Capacity for empathy and emotional contagion in those with psychopathic personalities
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Luckhurst, Cherie
Hatfield, Elaine
Gelvin-Smith, Claire
Abstract / Description
People with psychopathic traits are sometimes adept at recognizing the emotions of others and using this knowledge in anti-social ways. However, data from incarcerated psychopaths suggest that they are incapable of true empathy. In this paper, we describe three studies that link psychopathic personality to emotional contagion and empathy, and we offer suggestions for reconciling the seemingly conflicting data. While most studies of psychopathic personality assess incarcerated respondents, the resulting data may not be generalizable to non-criminals; participants in these studies were recruited from the general population. The research confirms that empathy and emotional contagion are positively correlated and that each is negatively correlated with psychopathy, as expected. Unique to these studies is the finding that, when instructed, those with psychopathic traits can easily “catch” the emotions of others via the steps of the emotional contagion pathway, thus implying their capacity for empathy. However, without instruction, those with psychopathic traits did not automatically catch others’ emotions.
Keyword(s)
empathy emotional contagion psychopath personality disorder emotionPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2017-10-20
Journal title
Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Volume
11
Issue
1
Page numbers
70–91
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
notReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Luckhurst, C., Hatfield, E., & Gelvin-Smith, C. (2017). Capacity for empathy and emotional contagion in those with psychopathic personalities. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 11(1), 70–91. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v11i1.247
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ijpr.v11i1.247.pdfAdobe PDF - 658.86KBMD5: b6305878b157244913a33fb3af1d394d
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Luckhurst, Cherie
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Hatfield, Elaine
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Gelvin-Smith, Claire
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-12-05T08:44:20Z
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Made available on2018-12-05T08:44:20Z
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Date of first publication2017-10-20
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Abstract / DescriptionPeople with psychopathic traits are sometimes adept at recognizing the emotions of others and using this knowledge in anti-social ways. However, data from incarcerated psychopaths suggest that they are incapable of true empathy. In this paper, we describe three studies that link psychopathic personality to emotional contagion and empathy, and we offer suggestions for reconciling the seemingly conflicting data. While most studies of psychopathic personality assess incarcerated respondents, the resulting data may not be generalizable to non-criminals; participants in these studies were recruited from the general population. The research confirms that empathy and emotional contagion are positively correlated and that each is negatively correlated with psychopathy, as expected. Unique to these studies is the finding that, when instructed, those with psychopathic traits can easily “catch” the emotions of others via the steps of the emotional contagion pathway, thus implying their capacity for empathy. However, without instruction, those with psychopathic traits did not automatically catch others’ emotions.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statusnotReviewed
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CitationLuckhurst, C., Hatfield, E., & Gelvin-Smith, C. (2017). Capacity for empathy and emotional contagion in those with psychopathic personalities. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 11(1), 70–91. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v11i1.247en_US
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ISSN1981-6472
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1760
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2126
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v11i1.247
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Keyword(s)empathyen_US
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Keyword(s)emotional contagionen_US
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Keyword(s)psychopathen_US
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Keyword(s)personality disorderen_US
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Keyword(s)emotionen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleCapacity for empathy and emotional contagion in those with psychopathic personalitiesen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleInterpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
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Page numbers70–91
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Volume11
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record