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Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uear20
Empathy and Conversational Enjoyment in Younger and Older Adults a
Odette N. Gould & Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau
a
a
Click for updates
Department of Psychology , Mount Allison University , Sackville , New Brunswick , Canada Published online: 27 Jan 2014.
To cite this article: Odette N. Gould & Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau (2014) Empathy and Conversational Enjoyment in Younger and Older Adults, Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process, 40:1, 60-80, DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559
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Experimental Aging Research, 40: 60–80, 2014 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0361-073X print=1096-4657 online DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559
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EMPATHY AND CONVERSATIONAL ENJOYMENT IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS
Odette N. Gould Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada Background=Study Context: Investigations of empathy across adulthood have yielded mixed findings, yet its contribution to successful social interactions is clear. Methods: Here, the authors investigate the relationship between empathy and self-reported conversation enjoyment in 144 young adults (Mage ¼ 19.50) and 120 older adults (Mage ¼ 68.75). Participants completed three empathy-related measures (Interpersonal Reactivity Index [IRI], Toronto Empathy Questionnaire [TEQ], and Affect Intensity Measure [AIM]), and rated their enjoyment of recalled conversations with diverse targets. Results: On the IRI, older adults had higher scores than younger adults on Empathic Concern, but lower scores on the Personal Distress and Fantasy subscales. For younger adults, conversations with same-age acquaintances were most enjoyable and conversations with children and older adults were least enjoyable. Older adults reported similar enjoyment across all groups. However, the links between conversation enjoyment and empathy were stronger for older adults. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of a multidimensional view of empathy, and the possibility that empathy influences conversational interactions differentially across the life span.
Empathy is a complex set of affective and cognitive processes that involve both recognizing and responding to the emotional experiences of others (Bailey, Henry, & Von Hippel, 2008; Gru¨hn, Rebucal,
Received 22 October 2012; accepted 20 February 2013. Address correspondence to Odette N. Gould, Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, 49AYork Street, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1C7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
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Diehl, Lumley, & Labouvie-Vief, 2008; Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Approaches to the study of empathy frequently distinguish between the cognitive aspect of empathy, namely, the ability to accurately identify emotions in others, and affective empathy, whereby one can share the emotions of others and feel concern for others’ distress (Davis, 1983; Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Clearly, successful social interactions require empathy: an interlocutor must be able to recognize the conversational partner’s reactions (e.g., boredom, interest, joy, distress), but also needs to be motivated to accommodate to the emotional needs of that person for the conversation to be enjoyable and successful. Links between positive social interactions and empathy have been demonstrated. For example, Bailey et al. (2008) showed that deficits in cognitive empathy in older adults were linked to reduced frequency of social activities, and Beadle, Brown, Keady, Tranel, and Paradiso (2012) found a negative relationship between loneliness and a social skills factor of empathy in a life span crosssectional sample. Bailey et al. (2008) also point out, however, that such negative relationships between frequency of social contacts and empathy could be either a cause or a consequence of a reduced ability to recognize emotions in others. Such conclusions are reminiscent of findings that both younger (Williams & Giles, 1996) and older (Williams & Garrett, 2002) adults report experiencing underaccommodation during intergenerational conversations, and that negative interactions may lead to a negative spiral of increasingly unpleasant and infrequent social interactions (Ryan, Giles, Bartolucci, & Henwood, 1986). Surprisingly little attention has been paid to whether highly empathic individuals enjoy conversations more. One exception is a study carried out by Gru¨hn and colleagues (2008) who used a unidimensional measure of empathy (California Psychological Inventory, empathy subscale), and a sampling methodology with participants ranging in age across adulthood. Participants were cued 35 times over 7 days and asked to rate a social interaction that had occurred since the last cue. Results indicated no relationship between empathy scores and the frequency of positive interactions, but when only positive interactions were considered, individuals with higher empathy scores had stronger feelings of positivity during the conversation, and also thought that their interaction partner felt more positive. These authors also reported that the relationships between these variables were not affected by the age of the participants. One issue that remains as yet unexplored is whether highly empathic individuals are better able to cope with conversational partners who differ greatly from themselves, where showing empathy may be more difficult (Cikara, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011). Given the probable shifts in social motives that accompany
