Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 May;112:62-82. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.021. Epub 2020 Jan 27.
The aim of this review is to discuss recent arguments and findings in the comparative study of empathy. Based on a multidisciplinary approach including psychology and ethology, we review the non-human animal literature concerning theoretical frameworks, methodology, and research outcomes. One specific objective is to highlight discrepancies between theory and empirical findings, and to discuss ambiguities present in current data and their interpretation. In particular, we focus on emotional contagion and its experimental investigation, and on consolation and targeted helping as measures for sympathy. Additionally, we address the feasibility of comparing across species with behavioural data alone. One main conclusion of our review is that animal research on empathy still faces the challenge of closing the gap between theoretical concepts and empirical evidence. To advance our knowledge, we propose to focus more on the emotional basis of empathy, rather than on possibly ambiguous behavioural indicators, and we provide suggestions to overcome the limitations of previous research .
本次综述的目的是讨论共情比较研究中的最新观点和发现。我们基于包括心理学和动物行为学在内的多学科方法，综述了非人类动物文献中有关理论框架、方法和研究结果的内容。一个具体的目标是突出理论和实证发现之间的差异，并讨论当前数据及其解释中的模糊之处。特别是，我们关注情感传染及其实验研究，以及同情的安慰和有针对性的帮助作为衡量标准。此外，我们还探讨了仅使用行为数据进行跨物种比较的可行性。本次综述的一个主要结论是，共情的动物研究仍然面临着缩小理论概念和实证证据之间差距的挑战。为了增进我们的认识，我们建议更多地关注共情的情感基础，而不是可能存在模糊的行为指标，并提供了克服先前研究局限性的建议。
