Similarity and empathy: the experience of rape

Empathic Care Culture in Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Focused Ethnographic Study

Empathy is one of the important components in the patient-nurse relationship. The aim of the study was to explain the culture of empathic care in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses. The present focused ethnographic study was conducted in the cardiac surgery ICU in Tehran. Three methods of observation, interview, and review of existing documents were used to collect data. From data analysis, three cultural models, "Predominance of task-based care over emotion-based care," "Empathy and lack of empathy, two ends of the spectrum of the nurse-patient relationship," and "Empathy, an interactive and reciprocal process," were extracted. The results showed that empathy creates a caring environment where nurses not only understand their patients but also relate to them, and both are affected by it. Policymakers should consider removing barriers as a means of empowering nurses to provide empathic care.

Do Histories of Painful Life Experiences Affect the Expression of Empathy Among Young Adults? An Electroencephalography Study

Previous research suggests that prior experience of pain affects the expression of empathy. However, most of these studies attended to physical pain despite evidence indicating that other forms of pain may also affect brain activity and emotional states in similar ways. To address this limitation, we compared empathic responses of 33 participants, some of whom had experienced a personal loss, across three conditions: observing strangers in physical pain, psychological pain, and a non-painful condition. We also examined the effect of presence of prior painful experience on empathic reactions. In addition, we examined the stimulation type, prior experience, and ERPs in the early Late Positive Potential (300-550 ms), late Late Positive Potential (550-800 ms), and very late Late Positive Potential (VLLPP; 800-1,050 ms) time windows. Behavioral data indicated that participants who had personally experienced a loss scored significantly higher on perspective taking in the psychological-pain condition. ERP results also indicated significantly lower intensity in Fp2, an electrode in the prefrontal region, within VLLPP time window for participants experiencing a loss in the psychological-pain condition. The results of both behavioral and ERP analysis indicated that prior experience of psychological pain is related to cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy. The implication of these findings for research on empathy, for the study of psychological pain, and the moderating influence of prior painful experiences are discussed.

The similar past pain experience evokes both observational contagious pain and consolation in stranger rat observers

Laboratory rodents have been shown to have an ability to recognize the injury site and negative emotional state of their conspecifics in pain, resulting in empathic consoling behaviors and observational contagious pain (OCP). However, these empathic responses have been shown to be familiarity-dependent. In this report, we further explored whether the past pain experience could evoke empathic response in stranger observers. In our rodent model, two types of empathic response have been identified from naive cagemate observer (CO_naive) during and after a priming dyadic social interaction (PDSI) with a cagemate demonstrator in pain (CD_pain): the consolation and OCP. Consolation is represented by allolicking and allogrooming behaviors toward the CD_pain, while the OCP is represented by a long-term mechanical pain hypersensitivity. The current results showed that: (1) neither the consolation nor OCP could be identified in the naive noncagemate observer (NCO_naive) during and after a PDSI with a noncagemate demonstrator in pain (NCD_pain); (2) nor were the two types of empathic response seen in the NCO, who had just experienced acute pain (NCO_painexp), during and after a PDSI with a naive unfamiliar conspecific (NCD_naive). However, both the consolation and OCP were dramatically identified in the NCO_painexp during and after a PDSI with a NCD in pain (NCD_pain). The current results demonstrated that the past pain experience can evoke both consolation and OCP in stranger rat observers when witnessing a conspecific in pain, implicating that the processing of empathy for pain can be modulated by past negative mood experience.

And sympathy is what we need my friend-Polite requests improve negotiation results

The wording negotiators use shapes the emotions of their counterparts. These emotions, in turn, influence their counterparts' economic decisions. Building on this rationale, we examined how the language used during negotiation affects discount rate and willingness to engage in future deals. In three studies, participants assumed the role of retailers. Alleged counterparts (actually a computerized program) asked for a discount under three conditions: request, want, and demand. Results show that less extreme language (request/want) resulted in better outcomes than demanding a discount. Moreover, while the language used by the customer had an effect on experienced emotions, the positive emotions (sympathy and empathy) participants felt toward the customer mediated the relationship between the linguistic cue and the negotiation outcome. Our results inform both psycholinguistic research and negotiation research by demonstrating the causal role of linguistic cues in activating concept-knowledge relevant to different emotional experiences, and point to the down-the-line impact on shaping negotiation preferences.