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age (Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994), it is also of particular interest to explore whether the relationships between conversational enjoyment and the dimensions of empathy differ in younger and older adults. Two main approaches have been used to study potential changes in empathy across adulthood. The first approach involves behavioral or performance-based explorations of the cognitive dimension of empathy whereby both theory of mind and emotion recognition tasks have been used. Theory of mind tasks involve deducing a story character’s mental state. Mixed results have been found with such tasks. Whereas some studies find similar performance levels in younger and older adults (e.g., Keightley, Winocur, Burianova, Hongwanishkul, & Grady, 2006), others find superior performance in older adults (Happe´, Winner, & Brownell, 1998), and others find age-related declines linked to the cognitive nature of the task (e.g., Bailey & Henry, 2008; German & Hehman, 2006). Regarding emotion recognition tasks, findings generally indicate an age-related decline in the ability to recognize emotions in photos of eyes (Bailey et al., 2008), full faces (MacPherson, Phillips, & Della Sala, 2002), or body (Sullivan & Ruffman, 2004). Although there has been much speculation that recognition of positive emotions may be differentially preserved in old age, indicating a positivity bias (e.g., Keightly et al., 2006; Richter, Dietzel, & Kunzmann, 2010), Ruffman, Henry, Livingstone, and Phillips (2008) found little support for this interpretation in their meta-analysis of the emotion recognition literature. They concluded, instead, that an explanation focused on neuropsychological changes, namely, frontal and temporal decline, best supports the pattern of findings. However, emotion recognition studies have been criticized not only for using only cross-sectional designs, but also for using materials that lack context. Not only does most of this work use static photos as stimuli, but these are photos of young confederates asked to imitate specific emotions (Richter & Kunzmann, 2011; Ruffman et al., 2008). Indeed, there is evidence that age-related deficits are attenuated when more context-rich stimuli are used, such as congruent auditory and visual bimodal presentations (Hunter, Phillips, & MacPherson, 2010) and video clips (Krendl & Ambady, 2010). The importance of emotionally relevant material was also highlighted by Richter and Kunzmann (2011), who used stimuli that involved both younger and older adults discussing emotionally engaging topics. Dependent variables included (a) how accurately the participants replicated the videotaped person’s self-ratings on a series of emotional adjectives; (b) self-reported sympathy for the person in the video; and (c) compassionate listening behavior. Results indicated that age deficits on emotion recognition measures were absent when the target was discussing a topic that was
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emotionally relevant to the older person. Moreover, the older adults tended to express more sympathy than did younger participants. In summary, although much data suggest that older adults are deficient when it comes to recognizing emotions in others, when context-rich and emotionally relevant stimuli are used, age differences are attenuated. The second main approach to the study of age-related differences in empathy has been the use of self-report measures. Both crosssectional and longitudinal analyses have been carried out to investigate potential changes in empathy levels across adulthood. Studies of empathy levels in old age have produced evidence for both stability (Diehl, Coyle, & Labouvie-Vief, 1996; Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, & Allsopp, 1985) and decline (Helson, Jones, & Kwan, 2002; Phillips, MacLean, & Allen, 2002; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). However, interpretation of these findings is rendered difficult due to both methodological (i.e., potential cohort effects) and measurement issues. Indeed, researchers studying the development of empathy across adulthood have variously used the California Psychological Inventory (e.g., Diehl et al., 1996; Gru¨hn et al., 2008; Helson et al., 2002), the Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire (e.g., Eysenck et al., 1985), the Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (e.g., Phillips et al., 2002; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000), and selected items from multiple scales (e.g., Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). Unfortunately, most of the measures used are unidimensional and do not allow for analysis of affective and cognitive components of empathy separately (Gru¨hn et al., 2008). In the nondevelopmental literature, the theoretical evolution of empathy from a unidimensional to a multidimensional construct comprising affective and cognitive components gained prominence in the 1980s thanks to Davis’s 28-item Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983). The IRI consists of two cognitive subscales (Perspective Taking and Fantasy) and two affective or emotional subscales (Empathic Concern and Personal Distress). The Perspective Taking (PT) subscale is a measure of a person’s ability to inhabit the psychological point of view of another, whereas the Fantasy (FS) subscale assesses the degree to which a person can assume the thoughts, feeling, and actions of characters in fictional works such as movies, novels, or plays. The affective subscales, Empathic Concern (EC) and Personal Distress (PD), are viewed as measures of ‘‘self’’ and ‘‘other’’ orientations, respectively (Davis, 1983). The self-oriented PD assesses a person’s own anxiety over the misfortunes of others, whereas the EC subscale gauges a person’s other-oriented concern or sympathy for those less fortunate or in need (Davis, 1994). Mooradian, Davis, and Matzler (2011) looked at correlations between the IRI and the ‘‘Big Five’’ personality traits in a sample of undergraduates. The
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links between Agreeableness and all of the empathy subscales except the Fantasy subscale were clear. The authors also surmised that the interplay of the levels of personality factors was key. Specifically, they proposed that a combination of high Neuroticism and high Agreeableness led to Personal Distress, high Agreeableness and high Openness led to Perspective Taking, and a simple pattern of high Agreeableness led to Empathic Concern. The Fantasy subscale of the IRI, in contrast, was linked only with Openness. Unfortunately, few researchers have used the IRI with life span samples. One exception is a recent study by Sze, Gyurak, Goodkind, and Levenson (2012), who measured physiological reactions and prosocial behaviors in response to watching emotional films, as well as self-reported empathy using the IRI. Older adults were found to report more Empathic Concern, both on the IRI scale and in terms of ratings of emotions experienced in relation to the film. Results were more complex for Personal Distress, where older adults reported more negative emotions in certain situations (i.e., a