“I am feeling tension in my whole body”: An experimental phenomenological study of empathy for pain

Frontiers in Psychology

article

David Martínez-Pernía¹  Ignacio Cea¹  Alejandro Troncoso¹  Kevin Blanco¹  Jorge Calderón Vergara¹  Constanza Baquedano¹  Claudio Araya-Veliz⁵  Ana Useros-Olmo⁶  David Huepe¹  Valentina Carrera¹  Victoria Mack Silva¹  Mayte Vergara¹ 

[1] School of Psychology, Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience ,(CSCN), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez;Faculty of Medicine, Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism ,(GERO), University of Chile;Faculty of Medicine, Memory and Neuropsychiatric Clinic ,(CMYN), Neurology Service, Hospital del Salvador, University of Chile;Philosophy Department, Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities, Universidad Alberto Hurtado;School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez;Unidad de Daño Cerebral, Hospital Beata María Ana;Departamento de Fisioterapia and Motion in Brains Research Group, Institute of Neuroscience and Sciences of the Movement ,(INCIMOV), Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios La Salle, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

关键词: Empathy for pain;    Experimental phenomenology;    neurophenomenology;    enaction;    First-person view;    Bodily sensation;    social emotion;    Extreme sport;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.999227

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: Traditionally, empathy has been studied from two main perspectives: the theory-theory approach and the simulation theory approach. These theories claim that social emotions are fundamentally constituted by mind states in the brain. In contrast, recent research based on phenomenological and enactive theories considers empathy as the basic process of contacting others’ emotional experiences through direct bodily perception and sensation. Objective: This study aims to enrich knowledge of the empathic experience of pain by using an experimental phenomenological method. Method: Implementing an experimental paradigm used in affective neuroscience, we exposed 28 healthy adults to a video of sportspersons suffering physical accidents while practicing extreme sports. Immediately after watching the video, each participant underwent a phenomenological interview to gather data on embodied, multi-layered dimensions (bodily sensations, emotions, and motivations) and temporal aspects of empathic experience. We also performed quantitative analyses of the phenomenological categories. Results: Experiential access to the other person’s painful experience involves four main-themes. Bodily resonance: participants felt a multiplicity bodily, affective, and kinesthetic sensations. Attentional focus: some participants centered their attention more on their own personal discomfort and sensations of rejection, while others on the pain and suffering experienced by the sportspersons. Kinesthetic motivation: some participants experienced the feeling in their bodies to avoid or escape from watching the video, while others experienced the need to help the sportspersons avoid suffering any injury while practicing extreme sports. Temporality of experience: participants witnessed temporal fluctuations in their experiences, bringing intensity changes in their bodily resonance, attentional focus, and kinesthetic motivation. Finally, two experiential structures were found: one structure is self-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the participant’s own experience of seeing the sportsperson suffering, and self-protective kinesthetic motivation; the other structure is other-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the sportsperson, and prosocial kinesthetic motivation to help them. Discussion: We show how phenomenological data may contribute to comprehending empathy for pain in social neuroscience. In addition, we address the phenomenological aspect of the enactive approach to the three dimensions of embodiment of human consciousness.

【 授权许可】

CC BY