"I've Been there, Too": Effect on Empathy of Prior Experience with a Need

Two studies tested the prediction that having had prior experience with a need increases empathy for another person currently experiencing that need. In Study 1, subjects reported their feelings of empathy after observing a same-sex peer endure mild but uncomfortable electric shocks. Compared with those given no prior experience with the shocks, women who had prepared to receive the shocks themselves reported more empathy, whereas men who had prepared reported less. In Study 2, subjects reported their feelings of empathy after reading a transcript in which a same-sex adolescent described an upsetting life experience. Women who had had a similar experience during adolescence reported more empathy than women who had not; men who had had a similar experience reported no more empathy than men who had not. Across both studies, then, prior experience with the need increased empathy among women but not among men.

Attitudes About Human Trafficking: Individual Differences Related to Belief and Victim Blame

Human trafficking is believed to oppress millions of people worldwide. Despite increased media attention and public awareness campaigns in recent years, no empirical research has examined public attitudes about human trafficking. The present study examined gender, sexual trauma history, and attitudes about human trafficking as they related to belief of a sex-trafficking scenario and willingness to blame the victim for the situation. Undergraduate students (N = 409) at a large private university in the Northeastern United States completed measures in which they responded to a vignette portraying sex trafficking in the United States. Participants also reported their personal trauma history and completed a Human Trafficking Myths Scale. Results indicated that gender and human trafficking myth acceptance, but not sexual trauma history, were significantly related to participants' belief of the sex-trafficking scenario and their perception of the victim's responsibility. Potential implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Predicting Rape Victim Empathy Based on Rape Victimization and Acknowledgment Labeling

Two studies examined rape victim empathy based on personal rape victimization and acknowledgment labeling. Female undergraduates (Study 1, n = 267; Study 2, n = 381) from a Northeast U.S. midsize public university completed the Rape-Victim Empathy Scale and Sexual Experiences Survey. As predicted, both studies found that acknowledged "rape" victims reported greater empathy than unacknowledged victims and nonvictims. Unexpectedly, these latter two groups did not differ. Study 1 also found that acknowledged "rape" victims reported greater empathy than victims who acknowledged being "sexually victimized." Findings suggest that being raped and acknowledging "rape" together may facilitate rape victim empathy.

Perspective Taking and Empathy: Does Having Similar Past Experience to Another Person Make It Easier to Take Their Perspective?

This study tested the hypothesis that it is easier to take the perspective of another person when one has similar past experience. Volunteer participants (N = 154) were asked to take the perspective of a protagonist in one of four problematic interpersonal situations and then to rate the ease with which they felt able to perspective take and the extent of their personal past experience of similar situations. Similar past experience predicted ease of perspective taking, with the relationship influenced by reflection on past experience. Ease of perspective taking mediated the relationship between similar past experience and participant perceptions of their accuracy in understanding the other person, but ease was not associated with emotional arousal. The findings have potential therapeutic applications for attempts to increase empathy and understanding in people for whom perspective taking may be difficult.

The impact of financial incentives on physician empathy: a study from the perspective of patients with private and statutory health insurance

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized that patients' ratings of physician empathy (PE) would be higher among those with private health insurance (PHI, referring to financial incentive) than among patients with statutory health insurance (SHI).

METHODS

A postal survey was administered to 710 cancer patients. PE was assessed using the Consultation-and-Relational-Empathy measure. T-tests were conducted to analyse whether PHI and SHI-patients differ in their ratings of PE and variables relating to contact time with the physician. Structural-equation-modelling (SEM) verified mediating effects.

RESULTS

PHI-patients rated physician empathy higher. SEM revealed that PHI-status has a strong significant effect on frequency of talking with the physician, which has a strong significant effect (1) on PE and (2) has a moderate effect on patients' perception of medical staff stress, thereby also affecting patients' ratings of PE.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that PHI-status is one necessary precondition for physicians spending more time with the patient. Spending more time with the PHI-patient has two major effects: it results in a more positive perception of PE and positively impacts PHI-patients' perception of medical staff stress, which in turn, again influences PE.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Health policy should discuss these findings in terms of equality in receiving high-quality care.

Analyzing the "nature" and "specific effectiveness" of clinical empathy: a theoretical overview and contribution towards a theory-based research agenda

OBJECTIVE

To establish sound empirical evidence that clinical empathy (abbreviated as CE) is a core element in the clinician-patient relationship with profound therapeutic potential, a substantial theoretical-based understanding of CE in medical care and medical education is still required. The two aims of the present paper are, therefore, (1) to give a multidisciplinary overview of the "nature" and "specific effectiveness" of CE, and (2) to use this base as a means of deriving relevant questions for a theory-based research agenda.

METHOD

We made an effort to identify current and past literature about conceptual and empirical work focusing on empathy and CE, which derives from a multiplicity of disciplines. We review the material in a structured fashion.

