Department of Psychology, McGill University.
Department of Psychology, University at Albany.
Emotion. 2024 Apr;24(3):703-717. doi: 10.1037/emo0001294. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
Research has documented a strong link between constructing -vivid imaginations of specific events-and empathy. To date, most studies have used episodic simulations of helping someone to facilitate affective empathy and promote helping intentions, but have not studied how episodic simulations of another's distressing situation affect empathy. Moreover, affective empathy encompasses both (i.e., an egocentric experience of distress in response to another's circumstances) and empathic concern (i.e., compassion for another), but we do not know how episodic simulations affect each component. To address these questions, we ran three experiments testing how different episodic simulations influenced personal distress and empathic concern, and thereby willingness to help. In Experiment 1 ( = 216), we found that participants who constructed episodic simulations of another's situation reported increased personal distress (but not empathic concern) and increased helping intentions compared to a control group; additional analyses revealed that personal distress mediated the simulation effect on helping. Furthermore, in Experiment 2 ( = 213), we contrasted episodic simulation of helping versus the distressing scenario; we found no differences in personal distress or helping intentions, but simulating helping led to higher empathic concern. Experiment 3 ( = 571) included both simulation conditions and a control condition; we fully replicated our findings, additionally showing that simulating a helping interaction increased personal distress, empathic concern, and helping intentions relative to the control condition, which consisted of prior work. Taken together, our work illustrates how distinct forms of episodic simulation differentially guide empathic responding and highlights the importance of personal distress in motivating helping. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
研究记录了构建特定事件的生动想象与同理心之间的紧密联系。迄今为止，大多数研究都使用帮助他人的情景模拟来促进情感同理心并增强帮助意愿，但尚未研究另一个人痛苦情境的情景模拟如何影响同理心。此外，情感同理心包括（即，对他人情况的自我中心的痛苦体验）和同理心关怀（即，对他人的同情），但我们不知道情景模拟如何影响每个组成部分。为了解决这些问题，我们进行了三项实验，以测试不同的情景模拟如何影响个人痛苦和同理心关怀，从而影响帮助意愿。在实验 1（n=216）中，我们发现，与对照组相比，构建他人情境情景模拟的参与者报告的个人痛苦感（但不是同理心关怀）增加，帮助意愿增强；额外的分析表明，个人痛苦感介导了模拟对帮助的影响。此外，在实验 2（n=213）中，我们对比了帮助与痛苦场景的情景模拟；我们发现个人痛苦感或帮助意愿没有差异，但模拟帮助会导致更高的同理心关怀。实验 3（n=571）包括情景模拟条件和对照组；我们完全复制了我们的发现，此外还表明，与对照组相比，模拟帮助互动会增加个人痛苦感、同理心关怀和帮助意愿，对照组由先前的工作组成。综上所述，我们的工作说明了不同形式的情景模拟如何差异化地引导同理心反应，并强调了个人痛苦在激发帮助方面的重要性。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2024 APA，保留所有权利）。