distressing film), but not in others (i.e., an uplifting film). The authors concluded that emotional empathy increases with age, although it remains that these results were obtained with a single sample and need replication. In conclusion, many issues are as yet unresolved in our understanding of how the dimensions of empathy differ across cohorts. Also, it is unclear whether there is a relationship between empathy and the enjoyment of conversations with others. Specifically, do people who have higher empathy scores find it easier or more difficult to carry on conversations with individuals who are very different from themselves? And are these relationships similar in younger and older adults? In the present study, we address three main research questions. First, we compare the self-reported empathy scores of younger and older adults using both the multidimensional IRI (Davis, 1980, 1983) and a unidimensional scale, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ; Spreng, McKinnon, Mar, & Levine, 2009). Based on past findings, we hypothesize that the TEQ will yield age-related decline (H1a), as has been commonly found with unidimensional measures of empathy (e.g., Gru¨hn et al., 2008; Helson et al., 2002), whereas the IRI scores will show a more complex set of findings. Specifically, based on the results obtained by Sze et al. (2012) and Richter and Kunzmann (2011), we expect that older adults will have lower scores than younger adults on the two cognitive subscales, Perspective Taking (H1b) and Fantasy (H1c) subscales, and a higher score on the Empathic Concern subscale (H1d), which we judge to be similar to Richter and Kunzmann’s sympathy questions. Finally, given past findings of superior emotional regulation abilities in older adults (Carstensen,
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Mikels, & Mather, 2006), we expect that younger adults will have higher scores on the Personal Distress subscale than will older adults (H1e). The use of this multidimensional scale will also allow an exploration of the interrelationships between the different subscales of the IRI and with a measure of affect intensity (Affect Intensity Measure; Larsen, Diener, & Emmons, 1986) in younger and older adults, in order to investigate whether structural equivalence is present across age groups. Second, we also explore the possibility of age differences in conversational enjoyment. Based on past work investigating interpersonal relations across the life span (e.g., Fingerman, Miller, & Charles, 2008), we expect that overall, older adults will rate all their conversations as more enjoyable than younger adults (H2a). In terms of differences between types of conversational partners, we expect that both younger (H2b) and older partners (H2c) will enjoy conversations with same-age partners the best, because these individuals are likely to be more similar to themselves, creating a situation where empathic behavior is less challenging (Cikara et al., 2011), and they are likely to have more contact with same-age conversational partners (Giles, Ryan, & Anas, 2008). Moreover, younger adults are expected to be negative in rating conversations with older adults (H2d) who tend to be nonaccommodative to their conversational needs (Giles et al., 2008), and older adults are expected to be positive when rating conversations with children (H2e) because of generativity (McAdams, St. Aubin, & Logan, 1993). Finally, we also address the issue of whether there is a relationship between empathy scores and conversational enjoyment, and whether this relationship is similar across age groups. Specifically, we speculate that individuals who have higher scores on the Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern subscales will be better able to accommodate to the conversational needs of others, including others who are very different from themselves and therefore will enjoy these conversations more than do less empathic individuals. Such findings would replicate and extend previous work suggesting that individuals with higher empathy scores have more frequent social interactions (Bailey et al., 2008) and are less lonely (Beadle et al., 2012). METHODS Participants The sample comprised 264 adults, 144 were university undergraduates (Mage ¼ 19.50, SD ¼ 1.69) and 120 were older adults (Mage ¼ 68.75, SD ¼ 7.88). Three older adults did not report their age. Of the younger
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adults, 93 were female and 50 male, in the older group, 90 were female, 25 were male, with 5 not reporting their gender. Thus, the proportion of men in the younger group was significantly larger than in the older group, v2(1, N ¼ 254) ¼ 5.24, p ¼ .02. (Because preliminary analyses indicated that age effects were similar in both genders, all analyses were carried out with the gender groups combined.) Younger adults (M ¼ 13.7, SD ¼ 1.0) had completed significantly fewer years of education than older participants (M ¼ 15.3, SD ¼ 3.2, t(134.2) ¼ 5.4, p < .001). Younger adults had between 13 and 16 years of education, whereas older adults had between 9 and 17 years. Measures Participants completed two previously published measures of empathy and a related construct: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983); the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ; Spreng et al., 2009); the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM; Larsen et al., 1986); plus an Enjoyment of Conversation (EoC) questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire. The IRI (Davis, 1983) is a 28-item self-report measure of empathy comprising four subscales with seven questions each. Responses are presented as a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘‘0: Does not describe me very well’’ to ‘‘4: Describes me very well.’’ The 7-item Perspective Taking (PT) subscale measures a person’s ability to inhabit the psychological point of view of another and has 2 reversed-scored items. Davis (1980) found a mean sum of 17.9 for a large sample of younger adults. The 7-item Fantasy (FS) subscale assesses the degree to which a person assumes the thoughts, feeling, and actions of characters in fictional works such as movies, books, and plays, with 2 items reverse scored. Davis found a mean sum of 18.24 for this subscale. The 7-item Empathic Concern (EC) and the 7-item Personal Distress (PD) subscales are viewed as measures of ‘‘self’’ and ‘‘other’’ orientations, respectively. The self-oriented PD assesses a person’s own anxiety over the misfortunes of others. Davis found a mean sum of 11.9 for this subscale. The EC subscale gauges a person’s other-oriented concern or sympathy for those less fortunate or in need. Davis found a mean sum of 21.4 for this subscale. There are 3 EC reverse-scored items, whereas the Fantasy subscale has two. Each subscale yields a summed score ranging from 0 to 28. There is no total score across all subscales. Davis (1983) reported internal reliability coefficients ranging from .71 to .77. The current study’s reliability coefficients ranged from .71 to .76 in the young sample and from .76 to .80 in the older sample. Two older participants were missing 2 items from a 7-item
