title: Inhibition of personally-relevant angry faces moderates the effect of empathy on interpersonal functioning.
abstract: While empathy is typically assumed to promote effective social interactions, it can sometimes be detrimental when it is unrestrained and overgeneralized. The present study explored whether cognitive inhibition would moderate the effect of empathy on social functioning. Eighty healthy young adults underwent two assessments six months apart. Participants' ability to suppress interference from distracting emotional stimuli was assessed using a Negative Affective Priming Task that included both generic and personally-relevant (i.e., participants' intimate partners) facial expressions of emotion. The UCLA Life Stress Interview and Empathy Quotient were administered to measure interpersonal functioning and empathy respectively. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that higher empathy was associated with worse concurrent interpersonal outcomes for individuals who showed weak inhibition of the personally-relevant depictions of anger. The effect of empathy on social functioning might be dependent on individuals' ability to suppress interference from meaningful emotional distractors in their environment.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Iacono
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ellenbogen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Desormeau
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Rami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nijjar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult