The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Is stress affecting our ability to tune into others? Evidence for gender differences in the effects of stress on self-other distinction
Abstract
Stress is a ubiquitous challenge in society as we consistently interact with others under the influence of stress. Distinguishing self- from other-related mental representations plays an important role for social interactions, and is a prerequisite for crucial social skills such as action understanding, empathy, and mentalizing. Little is known, however, about the effects of stress on self-other distinction. We assessed how acute stress impacts self-other distinction in the perceptual-motor, the affective, and the cognitive domain, in a male and female sample. In all domains, the results show opposing effects of stress on the two genders: while women showed increases in self-other distinction, men showed decreases. Our findings suggest that women flexibly disambiguate self and other under stress, enabling accurate social responses, while men respond with increased egocentricity and less adaptive regulation. This has crucial implications for explaining gender differences in social skills such as empathy and prosociality.
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“In addition, males and females are known to react differently to stressful life events, with males being more likely to withdraw, respond aggressively and/or experience depressive symptoms, particularly in the face of events like divorce/separation and work problems [5,6].”
From Masculinity and suicidal thinking (2017) · cites this paper as [6]
Citations
Cites
Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach.
Davis, M. H. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113 · Cited by 10,272
Dickerson, S. S., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.355 · Cited by 5,881
Baron‐Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00715 · Cited by 4,555 · cited 1×
“Socio-cognitive abilities were determined, using the perspective taking scale and the empathic concern scale from the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983), the Emotion Contagion Scale (EC; Doherty, 1997), and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001).”
MethodBaron‐Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S. J., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001) · PubMed · Cited by 4,313
Pruessner, J. C., Kirschbaum, C., Meinlschmid, G., & Hellhammer, D. H. (2003) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/s0306-4530(02)00108-7 · Cited by 3,638
Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight.
Taylor, S. E., Klein, L. C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A. R., & Updegraff, J. A. (2000) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.107.3.411 · Cited by 3,308
Heinrichs, M., Baumgartner, T., Kirschbaum, C., & Ehlert, U. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00465-7 · Cited by 2,091
Self-citationSex Differences in Coping Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review and an Examination of Relative Coping
Tamres, L. K., Janicki, D., & Helgeson, V. S. (2002) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0601_1 · Cited by 2,044 · cited 1×
“Alternatively, it has been proposed that women are more prone to seek social support in general (Tamres et al., 2002).”
BackgroundThe social neuroscience of empathy
Singer, T., & Lamm, C. (2009) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04418.x · Cited by 1,981
Self-citationKirschbaum, C., Kudielka, B. M., Gaab, J., Schommer, N. C., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1999) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-199903000-00006 · Cited by 1,890 · cited 1×
“Female participants were not using hormonal contraceptives and participated in the experiment during their luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, as it has been shown that cortisol responses during this phase are most comparable to those of men (Kirschbaum et al., 1999).”
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Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior
Christov-Moore, L., Simpson, E. A., Coudé, G., Grigaityte, K., Iacoboni, M., & Ferrari, P. F. (2014) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.001 · Cited by 1,137
The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy – A critical comment
Lamm, C., & Majdandžić, J. (2015) · Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1016/j.neures.2014.10.008 · Cited by 252
Self-citationLamm, C., Bukowski, H., & Silani, G. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0083 · Cited by 240
Self-citationMasculinity and suicidal thinking
Pirkis, J., Spittal, M. J., Keogh, L., Mousaferiadis, T., & Currier, D. (2017) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-016-1324-2 · Cited by 205
Canetto, S. S., & Chen, J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108561716.042 · Cited by 194
Metadata
- Authors
- Tomova, L., von Dawans, B., Heinrichs, M., Silani, G., & Lamm, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Vienna (AT)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (IT)
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-05
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 95-104
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2097708632
- Semantic Scholar
- 7845d37572a8de66824c11fa38096ad9d4b4521c
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 78 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 6.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- FP7 2012 Aeronautics and Air Transport programme (ACP2-GA-2012-314765-Man4Gen)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- acute stress, self-other distinction, gender differences, social cognition, empathy, mentalization, action understanding, self-centeredness, emotion regulation, social skills, prosocial behavior
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Ego, Empathy, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Imitative Behavior, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Sex Characteristics, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult
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