Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Behavioral Problems in childhood > Task 5: moral development, empathy, psychopathology > Flashcards

Task 5: moral development, empathy, psychopathology Flashcards

1
Q

definition empathy

A
  • an effective state that:
  • is elicited by observing/imagining another’s affective state
  • is similar to the other’s emotional state
  • is caused by the other’s emotional state
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

affective/emotional empathy

A
  • empathic concern, leads to compassionate responses to other’s emotional states
  • involved emotion understanding skills (recognition) and reactivity processes (emotion contagion)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

cognitive empathy

A
  • More advanced cognitive perspective-taking system
  • Involves theory of mind (distinguish own emotion from others) and empathic accuracy (infer feelings from behavior)
  • Associated with positive social behaviors

-Affective and cognitive empathy function independently, an empathic response may draw on either or both components

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

sex-differences

A
  • early adolescence girls more sensitive
  • adult males and females: comparable patterns of neural response to empathy-eliciting cues, despite sex differences in self-reported empathic experience
  • differences may reflect gendered social norms regarding the expression of empathic feelings
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

genetic tendency toward empathy

A
  • genes modulate development and function of brain regions and systems that implement empathic experiences and responses
  • moderately strong genetic influences
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

OXTR gene / oxytocin

A

?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Bottum-up processes - empathy

A
  • > affective empathy
  • Involuntary capacities to detect and respond to others’ affective cues by subcortical structures: amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus
  • > Begin to mature early
  • Anterior insula (cortical region) engages during affective empathy -> development more protracted (langwierig) than subcortical areas
  • hippocampus especially vulnerable in preschool years to environmental insults
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Oxytocin - empathy

A
  • modulates activity in the amygdala (can increase responsiveness in amygdala), midbrain regions and neural striatum
  • > can also weaken coupling of amygdala to brainstem regions implicated in autonomic and behavioral manifestations to fear: calming and bonding effects of oxytocin
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Top-down processes & empathy

A
  • emerge slightly later = cognitive empathy
  • medial and DLPFC: linked to cognitive empathy
  • mature slowly, synaptic trajectories extend into young adulthood
  • neural elements to experience cognitive empathy are present and engaged from birth, but elements interact and shape each other into adulthood
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

dopamine - empathy

A
  • may be the primary modulator for prefrontal regions in top-down components of empathy
  • oxytocin and dopamine may interact here
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

empathic reactions that may facilitate emergence of internalizing problems

A

reactions to others’ distress that

1) are excessively aversive
2) involve excessive cognitive perspective-taking
3) result in self-focused comforting responses/self-focused rumination about one’s role in the observed distress

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

2 subfactors of internalizing disorders

A

1) fear/arousal sub factor

2) anhedonia (Unfähigkeit Freude oder Lust zu empfinden)/misery

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

fear/arousal sub factor

A

-underlies agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobia, and panic disorder

genetic liability to physiological arousal + tendency to empathic sensitivity = contributes to neurobiological processes underlying personal distress because of others’ pain/unhappiness
-> increases risk for fear/arousal symptoms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

anhedonia/misery subfactor

A

-explains covariance of MDD, dysthymic disorder, and GAD

Genetic tendency for negative thinking + empathic sensitivity = contributes to interpersonal guilt in response to others’ distress
-> Increases risk for anhedonia/misery

  • negative thought processes: habitual negative attribution and expectations, biased attention and memory, worry, rumination)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

inter-individual moderators

A

Moderators: maladaptive parenting, chronic exposure to parents’ negative affect -> interact with genes -> amplifies risk for distress and guilt and therefore internalizing problems

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

personal distress

A
  • linked to fear/arousal subfactor
  • maladaptive affective response to negative emotions in others
  • self-focused response, physiological hyperarousal, behavioral withdrawal
  • linked with anxiety, guilt, depression
  • associations with neuroticism, burnout, behavior
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

interpersonal guilt

A
  • maladaptive form of cognitive empathy
  • excessive and irrational altruistic concerns: e.g. unreasonable beliefs that one is responsible for alleviating the suffering of others and intense worries about harming others
  • linked to loneliness and alienation, depression and anxiety
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

5HTTLPR as intraindividual moderator

A
  • SS:
  • elevated HPA axis reactivity, elevated cortisol
  • measures of hyperarousal
  • stronger startle potentiation in fear conditioning paradigms
  • linked to biased attention for emotional stimuli
  • attentional vigilance toward threat cues

Study in children had less consistent findings:
> Attentional biases to avoid sad cues were amplified in 8 to 12 yo offspring of depressed mothers, particularly if expressing S or Lg alleles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

environmental exposure (family) and empathy

A
  • Link between effective parenting (secure attachment, providing support, and encouraging emotional expression) and healthy empathic development
  • Effects of inadequate parenting -> particularly potent in youths who carry a genetically mediated neurobiological liability for empathic sensitivity
  • Maladaptive parenting behavior may skew children’s empathic development toward problematic outcomes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

fostering healthy empathic development

A
  • Intraindividual and interindividual moderators exerts greatest influence during early childhood
  • Improve parents’ knowledge about contexts and experiences that distress their child
  • Relieving parent depression and/or chronic stress: indirect benefit for offspring
  • Decreasing cognitive and emotional dysregulation difficulties in very young children
  • Addressing cognitive biases -> unclear if this is appropriate/effective for preschoolers
  • Intranasally administered oxytocin may improve social cognition and emotion regulation in internalizing conditions (social anxiety) or autism (empathy deficit)
21
Q

