Recent perspectives suggested that people who are more aware of their internal body states would empathise with others more easily in interpersonal relations. Whether this ability to perceive internal states of the body can be trained to promote a greater empathic response and whether this empathic response may result in altruistic behavior is presently a matter of debate in the current neuroscientific literature. This thesis aims to deepen the neurophysiological correlates of interoception and its relation to emotions, empathy, and altruism, by considering different social contexts. Three experiments have been designed according to an increased level of complexity: from basic research for exploring the variables that can influence empathy for pain (study 1), towards the development of an experimental paradigm for manipulating basic interoceptive mechanisms (specifically Interoceptive Attentiveness) to increase the empathic response (study 2), until the application of the same paradigm to promote altruistic behavior in a moral decision-making condition (study 3), which can commonly be observed in everyday life in professional contexts. Findings showed how the neural correlates of empathy can be influenced by external factors deriving from the outside environment (such as face attractiveness) but especially from internal mechanisms, such as the focus on one’s interoceptive correlates.
Prospettive recenti hanno suggerito che le persone con maggiore consapevolezza dei propri stati corporei entrerebbero più facilmente in empatia con gli altri nelle relazioni interpersonali. Se questa capacità di percepire gli stati corporei possa essere allenata per promuovere una maggiore risposta empatica e se questa risposta empatica possa tradursi in un comportamento altruistico è attualmente oggetto di dibattito nell'attuale letteratura neuroscientifica. Il presente lavoro di tesi mira ad approfondire i correlati neurofisiologici dell'interocezione e la sua relazione con le emozioni, l'empatia e l'altruismo, considerando diversi contesti sociali. Tre esperimenti sono stati progettati secondo un livello di complessità crescente: dalla ricerca di base per esplorare le variabili che possono influenzare l'empatia per il dolore (studio 1), allo sviluppo di un paradigma sperimentale per manipolare i meccanismi interocettivi di base (in particolare l'attenzione interocettiva) per aumentare la risposta empatica (studio 2), fino all'applicazione dello stesso paradigma per promuovere comportamenti altruistici in una condizione di decisione morale (studio 3), che comunemente si osserva nella vita quotidiana in contesti professionali. I risultati hanno mostrato come i correlati neurali dell'empatia possono essere influenzati da fattori esterni derivanti dall'ambiente esterno (come l'attrattiva del viso) ma soprattutto da meccanismi interni, come il focus sui propri correlati interocettivi.
ANGIOLETTI, LAURA, WHEN THE INSIDE DRIVES THE OUTSIDE... OR VICEVERSA? NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF INTEROCEPTION BETWEEN EMPATHY AND MORAL BEHAVIOUR, BALCONI, MICHELA, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano:Ciclo XXXIV [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/285827]
WHEN THE INSIDE DRIVES THE OUTSIDE... OR VICEVERSA? NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF INTEROCEPTION BETWEEN EMPATHY AND MORAL BEHAVIOUR
Angioletti, Laura
2022
Abstract
Recent perspectives suggested that people who are more aware of their internal body states would empathise with others more easily in interpersonal relations. Whether this ability to perceive internal states of the body can be trained to promote a greater empathic response and whether this empathic response may result in altruistic behavior is presently a matter of debate in the current neuroscientific literature. This thesis aims to deepen the neurophysiological correlates of interoception and its relation to emotions, empathy, and altruism, by considering different social contexts. Three experiments have been designed according to an increased level of complexity: from basic research for exploring the variables that can influence empathy for pain (study 1), towards the development of an experimental paradigm for manipulating basic interoceptive mechanisms (specifically Interoceptive Attentiveness) to increase the empathic response (study 2), until the application of the same paradigm to promote altruistic behavior in a moral decision-making condition (study 3), which can commonly be observed in everyday life in professional contexts. Findings showed how the neural correlates of empathy can be influenced by external factors deriving from the outside environment (such as face attractiveness) but especially from internal mechanisms, such as the focus on one’s interoceptive correlates.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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