PSYC 2310 Lecture 5: November 8
8 Jun 2017
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Document Summary
According to empathy-altruism hypothesis people are not primarily selfish, at least not always. Empathy: feeling with people (brene brown on empathy video) Mean age 23. 6 years old, given to participant in study. Methodology: the study consisted of 5 experimental blocks, during which the participant viewed. 10 threat cues with no shock, 2 with shock, and 12 safety cues in variable order. Electric shock was delivered to the participant while they were either holding the hand of their friend, with a stranger, or with no one (3 conditions) Two electric shocks were applied to the participant"s ankle and their friend"s ankles. Results: the activity in people"s brains almost identical when their friend was about to receive the shock as when they themselves were about to receive it (the same part of their brain would start firing) In comparison, there was relatively little activity in the threat response regions (left lateral prefrontal cortex) when they held a stranger"s hand.
