How and Why: Endocrine and Ecological Approaches to Understanding Empathy

Описание: Sojung Baek, graduate student in anthropology, Penn State

Talk Title (abstract below): "How and Why: Endocrine and Ecological Approaches to Understanding Empathy"

This presentation is part of the Moral Psychology Research Group 2024 conference on Penn State's University Park Campus in November 2024.

Hosted by the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making and Daryl Cameron, associate professor of psychology, Penn State, and senior research associate in tthe Rock Ethics Institute.

Sponsored by:

Penn State College of the Liberal Arts
Penn State Rock Ethics Institute
Penn State Social Science Research Institute
The McCourtney Institute for Democracy
Penn State Department of Philosophy
Penn State Department of Psychology
Penn State University Libraries

ABSTRACT: "A multidisciplinary approach is applied to understand the mechanisms and
social functions of empathy across two ongoing studies. The first study
investigates the roles of ovarian steroids, measured from metabolites of
estradiol and progesterone, individual characteristics, and their interactions
in predicting empathic behaviors across the ovulatory cycle. Multilevel timelagged
analysis will be used to test temporal relationships between changes
in hormone concentrations and changes in empathic interactions. The
second study explores how empathic interactions (receipt, provision) are
associated with the formation and maintenance of social capital, including
social networks, subjective well-being, and belongingness, among women in
rural Matlab, Bangladesh. Multilevel (dyad level) and multivariate (individual
level) analysis indicated that empathy receipt and provisioning had
differential impacts on social capital, and that recently married daughtersin-
law provide higher levels of empathic provisioning than other women."