Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Omaha, NE 68131, USA
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018 Apr 19;373(1744). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0155.
Empathy and anger are two social emotions that modulate an individual's risk for aggression. Empathy is an emotional reaction to another individual's emotional state. Anger is an emotional reaction to threat, frustration or social provocation. Reduced empathy, seen in psychopathy, increases the risk for goal-directed aggression. Atypically increased anger (i.e. irritability), seen in conditions like disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and borderline personality disorder, increases the risk for reactive aggression. In this paper, I will outline core neurocognitive functions that correspond to empathy and which are compromised in individuals with psychopathic traits. In addition, I will outline neurocognitive functions involved in either the generation or regulation of anger and which are compromised in psychiatric conditions at increased risk for irritability/reactive aggression. It can be hoped that improved understanding of empathy and anger will lead to better assessment tools and improved interventions to reduce aggression risk.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.
同理心和愤怒是两种调节个体攻击性风险的社会情绪。同理心是对他人情绪状态的一种情感反应。愤怒是对威胁、挫折或社会挑衅的一种情绪反应。在精神病态中观察到的同理心降低会增加目标导向攻击的风险。在破坏性心境失调障碍和边缘型人格障碍等情况下观察到的异常愤怒（即易怒）会增加反应性攻击的风险。在本文中，我将概述与同理心相对应的核心神经认知功能，这些功能在具有精神病态特征的个体中受到损害。此外，我将概述与愤怒的产生或调节相关的神经认知功能，这些功能在易激惹/反应性攻击风险增加的精神疾病中受到损害。希望对同理心和愤怒的理解能够提高，从而开发出更好的评估工具和干预措施来降低攻击性风险。本文是主题为“多样性的不同视角：个体差异分类的多学科方法”的一部分。
