Abstract
Two studies were conducted to test whether psychopathy, narcissism, and borderline personality are linked to impairment in affective empathy experience. In both studies, two forms of affective empathy (emotional contagion and empathic concern) were covertly manipulated and measured. Use of state empathy change scores and data aggregation across both studies and a third previously published study revealed little evidence of a consistent negative association between most measures of narcissistic, borderline, or psychopathic traits and affective empathy change scores. The one exception was the psychopathic trait of Callous Affect, which revealed consistent negative associations with affective empathy change scores. Specifically, relative to neutral stimuli, Callous Affect was associated with lower emotional contagion of sadness to sad faces, lower emotional contagion of sadness, anger, and fear to those in need, and lower empathic concern to those in need. The results suggest that claims of clear links between affective empathy impairment and most traits comprising narcissism and borderline personality are unsubstantiated when subjected to critical test conditions. Moreover, emotional callousness, as opposed to other psychopathic traits, appears to be responsible for the proposed link between psychopathy and affective empathy impairment.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 257-265 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Personality and Individual Differences |
| Volume | 86 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2015 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Affect
- Borderline personality
- Emotion
- Emotional contagion
- Empathic concern
- Empathy
- Narcissism
- Psychopathy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
Cite this
Psychopathy, narcissism, and borderline personality : A critical test of the affective empathy-impairment hypothesis. / Lishner, David A.; Hong, Phan Y.; Jiang, Lixin; Vitacco, Michael J; Neumann, Craig S.
In: Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 86, 01.11.2015, p. 257-265.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychopathy, narcissism, and borderline personality
T2 - A critical test of the affective empathy-impairment hypothesis
AU - Lishner, David A.
AU - Hong, Phan Y.
AU - Jiang, Lixin
AU - Vitacco, Michael J
AU - Neumann, Craig S.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Two studies were conducted to test whether psychopathy, narcissism, and borderline personality are linked to impairment in affective empathy experience. In both studies, two forms of affective empathy (emotional contagion and empathic concern) were covertly manipulated and measured. Use of state empathy change scores and data aggregation across both studies and a third previously published study revealed little evidence of a consistent negative association between most measures of narcissistic, borderline, or psychopathic traits and affective empathy change scores. The one exception was the psychopathic trait of Callous Affect, which revealed consistent negative associations with affective empathy change scores. Specifically, relative to neutral stimuli, Callous Affect was associated with lower emotional contagion of sadness to sad faces, lower emotional contagion of sadness, anger, and fear to those in need, and lower empathic concern to those in need. The results suggest that claims of clear links between affective empathy impairment and most traits comprising narcissism and borderline personality are unsubstantiated when subjected to critical test conditions. Moreover, emotional callousness, as opposed to other psychopathic traits, appears to be responsible for the proposed link between psychopathy and affective empathy impairment.
AB - Two studies were conducted to test whether psychopathy, narcissism, and borderline personality are linked to impairment in affective empathy experience. In both studies, two forms of affective empathy (emotional contagion and empathic concern) were covertly manipulated and measured. Use of state empathy change scores and data aggregation across both studies and a third previously published study revealed little evidence of a consistent negative association between most measures of narcissistic, borderline, or psychopathic traits and affective empathy change scores. The one exception was the psychopathic trait of Callous Affect, which revealed consistent negative associations with affective empathy change scores. Specifically, relative to neutral stimuli, Callous Affect was associated with lower emotional contagion of sadness to sad faces, lower emotional contagion of sadness, anger, and fear to those in need, and lower empathic concern to those in need. The results suggest that claims of clear links between affective empathy impairment and most traits comprising narcissism and borderline personality are unsubstantiated when subjected to critical test conditions. Moreover, emotional callousness, as opposed to other psychopathic traits, appears to be responsible for the proposed link between psychopathy and affective empathy impairment.
KW - Affect
KW - Borderline personality
KW - Emotion
KW - Emotional contagion
KW - Empathic concern
KW - Empathy
KW - Narcissism
KW - Psychopathy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84932597648&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84932597648&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2015.05.036
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2015.05.036
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84932597648
VL - 86
SP - 257
EP - 265
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
SN - 0191-8869
ER -