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subscale, and were omitted from analyses involving that subscale. A total of 15 older adults did not answer 1 item on a subscale (.002% of the data set) and these values were replaced with the mean of that item for that age group. The TEQ (Spreng et al., 2009) is a 16-item measure of primarily affective empathy, with 8 items reverse scored. The authors report that the measure taps various theoretical aspects of empathy, including ‘‘emotional contagion, emotion comprehension, sympathetic physiological arousal and con-specific altruism’’ (p. 68). Likert scale responses are valued from 0 ¼ Never to 4 ¼ Always. A total score is calculated ranging from 0 to 64. Spreng et al. found a mean of 44.5 with a large sample of younger adults. Internal reliability coefficients were reported as ranging from .85 to .87. In the current study, we report a coefficient of .79 for both younger and older adults. One older participant missed a page in the survey, and left 10 items blank and this participant was dropped from all analyses involving this measure. For the rest of the sample, 1 younger adult and 9 older individuals had missing data for 1 or 2 items (.003 of the data points) and these missing items were replaced by the mean for that variable and that age group. The AIM (Larsen et al., 1986) is composed of 40 questions designed to assess the intensity of emotional responses to everyday events. Participants self-report on a 6-point Likert scale from 1 ¼ Never to 6 ¼ Always, 11 items are reversed scored. Higher scores indicate more emotional responses. Reliability coefficients were reported to range from .90 to .94 (Larsen et al., 1986). The present study found reliability coefficients of .88 for younger adults and .92 for older adults. A total score is calculated with a range of 40 to 240. Rubin, Hoyle, and Leary (2012) found a mean sum of 144.8 with a large sample of younger adults. Six older individuals omitted 3 or more items on the scale, and were not included in analyses involving this measure. A total of 3 younger adults and 21 older adults had missing data for 1 or 2 items on the scale (.003% of data points) and these values were replaced for the average of that item for their age group. A 10-item Enjoyment of Conversation (EoC) questionnaire was developed for the study; five questions asked participants to rate their enjoyment of recalled conversations with other people of various ages who were not a family member: opposite sex (same age as participant); different nationality (same age as participant); child 8–12 years old; adult aged 65þ (for younger participants) and adult aged 18–25 (for older participants); friend from high school not attending the university (for younger participants); and acquaintance, not close
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friend (for older participants). Ratings were on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 ¼ extremely enjoyable. Each question had a follow-up asking when each conversation occurred. Five options were given, ranging from within the past week to over a year ago. Demographic questions included age, gender, education, and family’s country of origin.
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Procedure Data were gathered via two methods: through an online survey, completed by 144 younger adults and 67 older adults, and a paper-based survey, completed by 53 older adults. The survey was estimated to take approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. (Preliminary analyses confirmed that responses of seniors who used the paper-based survey did not differ from those of seniors who responded online.) Recruitment of younger adults was conducted online. Students from introductory psychology classes were invited to participate in the survey for a partial credit for research participation. Other students (n ¼ 24) were offered a chance to win a $25 gift card. Older adults were recruited through public service announcements through networks of senior’s educational and community-based organizations, churches, and online media. Older adults had the choice of answering an online survey or a paper version that could be mailed back to the researchers. There was no incentive offered to the older adults to participate. RESULTS Empathy Scores As a first step, we compared younger and older adults on their scores for the empathy measures. As can be seen in Table 1, different results were obtained when different facets of empathy were measured. For the unidimensional Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), the summed score showed that older adults had a significantly higher score than did younger adults, F(1, 261) ¼ 4.87, p ¼ .03, g2 ¼ .02. In contrast, the summed score, from the 40-item Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), indicated that younger adults had significantly higher scores than older adults, F(1, 256) ¼ 11.87, p ¼ .001, g2 ¼ .04. Finally, for the summed scores on the four 7-item subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the following results were obtained using a Bonferroni correction as the criterion for significance (p < .013): (a) for Perspective Taking, the two age groups did not differ significantly,
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Table 1. Scores on empathy-related measures in younger and older adults Younger
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y
py
M
SD
a
M
SD
a
46.0 148.9
6.2 18.1
0.79 .88
47.7 140.6
6.6 20.5
.79 .92
.03 .001
19.4 12.0 17.3 18.1
4.5 5.0 5.5 4.5
.80 .78 .79 .76
21.3 10.4 13.1 18.7
4.7 4.7 5.8 4.6
.76 .71 .74 .71
.001 .009
Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uear20
Empathy and Conversational Enjoyment in Younger and Older Adults a
Odette N. Gould & Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau
a
a
Click for updates
Department of Psychology , Mount Allison University , Sackville , New Brunswick , Canada Published online: 27 Jan 2014.
