Empathy is critical to adjusting our behavior to the state of others. The past decade dramatically deepened our understanding of the biological origin of this capacity. We now understand that rodents robustly show emotional contagion for the distress of others via neural structures homologous to those involved in human empathy. Their propensity to approach others in distress strengthens this effect. Although rodents can also learn to favor behaviors that benefit others via structures overlapping with those of emotional contagion, they do so less reliably and more selectively. Together, this suggests evolution selected mechanisms for emotional contagion to prepare animals for dangers by using others as sentinels. Such shared emotions additionally can, under certain circumstances, promote prosocial behavior.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.05.005 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Is It Just About Scrolling? The Correlation of Passive Social Media Use with College Students' Subjective Well-Being Based on Social Comparison Experiences and Orientation Assessed Using a Two-Stage Hybrid Structural Equation Modeling-Artificial Neural Network Method.
Behav Sci (Basel)
December 2024
Department of Media Content, Cheongju University, Cheongju-si 28503, Republic of Korea.
Previous studies have found that passive social media use (PaSMU) tends to induce upward contrast, thereby affecting well-being. However, this perspective alone may overlook the mechanisms of other social comparison phenomena. This study analyzes the influence mechanism of PaSMU on subjective well-being (SWB) by categorizing social comparison into upward identification, upward contrast, downward identification, and downward contrast while incorporating social comparison orientation (SCO) as a moderating variable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBinge eating as an emotional response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a sequential mediation model via the impact of events and social anxiety.
J Eat Disord
December 2024
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Rome Sapienza, via dei Marsi 78, Rome, 00185, Italy.
Background: The long-lasting consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of young people have become an emerging research topic, which still raises several questions for post-pandemic interventions at the individual and community levels. This research investigated the relationship between COVID-19 pandemic life events and the occurrence of binge eating behaviors in emerging adults, hypothesizing indirect effects of the emotional impact of pandemic events and social anxiety.
Methods: Data collection was conducted in November and December 2021 in Italy, involving 286 university students aged 18 to 30 years (M = 20.
Self-other distinction and schizotypy: Affect sharing and alexithymia in the prediction of socially anxious and avoidant traits.
Personal Disord
December 2024
BSMHFT, National Centre for Mental Health, The Barberry.
Social cognition may play a central role in many schizotypal personality characteristics, such as suspiciousness, constricted affect, social anxiety, and lack of close relationships. This study investigated how factors relevant to self-other distinction (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYawn Contagion and Modality-Matching in the Female-Bonded Society of Geladas (Theropithecus gelada).
Am J Primatol
January 2025
Unit of Ethology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Paris, Italy.
Behavioral contagion is widespread in primates, with yawn contagion (YC) being a well-known example. Often associated with ingroup dynamics and synchronization, the possible functions and evolutionary pathways of YC remain subjects of active debate. Among nonhuman animals, geladas (Theropithecus gelada) are the only species known to occasionally emit a distinct vocalization while yawning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVisual and olfactory signals of conspecifics induce emotional contagion in mice.
Proc Biol Sci
December 2024
Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71, Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5201, Japan.
Emotional contagion occurs in many animals, including rodents. To determine the social signals of emotional state-matching between individuals in mice, we conducted an empirical laboratory experiment using visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli. The Japanese wild-derived mouse strain MSM/Ms (MSM) was tested as observers, since our initial experiments indicated that MSM mice showed higher sensitivity to others' pain compared with the laboratory strain C57BL/6J (B6).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!