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Psychology of empathy and moral judgement
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Document about empathy and moral judgement of humans, linked to neuroscience.
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Empathy and Moral JudgementKey Words:
o Mimicry = an automatic process by which an individual copies or mimics another’s
motor actions (including facial expressions, vocalisations, posture and gestures).
o Emotional contagion = the ability to share emotional states without being able to
recognise the source or understand the causality of the aroused emotion in the
other (an unconscious process).
o Imitation = involves an intentional act aiming at achieving a goal by the same means
as those observed.
o Emotional empathy = the ability to appreciate others feelings (requires self/other
distinction).
o Cognitive empathy (ToM) = the ability to appreciate others thoughts, intentions and
feelings. Requires perspective taking and mentalising about causality (conscious).
o Sympathy = a prosocial motivation driven by empathy (whether the objective of
prosocial behaviour is to terminate ones own or another’s distress is up for debate).
o Compassion = a feeling that involves concern for others and induces caring or
comforting behaviour. Doesn’t necessarily involve a common feeling.
o Schadenfreude = pleasure we take when a misfortune happens to someone we don’t
like.
o Von Economo Neuron (VEN) (AKA Spindle neurons) = have a specialised role in
processing complex emotions and introspections.
Key Theories:
Dual-process theory: demonstrating how thought can arise in two different ways, as
a result of different processes.
- utilitarian moral judgement
- intuitive emotional response
The hot-cold-empathy gap: people are generally very bad at predicting their own
behaviour and often fail to take into account visceral influences (e.g., arousal) on
future decisions
- individuals in ‘cold’ states (not aroused) tend to stigmatise impulsive behaviour.
Key Studies:
Decety & Michalska (2010): fMRI, p’s 7-40years old, found that observing
unintentional harm was associated with activation of the pain matrix (anterior
cingulate cortex, anterior insula, somatosensory cortex) but observing intentional
harm was associated with regions that are consistently engaged in mental state and
affective evaluation (medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus)
- when watching accidental painful situations, the younger the participants the more
strongly regions were activated (amygdala, posterior insula & others)
= increased maturation of the prefrontal cortex and its reciprocal connections with
the amygdala leads to greater top-down regulatory capacity and better ability to
, internalise moral values and norms by integrating contextual social information –
becoming more selective in their response to others.
Xu et al (2009): humans show more empathy for pain in same-race individuals than
persons from different races – there was diminished activation of the anterior
cingulate cortex and the frontal/insula cortex when showing empathy for a different
race.
Singer et al (2006): when asked to empathise with someone’s pain, there was lower
activation in the fronto-insula and cingulate cortices when observing an unfair player
experiencing pain.
Takahashi et al (2009): dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activation correlated with
envy and was higher when the described person had similar attributes and abilities
to the participant. Dorsal and ventral striatum activation correlated with
schadenfreude.
Dvash et al (2010): when participants lost money, they expressed schadenfreude if
the other player lost more money.
Damasio et al (1990s): in patients with damaged ventromedial prefrontal cortices,
real-life decision making was impaired by the lesions but no sign of impairment in
executive functions or on Kohlberg’s moral reasoning. By simulating real-world risky
decisions, it highlighted the deficits were emotional, p’s made poor decisions
because they were unable to generate the feelings that guide adaptive decision-
making.
= they could understand the consequences of their decision making but couldn’t
decide due to a lack of emotion linked to the options.
Anderson et al (1999): ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage in adults (late onset)
compared to children (early onset). Both made poor real-life decisions, but late
onset seemed to harm themselves as much as others and early onset developed in
sociopathic adults.
= highlights the role of emotion in moral development – late-onset individuals aren’t
truly sociopathic and early onset individuals lacked emotional responses necessary
to learn the basics of human moral behaviour.
Glenn et al (2009): fMRI, psychopathic individuals showed reduced activity in the
amygdala during emotional moral decision-making and particularly conning and
manipulative individuals showed reduced activity in the entire neural circuit.
Joshua et al (2004): fMRI data supports a theory of moral judgement where cognitive
and emotional processes play a crucial role, sometimes a competitive role. Brain
regions associated with abstract reasoning and cognitive control (dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) are used to resolve personal moral
dilemmas in which utilitarian values require personal moral violations – this has
previously been associated with increased activity in emotion-related brain regions.
Controversy surrounding utilitarian moral philosophy reflects tension between
competing sub-systems.
King et al (2006): study looking at humans’ ability to adapt behaviour in line with the
appropriate social or societal context. 12 healthy p’s, fMRI scanner, 2 appropriate
conditions (healing a passive individual & shooting a violent assailant) and 2
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