To cite this article: Odette N. Gould & Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau (2014) Empathy and Conversational Enjoyment in Younger and Older Adults, Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process, 40:1, 60-80, DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any
losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [University of Illinois Chicago] at 11:28 05 February 2015
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Experimental Aging Research, 40: 60–80, 2014 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0361-073X print=1096-4657 online DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2014.857559
Downloaded by [University of Illinois Chicago] at 11:28 05 February 2015
EMPATHY AND CONVERSATIONAL ENJOYMENT IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS
Odette N. Gould Sylvia MacNeil Gautreau Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada Background=Study Context: Investigations of empathy across adulthood have yielded mixed findings, yet its contribution to successful social interactions is clear. Methods: Here, the authors investigate the relationship between empathy and self-reported conversation enjoyment in 144 young adults (Mage ¼ 19.50) and 120 older adults (Mage ¼ 68.75). Participants completed three empathy-related measures (Interpersonal Reactivity Index [IRI], Toronto Empathy Questionnaire [TEQ], and Affect Intensity Measure [AIM]), and rated their enjoyment of recalled conversations with diverse targets. Results: On the IRI, older adults had higher scores than younger adults on Empathic Concern, but lower scores on the Personal Distress and Fantasy subscales. For younger adults, conversations with same-age acquaintances were most enjoyable and conversations with children and older adults were least enjoyable. Older adults reported similar enjoyment across all groups. However, the links between conversation enjoyment and empathy were stronger for older adults. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of a multidimensional view of empathy, and the possibility that empathy influences conversational interactions differentially across the life span.
Empathy is a complex set of affective and cognitive processes that involve both recognizing and responding to the emotional experiences of others (Bailey, Henry, & Von Hippel, 2008; Gru¨hn, Rebucal,
Received 22 October 2012; accepted 20 February 2013. Address correspondence to Odette N. Gould, Department of Psychology, Mount Allison University, 49AYork Street, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1C7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
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Diehl, Lumley, & Labouvie-Vief, 2008; Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Approaches to the study of empathy frequently distinguish between the cognitive aspect of empathy, namely, the ability to accurately identify emotions in others, and affective empathy, whereby one can share the emotions of others and feel concern for others’ distress (Davis, 1983; Richter & Kunzmann, 2011). Clearly, successful social interactions require empathy: an interlocutor must be able to recognize the conversational partner’s reactions (e.g., boredom, interest, joy, distress), but also needs to be motivated to accommodate to the emotional needs of that person for the conversation to be enjoyable and successful. Links between positive social interactions and empathy have been demonstrated. For example, Bailey et al. (2008) showed that deficits in cognitive empathy in older adults were linked to reduced frequency of social activities, and Beadle, Brown, Keady, Tranel, and Paradiso (2012) found a negative relationship between loneliness and a social skills factor of empathy in a life span crosssectional sample. Bailey et al. (2008) also point out, however, that such negative relationships between frequency of social contacts and empathy could be either a cause or a consequence of a reduced ability to recognize emotions in others. Such conclusions are reminiscent of findings that both younger (Williams & Giles, 1996) and older (Williams & Garrett, 2002) adults report experiencing underaccommodation during intergenerational conversations, and that negative interactions may lead to a negative spiral of increasingly unpleasant and infrequent social interactions (Ryan, Giles, Bartolucci, & Henwood, 1986). Surprisingly little attention has been paid to whether highly empathic individuals enjoy conversations more. One exception is a study carried out by Gru¨hn and colleagues (2008) who used a unidimensional measure of empathy (California Psychological Inventory, empathy subscale), and a sampling methodology with participants ranging in age across adulthood. Participants were cued 35 times over 7 days and asked to rate a social interaction that had occurred since the last cue. Results indicated no relationship between empathy scores and the frequency of positive interactions, but when only positive interactions were considered, individuals with higher empathy scores had stronger feelings of positivity during the conversation, and also thought that their interaction partner felt more positive. These authors also reported that the relationships between these variables were not affected by the age of the participants. One issue that remains as yet unexplored is whether highly empathic individuals are better able to cope with conversational partners who differ greatly from themselves, where showing empathy may be more difficult (Cikara, Bruneau, & Saxe, 2011). Given the probable shifts in social motives that accompany
