Reproducing age and sex biases in perceived pain intensity and prosocial behaviors using digital characters

Abstract

Empathy begins with the perception of others’ affective states (e.g., through facial expressions) and can lead to prosocial behaviors. These stages can be grouped into the empathy continuum. The latter can be influenced by several factors, including age and sex. One study by Gingras et al. (2021) investigated how these characteristics affect the first (perception) and last (help) stages of the empathy continuum for the pain of others. They found, using picture of patients, that more pain was perceived and more help was offered to older than younger and to male than female patients, but no interaction was found. Even if pain intensity was globally comparable across conditions, the stimuli were not controlled at the level of the different action units. The present study aimed to replicate previous findings using dynamic digital characters, thereby providing better control over stimuli. Fifty-seven participants (28 younger, 29 older; 29 males, 28 females) watched videos of eight digital characters (4 younger, 4 older; 4 males, 4 females) expressing pain and rated the intensity and the help they would offer. The findings replicated those of Gingras et al. (2021) with the addition of an age by sex interaction: older males received more help, and their pain was perceived as higher than older females. This work demonstrates age and sex biases in the empathy continuum in human-digital character interactions, highlights the intersection between ageism and sexism and shows the potential of digital characters to test research hypotheses in psychology with great experimental control.