Does empathy moderate the association between psychopathy and pain identification in others?
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2019-02-24
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Psychopathic traits are linked with deficits in affective empathy and pain identification in
others. The link between psychopathy, empathy and pain identification in others is currently
unclear. This study tested two independent models examining the moderator effects of
cognitive empathy and affective empathy on pain identification in painful pictures for
psychopathic-offenders (n = 24), non-psychopathic offenders (n = 34) and healthy controls (n
= 61). Results suggest that neither cognitive empathy nor affective empathy moderate how
psychopathic-offenders, non-psychopathic offenders and healthy controls judge pain in others.
Furthermore, psychopathic offenders scored significantly higher on pain identification
compared to non-psychopathic offenders, regardless of level of cognitive or affective
empathy. Results are discussed in light of existing literature.
Keywords: psychopathy, offenders, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, pain identification
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen