Responding to the emotions of others: Dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations

Empathy is a lay term that is becoming increasingly viewed as a unitary function within the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, a selective review of the empathy literature is provided. It is argued from this literature that empathy is not a unitary system but rather a loose collection o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Consciousness and cognition 2005-12, Vol.14 (4), p.698-718
Main Author: Blair, R.J.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect - physiology
Autism
Autistic Disorder - physiopathology
Brain - physiopathology
Cognition - physiology
Empathy
Humans
Mental Disorders - physiopathology
Psychopath
Social Perception
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Summary:Empathy is a lay term that is becoming increasingly viewed as a unitary function within the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, a selective review of the empathy literature is provided. It is argued from this literature that empathy is not a unitary system but rather a loose collection of partially dissociable neurocognitive systems. In particular, three main divisions can be made: cognitive empathy (or Theory of Mind), motor empathy, and emotional empathy. The two main psychiatric disorders associated with empathic dysfunction are considered: autism and psychopathy. It is argued that individuals with autism show difficulties with cognitive and motor empathy but less clear difficulties with respect to emotional empathy. In contrast, individuals with psychopathy show clear difficulties with a specific form of emotional empathy but no indications of impairment with cognitive and motor empathy.
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2005.06.004