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age (Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994), it is also of particular interest to explore whether the relationships between conversational enjoyment and the dimensions of empathy differ in younger and older adults. Two main approaches have been used to study potential changes in empathy across adulthood. The first approach involves behavioral or performance-based explorations of the cognitive dimension of empathy whereby both theory of mind and emotion recognition tasks have been used. Theory of mind tasks involve deducing a story character’s mental state. Mixed results have been found with such tasks. Whereas some studies find similar performance levels in younger and older adults (e.g., Keightley, Winocur, Burianova, Hongwanishkul, & Grady, 2006), others find superior performance in older adults (Happe´, Winner, & Brownell, 1998), and others find age-related declines linked to the cognitive nature of the task (e.g., Bailey & Henry, 2008; German & Hehman, 2006). Regarding emotion recognition tasks, findings generally indicate an age-related decline in the ability to recognize emotions in photos of eyes (Bailey et al., 2008), full faces (MacPherson, Phillips, & Della Sala, 2002), or body (Sullivan & Ruffman, 2004). Although there has been much speculation that recognition of positive emotions may be differentially preserved in old age, indicating a positivity bias (e.g., Keightly et al., 2006; Richter, Dietzel, & Kunzmann, 2010), Ruffman, Henry, Livingstone, and Phillips (2008) found little support for this interpretation in their meta-analysis of the emotion recognition literature. They concluded, instead, that an explanation focused on neuropsychological changes, namely, frontal and temporal decline, best supports the pattern of findings. However, emotion recognition studies have been criticized not only for using only cross-sectional designs, but also for using materials that lack context. Not only does most of this work use static photos as stimuli, but these are photos of young confederates asked to imitate specific emotions (Richter & Kunzmann, 2011; Ruffman et al., 2008). Indeed, there is evidence that age-related deficits are attenuated when more context-rich stimuli are used, such as congruent auditory and visual bimodal presentations (Hunter, Phillips, & MacPherson, 2010) and video clips (Krendl & Ambady, 2010). The importance of emotionally relevant material was also highlighted by Richter and Kunzmann (2011), who used stimuli that involved both younger and older adults discussing emotionally engaging topics. Dependent variables included (a) how accurately the participants replicated the videotaped person’s self-ratings on a series of emotional adjectives; (b) self-reported sympathy for the person in the video; and (c) compassionate listening behavior. Results indicated that age deficits on emotion recognition measures were absent when the target was discussing a topic that was
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emotionally relevant to the older person. Moreover, the older adults tended to express more sympathy than did younger participants. In summary, although much data suggest that older adults are deficient when it comes to recognizing emotions in others, when context-rich and emotionally relevant stimuli are used, age differences are attenuated. The second main approach to the study of age-related differences in empathy has been the use of self-report measures. Both crosssectional and longitudinal analyses have been carried out to investigate potential changes in empathy levels across adulthood. Studies of empathy levels in old age have produced evidence for both stability (Diehl, Coyle, & Labouvie-Vief, 1996; Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, & Allsopp, 1985) and decline (Helson, Jones, & Kwan, 2002; Phillips, MacLean, & Allen, 2002; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). However, interpretation of these findings is rendered difficult due to both methodological (i.e., potential cohort effects) and measurement issues. Indeed, researchers studying the development of empathy across adulthood have variously used the California Psychological Inventory (e.g., Diehl et al., 1996; Gru¨hn et al., 2008; Helson et al., 2002), the Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire (e.g., Eysenck et al., 1985), the Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (e.g., Phillips et al., 2002; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000), and selected items from multiple scales (e.g., Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). Unfortunately, most of the measures used are unidimensional and do not allow for analysis of affective and cognitive components of empathy separately (Gru¨hn et al., 2008). In the nondevelopmental literature, the theoretical evolution of empathy from a unidimensional to a multidimensional construct comprising affective and cognitive components gained prominence in the 1980s thanks to Davis’s 28-item Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980, 1983). The IRI consists of two cognitive subscales (Perspective Taking and Fantasy) and two affective or emotional subscales (Empathic Concern and Personal Distress). The Perspective Taking (PT) subscale is a measure of a person’s ability to inhabit the psychological point of view of another, whereas the Fantasy (FS) subscale assesses the degree to which a person can assume the thoughts, feeling, and actions of characters in fictional works such as movies, novels, or plays. The affective subscales, Empathic Concern (EC) and Personal Distress (PD), are viewed as measures of ‘‘self’’ and ‘‘other’’ orientations, respectively (Davis, 1983). The self-oriented PD assesses a person’s own anxiety over the misfortunes of others, whereas the EC subscale gauges a person’s other-oriented concern or sympathy for those less fortunate or in need (Davis, 1994). Mooradian, Davis, and Matzler (2011) looked at correlations between the IRI and the ‘‘Big Five’’ personality traits in a sample of undergraduates. The
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links between Agreeableness and all of the empathy subscales except the Fantasy subscale were clear. The authors also surmised that the interplay of the levels of personality factors was key. Specifically, they proposed that a combination of high Neuroticism and high Agreeableness led to Personal Distress, high Agreeableness and high Openness led to Perspective Taking, and a simple pattern of high Agreeableness led to Empathic Concern. The Fantasy subscale of the IRI, in contrast, was linked only with Openness. Unfortunately, few researchers have used the IRI with life span samples. One exception is a recent study by Sze, Gyurak, Goodkind, and Levenson (2012), who measured physiological reactions and prosocial behaviors in response to watching emotional films, as well as self-reported empathy using the IRI. Older adults were found to report more Empathic Concern, both on the IRI scale and in terms of ratings of emotions experienced in relation to the film. Results were more complex for Personal Distress, where older adults reported more negative emotions in