Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion
Seeing someone in need may evoke a particular kind of closeness that has been conceptualized as sympathy or empathic concern (which is distinct from other empathy constructs). In other contexts, when people suddenly feel close to others, or observe others suddenly feeling closer to each other, this...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723/full |
| _version_ | 1811256144641916928 |
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| author | Janis H. Zickfeld Thomas W. Schubert Thomas W. Schubert Beate Seibt Beate Seibt Alan P. Fiske |
| author_facet | Janis H. Zickfeld Thomas W. Schubert Thomas W. Schubert Beate Seibt Beate Seibt Alan P. Fiske |
| author_sort | Janis H. Zickfeld |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Seeing someone in need may evoke a particular kind of closeness that has been conceptualized as sympathy or empathic concern (which is distinct from other empathy constructs). In other contexts, when people suddenly feel close to others, or observe others suddenly feeling closer to each other, this sudden closeness tends to evoke an emotion often labeled in vernacular English as being moved, touched, or heart-warming feelings. Recent theory and empirical work indicates that this is a distinct emotion; the construct is named kama muta. Is empathic concern for people in need simply an expression of the much broader tendency to respond with kama muta to all kinds of situations that afford closeness, such as reunions, kindness, and expressions of love? Across 16 studies sampling 2918 participants, we explored whether empathic concern is associated with kama muta. Meta-analyzing the association between ratings of state being moved and trait empathic concern revealed an effect size of, r(3631) = 0.35 [95% CI: 0.29, 0.41]. In addition, trait empathic concern was also associated with self-reports of the three sensations that have been shown to be reliably indicative of kama muta: weeping, chills, and bodily feelings of warmth. We conclude that empathic concern might actually be a part of the kama muta construct. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:36:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3cbee7c4e19f420699187f577704fbe3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:36:30Z |
| publishDate | 2017-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-3cbee7c4e19f420699187f577704fbe32022-12-22T03:22:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-05-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723261666Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal EmotionJanis H. Zickfeld0Thomas W. Schubert1Thomas W. Schubert2Beate Seibt3Beate Seibt4Alan P. Fiske5Department of Psychology, University of OsloOslo, NorwayDepartment of Psychology, University of OsloOslo, NorwayInstituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)Lisboa, PortugalDepartment of Psychology, University of OsloOslo, NorwayInstituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)Lisboa, PortugalDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los AngelesCA, USASeeing someone in need may evoke a particular kind of closeness that has been conceptualized as sympathy or empathic concern (which is distinct from other empathy constructs). In other contexts, when people suddenly feel close to others, or observe others suddenly feeling closer to each other, this sudden closeness tends to evoke an emotion often labeled in vernacular English as being moved, touched, or heart-warming feelings. Recent theory and empirical work indicates that this is a distinct emotion; the construct is named kama muta. Is empathic concern for people in need simply an expression of the much broader tendency to respond with kama muta to all kinds of situations that afford closeness, such as reunions, kindness, and expressions of love? Across 16 studies sampling 2918 participants, we explored whether empathic concern is associated with kama muta. Meta-analyzing the association between ratings of state being moved and trait empathic concern revealed an effect size of, r(3631) = 0.35 [95% CI: 0.29, 0.41]. In addition, trait empathic concern was also associated with self-reports of the three sensations that have been shown to be reliably indicative of kama muta: weeping, chills, and bodily feelings of warmth. We conclude that empathic concern might actually be a part of the kama muta construct.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723/fullempathyempathic concernsympathybeing movedkama mutacommunal sharing |
| spellingShingle | Janis H. Zickfeld Thomas W. Schubert Thomas W. Schubert Beate Seibt Beate Seibt Alan P. Fiske Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion Frontiers in Psychology empathy empathic concern sympathy being moved kama muta communal sharing |
| title | Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion |
| title_full | Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion |
| title_fullStr | Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion |
| title_short | Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion |
| title_sort | empathic concern is part of a more general communal emotion |
| topic | empathy empathic concern sympathy being moved kama muta communal sharing |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723/full |
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