RESULTS

We describe the "nature" of empathy by briefly summarizing concepts and models from sociology, psychology, social psychology, education, (social-)epidemiology, and neurosciences. To explain the "specific effectiveness" of CE for patients, we develop the "Effect model of empathic communication in the clinical encounter", which demonstrates how an empathically communicating clinician can achieve improved patient outcomes. Both parts of theoretical findings are synthesized in a theory-based research agenda with the following key hypotheses: (1) CE is a determinant of quality in medical care, (2) clinicians biographical experiences influence their empathic behavior, and (3) CE is affected by situational factors.

CONCLUSION

The main conclusions of our review are twofold. First of all, CE seems to be a fundamental determinant of quality in medical care, because it enables the clinician to fulfill key medical tasks more accurately, thereby achieving enhanced patient health outcomes. Second, the integration of biographical experiences and situational factors as determinants of CE in medical care and medical education appears to be crucial to develop and promote CE and ultimately ensuring high-quality patient care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Due to the complexity and multidimensionality of CE, evidence-based investigations of the derived hypotheses require both well-designed qualitative and quantitative studies as well as an interdisciplinary research approach.

The Scarecrow and the Tin Man: The Vicissitudes of Human Sympathy and Caring

Why do some victims elicit outpourings of sympathy from those who are unaffected, while others do not? The authors propose a theoretical framework for making sense of the vicissitudes of sympathy based on the interaction between two qualitatively different mental processes. One, which the authors term “sympathy,” is caring but immature and irrational. The other process, which the authors term “deliberation,” is rational but uncaring. After proposing a framework for how these two factors interact, the authors first discuss a variety of factors that affect the strength of sympathy, including whether one is in the same state as the victim, one's past and vicarious experiences, proximity, similarity, vividness, and newness. Next, the authors discuss factors that affect the relative influence of deliberation. The framework helps to integrate a wide range of disparate experimental findings and provides a possible resolution to parallel debates taking place in psychology and economics over the nature of altruism.

The Effectiveness of the Vignette Methodology: A Comparison of Written and Video Vignettes in Eliciting Responses about Date Rape

Most research addressing issues of victimization, such as date rape, has made use of written vignettes. In this study we investigated whether the same patterns of blame attribution are given for written and video vignettes. Three videos depicting hypothetical heterosexual date rape incidents were made. Each one was based on one of three variables that have been shown to have relevance to evaluations of date rape: “owing”, “leading on” and “alcohol”. The videos were transcribed into written vignettes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six experimental groups, watched one of the videos or read one of the vignettes, and completed a questionnaire to assess attribution of blame and the degree to which the situation was defined as rape. The two methodologies differed significantly for the alcohol scenario, where participants blamed the victim more and were less likely to define the situation as rape when the written vignette methodology was used. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to further research and education in the field of date rape.

The relationships among sex role orientation, egalitarianism, attitudes toward sexuality, and attitudes toward violence against women

Relationships among U.S. college students' (N = 618) attitudes toward rape myths and their sex role orientation, affective responses to sexuality, sex role egalitarianism, and attitudes toward violence against women were investigated. Results indicated that men were more tolerant of rape, more likely to attribute blame for rape to the victim, and less negative in their views of rapists than women were. In addition, for men, but not for women, masculinity and femininity were predictive of rape attitudes and attributions of blame to rape victims. Positive attitudes toward sexuality were predictive of intolerance of rape for the total sample and for men, but not for women, and were predictive of perceptions of women as innocent victims of rape for both the total sample and the sexes separately. Attitudes toward pornography were unrelated to attitudes toward rape. Acceptance of violence against women and a lack of sexual egalitarianism were predictive of acceptance of rape myths. Androgynous, masculine, and feminine individuals were less tolerant of rape than undifferentiated persons were.

Factors affecting reactions to a rape victim

We examined the influence of the sex of the subject reacting to the rape victim, the type of rape (stranger vs. acquaintance), the location of the rape (inside vs. outside the victim's home), and the victim's attribution concerning the cause of the rape, on undergraduates' reactions to a rape victim. American undergraduates (264 women, 230 men) read a Rape Crisis Center Intake Form, watched a videotape of a rape victim (an actress) describing her psychological and behavioral reactions to the rape, and completed three questionnaires assessing their reactions to the victim. Women were more supportive of the rape victim than were men, and the stranger rape evoked more chance and characterological attributions than did the acquaintance rape. A rape outside the home evoked more chance attributions than did an "inside" rape. The rape victim was rated as having been more traumatized by the experience if she made any causal attribution than if she made no attribution at all.