certain situations (i.e., a distressing film), but not in others (i.e., an uplifting film). The authors concluded that emotional empathy increases with age, although it remains that these results were obtained with a single sample and need replication. In conclusion, many issues are as yet unresolved in our understanding of how the dimensions of empathy differ across cohorts. Also, it is unclear whether there is a relationship between empathy and the enjoyment of conversations with others. Specifically, do people who have higher empathy scores find it easier or more difficult to carry on conversations with individuals who are very different from themselves? And are these relationships similar in younger and older adults? In the present study, we address three main research questions. First, we compare the self-reported empathy scores of younger and older adults using both the multidimensional IRI (Davis, 1980, 1983) and a unidimensional scale, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ; Spreng, McKinnon, Mar, & Levine, 2009). Based on past findings, we hypothesize that the TEQ will yield age-related decline (H1a), as has been commonly found with unidimensional measures of empathy (e.g., Gru¨hn et al., 2008; Helson et al., 2002), whereas the IRI scores will show a more complex set of findings. Specifically, based on the results obtained by Sze et al. (2012) and Richter and Kunzmann (2011), we expect that older adults will have lower scores than younger adults on the two cognitive subscales, Perspective Taking (H1b) and Fantasy (H1c) subscales, and a higher score on the Empathic Concern subscale (H1d), which we judge to be similar to Richter and Kunzmann’s sympathy questions. Finally, given past findings of superior emotional regulation abilities in older adults (Carstensen,
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Mikels, & Mather, 2006), we expect that younger adults will have higher scores on the Personal Distress subscale than will older adults (H1e). The use of this multidimensional scale will also allow an exploration of the interrelationships between the different subscales of the IRI and with a measure of affect intensity (Affect Intensity Measure; Larsen, Diener, & Emmons, 1986) in younger and older adults, in order to investigate whether structural equivalence is present across age groups. Second, we also explore the possibility of age differences in conversational enjoyment. Based on past work investigating interpersonal relations across the life span (e.g., Fingerman, Miller, & Charles, 2008), we expect that overall, older adults will rate all their conversations as more enjoyable than younger adults (H2a). In terms of differences between types of conversational partners, we expect that both younger (H2b) and older partners (H2c) will enjoy conversations with same-age partners the best, because these individuals are likely to be more similar to themselves, creating a situation where empathic behavior is less challenging (Cikara et al., 2011), and they are likely to have more contact with same-age conversational partners (Giles, Ryan, & Anas, 2008). Moreover, younger adults are expected to be negative in rating conversations with older adults (H2d) who tend to be nonaccommodative to their conversational needs (Giles et al., 2008), and older adults are expected to be positive when rating conversations with children (H2e) because of generativity (McAdams, St. Aubin, & Logan, 1993). Finally, we also address the issue of whether there is a relationship between empathy scores and conversational enjoyment, and whether this relationship is similar across age groups. Specifically, we speculate that individuals who have higher scores on the Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern subscales will be better able to accommodate to the conversational needs of others, including others who are very different from themselves and therefore will enjoy these conversations more than do less empathic individuals. Such findings would replicate and extend previous work suggesting that individuals with higher empathy scores have more frequent social interactions (Bailey et al., 2008) and are less lonely (Beadle et al., 2012). METHODS Participants The sample comprised 264 adults, 144 were university undergraduates (Mage ¼ 19.50, SD ¼ 1.69) and 120 were older adults (Mage ¼ 68.75, SD ¼ 7.88). Three older adults did not report their age. Of the younger
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adults, 93 were female and 50 male, in the older group, 90 were female, 25 were male, with 5 not reporting their gender. Thus, the proportion of men in the younger group was significantly larger than in the older group, v2(1, N ¼ 254) ¼ 5.24, p ¼ .02. (Because preliminary analyses indicated that age effects were similar in both genders, all analyses were carried out with the gender groups combined.) Younger adults (M ¼ 13.7, SD ¼ 1.0) had completed significantly fewer years of education than older participants (M ¼ 15.3, SD ¼ 3.2, t(134.2) ¼ 5.4, p < .001). Younger adults had between 13 and 16 years of education, whereas older adults had between 9 and 17 years. Measures Participants completed two previously published measures of empathy and a related construct: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983); the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ; Spreng et al., 2009); the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM; Larsen et al., 1986); plus an Enjoyment of Conversation (EoC) questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire. The IRI (Davis, 1983) is a 28-item self-report measure of empathy comprising four subscales with seven questions each. Responses are presented as a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘‘0: Does not describe me very well’’ to ‘‘4: Describes me very well.’’ The 7-item Perspective Taking (PT) subscale measures a person’s ability to inhabit the psychological point of view of another and has 2 reversed-scored items. Davis (1980) found a mean sum of 17.9 for a large sample of younger adults. The 7-item Fantasy (FS) subscale assesses the degree to which a person assumes the thoughts, feeling, and actions of characters in fictional works such as movies, books, and plays, with 2 items reverse scored. Davis found a mean sum of 18.24 for this subscale. The 7-item Empathic Concern (EC) and the 7-item Personal Distress (PD) subscales are viewed as measures of ‘‘self’’ and ‘‘other’’ orientations, respectively. The self-oriented PD assesses a person’s own anxiety over the misfortunes of others. Davis found a mean sum of 11.9 for this subscale. The EC subscale gauges a person’s other-oriented concern or sympathy for those less fortunate or in need. Davis found a mean sum of 21.4 for this subscale. There are 3 EC reverse-scored items, whereas the Fantasy subscale has two. Each subscale yields a summed score ranging from 0 to 28. There is no total score across all subscales. Davis (1983) reported internal reliability coefficients ranging from .71 to .77. The current study’s reliability coefficients ranged from .71 to .76 in the young sample and from .76 to .80 in the older sample. Two older participants were missing 2 items from a 7-item
