The crystal globe: emotional empathy and the transformation of self.
To test whether emotional empathy is linked to altered perceptions of self in relation to other and/or context, participants read one of two tragic news stories and then completed a self-report empathy measure, as well as an abridged version of Hood's (1975) Mysticism scale either before or after the article. Exposure to a needy other in the story tended to result in greater self-reported mystical experience. Men with a history of mystical experience reported more empathy, but the latter was disconnected from on-line reports of mystical experience. Women's history of mystical experience did not predict empathic responding overall, but their reported empathy was linked to on-line experiences of oneness, absorption into something larger, and space-time distortion with imputed religious significance. Directions for future research, including the possible facilitative role of oxytocin, are discussed.
Department of Psychology, St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. cburris@uwaterloo.ca
Christopher T
CT
Burris
John K
JK
Rempel
D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009228:Mysticism; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept