The influence of anger on empathy and theory of mind

Social cognition allows humans to understand and predict other people's behavior by inferring or sharing their emotions, intentions and beliefs. Few studies have investigated the impact of one's own emotional state on understanding others. Here, we tested the effect of being in an angry st...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Weiblen, Ronja, Mairon, Noam, Krach, Sören, Buades-Rotger, Macià, Nahum, Mor, Kanske, Philipp, Perry, Anat, Krämer, Ulrike M.
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/182878
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/182878
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Ira (Emoció)
Empatia
Filosofia de la ment
Anger
Empathy
Philosophy of mind
Descrição
Resumo:Social cognition allows humans to understand and predict other people's behavior by inferring or sharing their emotions, intentions and beliefs. Few studies have investigated the impact of one's own emotional state on understanding others. Here, we tested the effect of being in an angry state on empathy and theory of mind (ToM). In a between-groups design we manipulated anger status with different paradigms in three studies (autobiographical recall (N = 45), negative feedback (N = 49), frustration (N = 46)) and checked how this manipulation affected empathic accuracy and performance in the EmpaToM. All paradigms were successful in inducing mild anger. We did not find the expected effect of anger on empathy or ToM performance but observed small behavioral changes. Together, our results validate the use of three different anger induction paradigms and speak for rather weak behavioral effects of mild state anger on empathy and ToM.