Lack of Interaction Motivation in Older Adults Automatically Reduces Cognitive Empathy.

IF 1.4 4区 医学 Q4 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY
Experimental Aging Research Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Epub Date: 2023-02-22 DOI:10.1080/0361073X.2023.2168990
Binghai Sun, Zhenbing Luo, Xiaoyu Zhu, Yuting Shao, Wenhai Zhang, Guihua Qin, Shuwei Lin, Simin Wan
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Empathy, the ability to understand and respond to the experiences of others, is an important skill for maintaining good relationships throughout one's life. Previous research indicated that emotional empathy remained stable or even increased in older adults compared to younger adults, while cognitive empathy showed age-related deficits. Based on the selective engagement hypothesis, this deficit was not caused by a decline in cognitive functioning, but by a lack of willingness to judge the target person's emotions more precisely, that is, by a lack of interaction motivation. In order to provide more evidence on the causes of empathic aging in older adults, the current study investigated the influence of interaction motivation on empathy in older adults in an Eastern cultural context (China) based on the selective engagement hypothesis. This study used older adults and younger adults as subjects. Through two experiments, empathy was measured by the multiple empathy test (Experiment 1) and film tasks (Experiment 2); at the same time, use accountability instructions (Experiment 1), the age-related events (Experiment 2) to manipulate interaction motivation. The results showed that emotional empathy was significantly higher in older adults than in younger adults, regardless of whether interaction motivation was elicited. In terms of cognitive empathy, when there is no motivation, the cognitive empathy of older adults is significantly lower than that of younger adults. When the interaction motivation is stimulated, the cognitive empathy of older adults is no less than that of younger adults. This suggested that empathic aging in older adults was not a permanent decline in cognitive empathy, but rather a decline in interaction motivation, supporting the selective engagement hypothesis.

老年人缺乏互动动机会自动降低认知共情
移情是一种理解和回应他人经历的能力,是一个人一生中保持良好人际关系的重要技能。以往的研究表明,与年轻人相比,老年人的情感移情能力保持稳定甚至有所提高,而认知移情能力则出现了与年龄相关的缺陷。根据选择性参与假说,这种缺陷并不是由于认知功能的下降造成的,而是由于缺乏更精确地判断目标人物情绪的意愿,即缺乏互动动机造成的。为了给老年人移情老化的原因提供更多证据,本研究基于选择性参与假说,在东方文化背景下(中国)调查了互动动机对老年人移情的影响。本研究以老年人和年轻人为研究对象。通过两个实验,分别用多重移情测验(实验1)和电影任务(实验2)来测量移情;同时,使用责任指令(实验1)、年龄相关事件(实验2)来操纵互动动机。结果显示,无论是否激发互动动机,老年人的情感移情都明显高于年轻人。在认知移情方面,当没有互动动机时,老年人的认知移情明显低于年轻人。当互动动机被激发时,老年人的认知移情并不低于年轻人。这表明老年人的移情衰老并不是认知移情的永久性衰退,而是互动动机的衰退,支持了选择性参与假说。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Experimental Aging Research
Experimental Aging Research 医学-老年医学
CiteScore
3.60
自引率
0.00%
发文量
68
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Experimental Aging Research is a life span developmental and aging journal dealing with research on the aging process from a psychological and psychobiological perspective. It meets the need for a scholarly journal with refereed scientific papers dealing with age differences and age changes at any point in the adult life span. Areas of major focus include experimental psychology, neuropsychology, psychobiology, work research, ergonomics, and behavioral medicine. Original research, book reviews, monographs, and papers covering special topics are published.
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