5 months vs 8 months reaction to antisocial others

A

5: evaluated actors solely on the basis of the local valence of their actions (good/bad)
8: preferred individuals who acted positively toward prosocial others and preferred those who acted negatively to antisocial others
- 8 months: infants capable of evaluating third-party social behaviors that goes beyond simple ‘prosocial = good’, ‘antisocial = bad’

22
Q

toddlers: giving/taking a treat

A

-Giving-a-treat: toddlers gave a treat more often to prosocial puppet
-Taking-a-treat: toddler took treat more often from antisocial puppet
> Toddlers avoided taking from the individual (victim) who already suffered antisocial treatment from a third party -> empathic behavior

23
Q

conduct disorder

A
  • Childhood behavior disorder, characterized by persistent aggressive/antisocial behavior
  • Some children with conduct disorder have psychopathic traits
24
Q

2 forms of psychopathic traits

A

1) callous - unemotional component (psychopathic)

2) impulsive - antisocial

25
Q

callous unemotional component of psychopathic traits

A

2 out of 4 must be met: lack of remorse/guilt, callousness (lack of empathy), lack of concern about performance, shallow/deficient affect

  • > reduced empathic response to distress of others
  • > linked to decrease amygdala response
26
Q

impulsive-antisocial component of psychopathic traits

A
  • deficits in decision making and in reinforcement learning

- > dysfunction in the ventromedial PFC and striatum

27
Q

communicatory function of emotional empathy

A

understand emotional cues of others, learning social value of actions/objects -> important for appropriate decision making

28
Q

reduced emotional empathy - brain

A

reduced amygdala and vmPFC responsiveness to distress

29
Q

impaired decision making - brain

A

dysfunction in vmPFC and striatum

30
Q

Impaired processing of distressing cues and happy expressions
-> reduced aversion for actions that harm others

A

Reduced amygdala response to fearful expressions
-reduced amygdala and rostral medial frontal cortex response to pain expression
Response is not completely absent

-If intensity of emotional stimulus is increased -> recognition of fearful expression

31
Q

Youths with Psychopathic traits: Deficits in processes underlying aversive conditioning:

A

Passive avoidance learning, operant extinction, reversal learning

  • Deficits in capacity to link outcomes with stimuli/responses
  • Dysfunction within amygdala, striatum, vmPFC
32
Q

Disrupted prediction error signaling

A

Result in poorer, slower learning of reinforcements with objects/actions

  • Reduced vmPFC response to receipt of a reward (involved in encoding received rewards) , striatum
  • Prediction error needed for effective use of reinforcement outcome info
33
Q

Poor at using and representing expected value information - consequence and brain

A
  • > might impair decision making

- vmPFC

34
Q

Response to punishments that are worse than expected

A

-increased responses in vmPFC and striatum (in healthy ones this is reduced)

35
Q

summary emotional learning and decision making in psychopaths

A

reduced representation of reward outcomes and expected values in the vmPFC & reduced reward prediction error signaling & potentially highly atypical punishment prediction error signaling in the striatum

36
Q

amygdala in psychopathic traits

A

reduced volume

37
Q

temporal cortex in conduct disorder

A

-reduced volume and thickness

38
Q

Unikate fasiculus

A
  • possible disruption in that area and the white-matter tract that connects amygdala and frontal lobe
  • functional anisotropy in white-matter tract (psychopathic)
39
Q

environment and psychopathic traits

A
  • Exposure to high threat levels (abuse/family violence)
  • neglect
  • > heightened amygdala responses to threat
  • increased risk of reactive aggressive
  • maternal substance abuse during pregnancy
  • > Increases likelihood of callous-unemotional traits
40
Q

genes involved in psychopathic traits

A

L allele in 5HTTLPR
MAOA
COMT

  • Variants of these genes Associated with reduced amygdala response to threat -> risk for being more callous, unemotional
  • Increased aggressiveness
41
Q

treatment implications psychopathic traits

A
  • Difficult to treat
  • social and emotional learning prevention strategies may be helpful: development of emotional regulation, relationship skills and responsible decision making
  • Multidimensional treatment foster care and multisystemic therapy
  • Different types of conduct disorder might need different therapies
42
Q

treatment psychopathic traits with dopamine

A

-Some dysfunctions regarding psychopathic traits can be mimicked through manipulation of the serotoninergic and dopaminergic systems
> Dopamine antagonists reduce amygdala responsiveness to threat stimuli
> Dopamine agonists increase amygdala response to fearful expressions
-Atypical antipsychotic drugs can be efficient in treatment of aggression

43
Q

1 year old - empathy normal development

A

demonstrate capacity to exhibit distress when confronted with others’ negative affect & to orient attention towards distressed others

44
Q

2 year old - empathy normal development

A

better able to differentiate themselves form others, more capable of directing their concern externally
-In first few years of life: ability to reason about others’ goals and intentions

45
Q

3 year old - empathy normal development

A

relatively stable levels of empathy

46
Q

preschool and school - empathy normal development

A

capable of prosocial behaviors based on empathic feelings (as a function of cognitive and behavioral competences)

47
Q

middle childhood - empathy normal development

A

manage feelings with cognitive strategies

> Link between maturing emotion regulation capacities & emergence of empathic skills (influence in both directions)

48
Q

adolescence - empathy normal development

A

patterns of empathic responding remain stable, some skills increase,

Behavioral Problems in childhood (6 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions