8.1 Flashcards
Empathy has been associated with
decreased antisocial and increased prosocial behavior.
Results: empathy and prosocial behavior in response to sadness and distress in disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
No differences between groups were observed in children who reported affect correspondence. Children with DBD showed less prosocial behavior in response to sadness and distress compared to TD (typically developing children).
Empathy is initiated by the observation of another’s emotional state and consists of an emotional and a cognitive component. A distinction has been proposed between
dispositional and situational empathy
Cognitive empathy
affective empathy
is the understanding of another’s emotional state
is the emotional experience of another’s emotions
Empathy contributes to
prosocial behaviors and the inhibition of antisocial and aggressive behavior. Especially prosocial behavior that does have no direct material benefit for the actor seems to be related to empathy.
In children and adolescents, deficits in empathy have been reported in
DPD, a disorder characterized by oppositional, defiant and antisocial behavior. Affective but not Cognitive empathy seems to be impaired in these children. Also conduct problems are negatively related to prosocial behavior.
Some studies with ADHD children show that
affective empathy might also impaired in ADHD boys. ADHD symptoms are negatively correlated with prosocial behavior. It might therefore be that deficits in DBD boys might be at least partially related to ADHD.
Measures
- DISC: distinguish patient groups (ADHD vs. DBD)
- Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM): empathy
- Story Task (vignettes): aspects of emotion recognition and affective empathy
- Interpersonal Response Task: prosocial behavior response of subjects to emotional stimuli in a social context
Children with DBD were impaired in
observed empathy-induced prosocial behavior in response to sadness and distress.
ADHD only did not differ from TD children in
prosocial behavior
Children with disruptive and aggressive behavior
have problems in sharing sadness and distress at school
ADHD, in contrast to DBD, was
not associated with reduced empathic responding to sadness and distress and subsequent prosocial behavior in a setting where the interaction with only one peer in a quiet environment was simulated.
Mainly in a … the core patterns of ADHD influence social functioning and rejection by peers
socially demanding school setting, the core pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity–impulsivity seems to influence social functioning and rejection by peers that have been associated with ADHD.
