PSYC 333 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ideomotor Phenomenon, Explicit Knowledge, Social Cognition
7 May 2018
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Lecture!24:!Empathy!
(April!5)!
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Introduction:!What!is!empathy?!!
We!listened!to!a!video!on!bystander!Intervention.!!
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Developmental! psychology,! cognitive!psychology,! neuroscience! behavioural!
neuroscience,! clinical! psychology! have! study! empathy! but! there! is! no! universal!
definition!of!empathy.!!
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We!can!define!it!as:!!
-“The& drive& to& identify& another& person’s& emotions& and& thoughts,& and& to& respond& to& these&
with&an&appropriate&emotion”!(Baron-Cohen,!2002)!
-“(empathy& occurs)& when& the& observation& or& imagination& of& affective& states& in& another&
induces&shared&states&in&the&observer”!(de!Vignemont!and!Singer,!2006)!
-“An& affective& response& more& appropriate& to& someone& else’s& situation& than& to& one’s& own”!
(Hoffman,!1987)!
i.e.! empathy! is! an! emotional! reaction! in! an! observer! to! the! affective! state! of! another!
individual!(Blair,!2005)!
-“empathy& subsumes& a& variety& of& dissociable& neurocognitive& processes:& cognitive& (ToM),&
motor&(perception-action),&and&emotional&empathy&(Blair,!2005).!!
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There!are!three!components!of!empathy:!!
-cognitive!component:!mentalizing!or!cognitive!empathy!
-experience!sharing!component!which!is!affective!empathy,!overlap!between!shared!and!
other!representation!
-actual!pro-social!action,!actual!behaviour!that!one!engage!in!to!respond!to!the!suffering!
of!another!person,!include!the!motivational!component!of!empathy!
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Plan:!
I.#Emotion#sharing#/#contagion#
A.!Experience!sharing!/!neural!resonance!!
B.!Initiation!and!perception-action!linkage!
C.!Experience!sharing!/!neural!resonance!
D.!Mirror!neuron!system!!
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II.#Mentalizing##
A.!Theory!of!mind!
B.!Reading!the!mind!in!the!eyes!test!(Baron!Cohen!et!al,!2001)!
C.!Inferences!about!mental!states!
D.!Neuroanatomy!!
F.!Challenges!to!accurate!mentalizing!(Mitchell,!2008)!
G.!Experience!sharing!vs!mentalizing!!
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III.#Prosocial#concern##
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IV.#Why#are#we#empathic?##
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V.#Is#empathy#unique#to#humans?##
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VI.#What#does#empathy#breakdown?#And#can#we#increase#empathy?#
A.!Closeness,!familiarity!and!similarity!!
B.!Challenges!to!accurate!mentalizing!(Mitchell,!2008)!
C.! Reducing! social! stress! elicits! empathy! for! pain! in! mouse! and! humans! strangers!
(Martin!et!al,!Curr!Biol,!2015)!
D.!Autism!spectrum!disorders!!
E.!Psychopathy!
F.!Cultivating!empathy!in!psychopathy!(Rice,!1997)!
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VI.#Caveat##
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I.!Emotion!sharing!/!contagion!
A.!Experience!sharing!/!neural!resonance!!
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It!includes!a!various!number!of!components!like!shared!emotion!response,!imitation…!!
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Some! behaviours! are! socially! contagious.! This! phenomenon! has! been! observed! in!
human!and!non!human-animals.!We!automatically!simulate!behaviour!in!our!self!when!
we!see!someone!else!displaying!it.!!
This!imitation!occurs!at!a!very!early!age.!
This!spontaneous!process!is!very!similar!to!simulation#theory:!!
-we!understand!other’s!behaviour!by!recreating!the!mental!process!in!ourselves!that,!if!
carried!out,!would!produce!that!behaviour.!!
-we!use!our!own!recreated!mental!states!to!simulate!the!mental!states!of!others.!
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There! is! overlap! in! bridges! of! the! brain! activated! when! we! see! someone! experiencing!
pain!and!when!we!are!in!pain:!!
-Blue!circle:!bridges!of!the!brain!activated!when!we!experience!pain!
-Yellow! circle:! bridges! of! the! brain! activated! third! person! perception! ! of! someone!
experiencing!pain!!
-Green!circle:!neural!resonance!!
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Neural#resonance:!Tendency!to!engage!overlapping!neural!systems!when!experiencing!
a!given!internal!state!and!observing!another!in!that!state.!!!
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B.!Initiation!and!perception-action!linkage!
Performing!an!act!after,!and!by!virtue!of,!seeing!it!performed!by!another.!
How!can!we!account!for!perception-action!similarity?!!
Overlapping! brain! regions! but! also! idea! of! the! “ideomotor# framework”:! the!
representation!of!a!goal!state!generates!the!action!designed!to!achieve!that!goal.!
Sound!familiar?!!
This!is!an!identical!idea!that!Bargh’s!talks!about!with!his!automotive# model:!thinking!
about!goal!activates!the!action!representation!necessary!to!achieve!goal!–!strength!via!
experience.!
e.g.!:!habits!as!knowledge!structures.!!
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