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Empathy

Empathy

Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor.

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Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans

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Empathy Predicts an Experimental Pain Reduction During Touch.

Pavel Goldstein¹, Simone G Shamay-Tsoory², Shahar Yellinek²

¹Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; Department of Statistics, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.

The Journal of Pain

|July 2, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Social touch, particularly from a partner, significantly reduces pain. The empathy of the toucher plays a key role in this analgesic effect, highlighting the importance of social connection in pain perception.

Keywords:

Empathy for pain analgesia experimental pain romantic couples touch

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Social Sciences

Background:

Previous research indicates segmental tactile stimulation has pain-alleviating effects.
The impact of social touch and its mechanisms on pain perception remain largely unexplored.
The soma influences thoughts, feelings, and social interactions, suggesting touch can convey emotions like empathy.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the analgesic effects of social touch.
To examine the moderating role of the toucher's empathy in pain reduction.
To explore the influence of social touch within an ecological paradigm.

Main Methods:

Women received tonic heat stimuli.
Participants were in conditions where their partners touched their hands, a stranger touched their hands, or no one interacted with them.
Dyadic interactions and pain ratings were analyzed, including the empathy levels of male touchers.

Main Results:

Partner's touch significantly diminished pain levels compared to control conditions.
A significant relationship was observed between partners' pain ratings during touch.
Male touchers' empathy negatively correlated with their female partners' pain experience.

Conclusions:

Social touch exerts a powerful analgesic effect.
Empathy between romantic partners may mediate the pain-alleviating impact of social touch.
Pain perception models should incorporate psychological characteristics of observers and social interactions.