Have you ever cried during a movie? If so, you might be a person with high affective (or emotional) empathy. There are various types of empathy that cause people to respond to others’ emotions differently. Some might respond more rationally, while others more emotionally. A recent study has discovered that the way we empathize and behave in response to others’ feelings results in physical differences in our brain structure.
There are at least three different types of empathy in total: affective (emotional) empathy, cognitive empathy, and empathetic concern. Affective (emotional) empathy describes an individual who feels immersed in another person’s feelings. Cognitive empathy refers to one’s ability to see from another person’s point of view. Empathetic concern is when a person understands the emotional perspective of another and also has the desire to help that person in some way. Affective and cognitive empathy show whether a person is more rational or emotional when responding to another person’s emotions: a person who tends to show affective empathy is more emotional, while a person who tends to shows cognitive empathy is more rational. Empathetic concern, however, is found in both rational people and emotional people.
Image Source: PeopleImages
A study by researchers at Monash University, led by Robert Eres, showed a correlation between the density of gray matter in certain areas of the brain and whether the brain is rational or emotional. The 176 participants of the study took a test that rated them on their levels of cognitive empathy and affective empathy. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), the researchers were able to determine gray matter densities in the participants’ brains. VBM is a neuroimaging technique that uses special “maps”, or scans, of different people and compares them, revealing the similarities and differences in people’s brains. The study revealed that participants with higher scores for affective empathy had greater gray matter density in the insula cortex, which is thought to be a part of various functions linked to emotions. Participants with higher scores for cognitive empathy had greater gray matter in the midcingulate cortex. The cingulate cortex is a major part of the limbic system that plays a role in emotion formation and processing.
Emotions and empathy play significant roles in our lives. Who knew they could play such a huge part in making us who we really are, mentally and physically?
Feature Image Source: Crying child by binu kumar
