Department of Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen.
Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Leipzig.
Psychol Aging. 2021 Feb;36(1):36-48. doi: 10.1037/pag0000469.
Empathy-which typically instigates prosocial behavior-comprises both cognitive and affective facets. Research suggests that the cognitive facet of empathy (empathic accuracy) declines with age, whereas the affective facets of empathy (emotional congruence and sympathy) remain stable or increase with age. Going beyond main effects of age, we tested whether working in occupations with varying emotional job demands (EJDs) moderates the effects of age on empathy. We predicted that emotionally demanding occupations provide opportunities to practice empathy and, as a result, may lessen the negative relationship between age and empathic accuracy and/or strengthen the (positive) relationship between age and the affective facets of empathy. A sample of 128 employees (19-65 years) who differed in self-reported EJDs was recruited. Participants viewed film clips portraying different persons retelling a work event during which they experienced positive or negative emotions. After each clip, participants rated the intensity of the protagonist's and their own emotions. Consistent with prior research, our analyses revealed a negative association between age and empathic accuracy, while there were no age differences in emotional congruence and a positive association between age and sympathy. Only the relationship between age and emotional congruence was moderated by EJDs. Contrary to our prediction, relatively older employees in emotionally demanding jobs experienced lower emotional congruence than younger employees. This may suggest that people learn about the double-edged nature of sharing other's feelings as they progress in their career, and thus, keep a healthy distance. Implications for age-comparative research on prosocial processes across adulthood are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
同理心通常会引发亲社会行为，它包含认知和情感两个方面。研究表明，同理心的认知方面（同理心准确性）随着年龄的增长而下降，而同理心的情感方面（情绪一致性和同情心）则随着年龄的增长保持稳定或增加。除了年龄的主要影响外，我们还测试了工作中情感工作要求（EJD）的变化是否会调节年龄对同理心的影响。我们预测，情感要求高的职业提供了练习同理心的机会，因此可能会减轻年龄与同理心准确性之间的负相关关系，和/或加强年龄与同理心情感方面的正相关关系。我们招募了 128 名员工（19-65 岁），他们在自我报告的 EJD 方面存在差异。参与者观看了不同的电影片段，这些片段描绘了不同的人在讲述一个工作事件，他们在这个事件中经历了积极或消极的情绪。在每个片段之后，参与者会评估主角和他们自己情绪的强烈程度。与之前的研究一致，我们的分析显示年龄与同理心准确性呈负相关，而情绪一致性与年龄无关，年龄与同情心呈正相关。只有年龄与情绪一致性之间的关系受到 EJD 的调节。与我们的预测相反，情感要求高的工作中年龄较大的员工比年龄较小的员工体验到的情绪一致性较低。这可能表明，随着人们在职业生涯中的发展，他们逐渐了解到分享他人感受的双刃剑性质，因此保持了健康的距离。讨论了对成年期亲社会过程进行年龄比较研究的意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2021 APA，保留所有权利）。