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subscale, and were omitted from analyses involving that subscale. A total of 15 older adults did not answer 1 item on a subscale (.002% of the data set) and these values were replaced with the mean of that item for that age group. The TEQ (Spreng et al., 2009) is a 16-item measure of primarily affective empathy, with 8 items reverse scored. The authors report that the measure taps various theoretical aspects of empathy, including ‘‘emotional contagion, emotion comprehension, sympathetic physiological arousal and con-specific altruism’’ (p. 68). Likert scale responses are valued from 0 ¼ Never to 4 ¼ Always. A total score is calculated ranging from 0 to 64. Spreng et al. found a mean of 44.5 with a large sample of younger adults. Internal reliability coefficients were reported as ranging from .85 to .87. In the current study, we report a coefficient of .79 for both younger and older adults. One older participant missed a page in the survey, and left 10 items blank and this participant was dropped from all analyses involving this measure. For the rest of the sample, 1 younger adult and 9 older individuals had missing data for 1 or 2 items (.003 of the data points) and these missing items were replaced by the mean for that variable and that age group. The AIM (Larsen et al., 1986) is composed of 40 questions designed to assess the intensity of emotional responses to everyday events. Participants self-report on a 6-point Likert scale from 1 ¼ Never to 6 ¼ Always, 11 items are reversed scored. Higher scores indicate more emotional responses. Reliability coefficients were reported to range from .90 to .94 (Larsen et al., 1986). The present study found reliability coefficients of .88 for younger adults and .92 for older adults. A total score is calculated with a range of 40 to 240. Rubin, Hoyle, and Leary (2012) found a mean sum of 144.8 with a large sample of younger adults. Six older individuals omitted 3 or more items on the scale, and were not included in analyses involving this measure. A total of 3 younger adults and 21 older adults had missing data for 1 or 2 items on the scale (.003% of data points) and these values were replaced for the average of that item for their age group. A 10-item Enjoyment of Conversation (EoC) questionnaire was developed for the study; five questions asked participants to rate their enjoyment of recalled conversations with other people of various ages who were not a family member: opposite sex (same age as participant); different nationality (same age as participant); child 8–12 years old; adult aged 65þ (for younger participants) and adult aged 18–25 (for older participants); friend from high school not attending the university (for younger participants); and acquaintance, not close
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friend (for older participants). Ratings were on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 ¼ extremely enjoyable. Each question had a follow-up asking when each conversation occurred. Five options were given, ranging from within the past week to over a year ago. Demographic questions included age, gender, education, and family’s country of origin.
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Procedure Data were gathered via two methods: through an online survey, completed by 144 younger adults and 67 older adults, and a paper-based survey, completed by 53 older adults. The survey was estimated to take approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. (Preliminary analyses confirmed that responses of seniors who used the paper-based survey did not differ from those of seniors who responded online.) Recruitment of younger adults was conducted online. Students from introductory psychology classes were invited to participate in the survey for a partial credit for research participation. Other students (n ¼ 24) were offered a chance to win a $25 gift card. Older adults were recruited through public service announcements through networks of senior’s educational and community-based organizations, churches, and online media. Older adults had the choice of answering an online survey or a paper version that could be mailed back to the researchers. There was no incentive offered to the older adults to participate. RESULTS Empathy Scores As a first step, we compared younger and older adults on their scores for the empathy measures. As can be seen in Table 1, different results were obtained when different facets of empathy were measured. For the unidimensional Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), the summed score showed that older adults had a significantly higher score than did younger adults, F(1, 261) ¼ 4.87, p ¼ .03, g2 ¼ .02. In contrast, the summed score, from the 40-item Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), indicated that younger adults had significantly higher scores than older adults, F(1, 256) ¼ 11.87, p ¼ .001, g2 ¼ .04. Finally, for the summed scores on the four 7-item subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the following results were obtained using a Bonferroni correction as the criterion for significance (p < .013): (a) for Perspective Taking, the two age groups did not differ significantly,
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Table 1. Scores on empathy-related measures in younger and older adults Younger
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y
py
M
SD
a
M
SD
a
46.0 148.9
6.2 18.1
0.79 .88
47.7 140.6
6.6 20.5
.79 .92
.03 .001
19.4 12.0 17.3 18.1
4.5 5.0 5.5 4.5
.80 .78 .79 .76
21.3 10.4 13.1 18.7
4.7 4.7 5.8 4.6
.76 .71 .74 .71
.001 .009
