance To Human Diversity: The Roles Of Openness, Agreeableness And Empathy, Rivka Witenberg, Ninawa Butrus Jun 2013

Some Personality Predictors Of Tolerance To Human Diversity: The Roles Of Openness, Agreeableness And Empathy, Rivka Witenberg, Ninawa Butrus

Rivka T Witenberg Dr

The aim of this study was to determine the most salient predictors of tolerance to human diversity. A total of 118 individuals (M = 32.93 years, SD = 13.80) responded to dilemma-like stories involving holding prejudicial beliefs (beliefs), talking about them (speech) and acting on them (acts). Participants also completed the Openness and Agreeableness scales from the Big Five Inventory and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Differences in tolerance judgements were found to be related to differences in personality characteristics. Results showed that Openness and Agreeableness were predictors of tolerance in the belief dimension; whereas the most salient predictor of tolerance …

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Motivation In Athletes With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Sq, Eq And Aq Relationships To Preferred Feedback, Julia C. Harreschou Jan 2013

Motivation In Athletes With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Sq, Eq And Aq Relationships To Preferred Feedback, Julia C. Harreschou

Scripps Senior Theses

All athletes are driven by motivation, sources or reasons to push their bodies to their limits and continue to do so regularly. There have been several studies concerning motivation in typical athletes, and many regarding social motivation in people with High Functioning Autism (HFA), however most have been limited to children, and there have been no investigations into HFA athletes’ motivation. The current study looks into the role of social dimensions in athletics, and tests how one’s gender and placement on the Empathy Questionnaire (EQ), Systemizing Questionnaire (SQ), and on the Autism Questionnaire (AQ) affect intrinsic motivation in athletics. It …

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Virtual Into Verisimilitude: Videogames' Ability To Induce Empathy, Blake T. Bennett Jan 2012

Virtual Into Verisimilitude: Videogames' Ability To Induce Empathy, Blake T. Bennett

CMC Senior Theses

The current study seeks to link traditional forms of empathy induction with new research that suggests videogames can be used as an experiential method of induction. One hundred-nine college students, sixty-four females and forty-six males, were used in a 2x2x2 design, the independent variables being prosocial/neutral videogame, empathic/neutral instructions, and gender. Dependent variables were both questionnaire responses to a fictional story and an opportunity to be realistically altruistic. Participants played either a prosocial or neutral videogame, received either empathic or neutral reading instructions, and then read a vignette depicting a difficult situation faced by the writer. They then rated their …

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