Oxytocin increases empathy to pain when adopting the other-but not the self-perspective
Abstract
There is growing evidence that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) facilitates various forms of sensitivity to others, but the mechanism by which OT enhances empathy in humans is unclear. In this study, we examined whether OT increases empathy by the way of blurring the distinction between self and other, or by enhancing the difference between self and other. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover design, empathic responses of healthy participants were compared when imagining oneself (i.e., self-perspective empathy) versus when imagining the other (i.e., other-perspective empathy) in painful and nonpainful situations. Under OT treatment, participants expressed more empathy when imagining others than when imagining oneself in pain. This was in contrast to the placebo condition where there were no differences between the empathic responses during the self- and the other-perspective. We propose that the modulatory effect of OT on empathy when taking the other-perspective may be mediated by its role in self- and other-distinctiveness and corollary by its role in increasing salience to social agents and cues.
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OXT has been found to increase taking another-but not a self-perspective in a pain perception context.
“OXT has also been found to increase taking another-but not a self-perspective in a pain perception context [Abu-Akel et al., 2015]”
From Oxytocin blurs the self-other distinction during trait judgments and reduces medial prefrontal cortex responses: Oxytocin Blurs Self-Other Distinction (2016) · cites this paper as Abu-Akel et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Abu-Akel, A., Palgi, S., Klein, E., Decety, J., & Shamay-Tsoory, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- University of Haifa (IL)
- Rambam Health Care Campus (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Abu-Akel, Ahmad
- ORCID
- Abu-Akel, Ahmad
- Venue
- Social Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-08-07
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-15
- ISSN
- 1747-0919 (ISSN-L)
- 1747-0927
- OpenAlex
- W2024693951
- Semantic Scholar
- eafe17df0953936e0a7543fab48231d47d79417b
- Cited by
- 83
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 13.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
- Keywords
- oxytocin, empathy, pain, self-perspective, other perspectives, self-other distinction, social cognition, placebo effect, social salience
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Double-Blind Method, Empathy, Female, Humans, Imagination, Male, Middle Aged, Oxytocin, Pain, Pain Measurement, Photic Stimulation, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Cross-Over Studies
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