Is stress affecting our ability to tune into others? Evidence for gender differences in the effects of stress on self-other distinction.
Stress is a ubiquitous challenge in society as we consistently interact with others under the influence of stress. Distinguishing self- from other-related mental representations plays an important role for social interactions, and is a prerequisite for crucial social skills such as action understanding, empathy, and mentalizing. Little is known, however, about the effects of stress on self-other distinction. We assessed how acute stress impacts self-other distinction in the perceptual-motor, the affective, and the cognitive domain, in a male and female sample. In all domains, the results show opposing effects of stress on the two genders: while women showed increases in self-other distinction, men showed decreases. Our findings suggest that women flexibly disambiguate self and other under stress, enabling accurate social responses, while men respond with increased egocentricity and less adaptive regulation. This has crucial implications for explaining gender differences in social skills such as empathy and prosociality.
Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna, Austria.
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Tomova
Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany.
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von Dawans
Department of Psychology, Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany; Freiburg Brain Imaging Center, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.
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Heinrichs
Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies, SISSA-ISAS, Trieste, Italy.
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Silani
Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: claus.lamm@univie.ac.at.
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Lamm
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004532:Ego; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
D006854:Hydrocortisone
Cortisol; Egocentricity; Empathy; Gender; Imitation; Perspective taking; Psychosocial stress; Self-other distinction