Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2487-2501 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Behavior research methods |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 4 May 2021 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
Abstract
Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.
Keywords
- Adolescence, Development, Empathy, Mentalizing, Social cognition, Social understanding, Theory of mind
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Psychology(all)
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Psychology(all)
- Psychology (miscellaneous)
- Psychology(all)
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Behavior research methods, Vol. 53, No. 6, 12.2021, p. 2487-2501.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A revised instrument for the assessment of empathy and Theory of Mind in adolescents
T2 - Introducing the EmpaToM-Y
AU - Breil, Christina
AU - Kanske, Philipp
AU - Pittig, Roxana
AU - Böckler, Anne
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (grant number BO 4962/1-1). We thank Caroline Beyer for her help with data acquisition.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.
AB - Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Development
KW - Empathy
KW - Mentalizing
KW - Social cognition
KW - Social understanding
KW - Theory of mind
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105864558&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13428-021-01589-3
DO - 10.3758/s13428-021-01589-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105864558
VL - 53
SP - 2487
EP - 2501
JO - Behavior research methods
JF - Behavior research methods
SN - 1554-351X
IS - 6
ER -