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Cited by 140Aging and Gerontology ResearchEmpathy and Medical EducationAction Observation and Synchronization

Impact of Aging on Empathy: Review of Psychological and Neural Mechanisms

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Beadle, Janelle N., de la Vega, Christine E.·2019·Frontiers in Psychiatry
DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00331PMC PMC6580149
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Abstract

Empathy in aging is a key capacity because it affects the quality of older adults' relationships and reduced levels are associated with greater loneliness. Many older adults also find themselves in the role of a caregiver to a loved one, and thus empathy is critical for the success of the caregiver-patient relationship. Furthermore, older adults are motivated to make strong emotional connections with others, as highlighted in the socioemotional selectivity theory. Consequently, reductions in empathy could negatively impact their goals. However, there is growing evidence that older adults experience at least some changes in empathy, depending on the domain. Specifically, the state of the research is that older adults have lower cognitive empathy (i.e., the ability to understand others' thoughts and feelings) than younger adults, but similar and in some cases even higher levels of emotional empathy (i.e., the ability to feel emotions that are similar to others' or feel compassion for them). A small number of studies have examined the neural mechanisms for age-related differences in empathy and have found reduced activity in a key brain area associated with cognitive empathy. However, more research is needed to further characterize how brain changes impact empathy with age, especially in the emotional domain of empathy. In this review, we discuss the current state of the research on age-related differences in the psychological and neural bases of empathy, with a specific comparison of the cognitive versus emotional components. Finally, we highlight new directions for research in this area and examine the implications of age-related differences in empathy for older adults.

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  • There is some empathy between couples in a stable marriage, and if one of them lacks the desired creative power, they have difficulty understanding each other's experiences.

    “There is some empathy between couples in a stable marriage, and if one of them lacks the desired creative power, they have difficulty understanding each other's experiences [12, 13].”

    From Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Anxiety, Cognitive Avoidance, and Empathy of Couples Visiting Counseling Centers in Ahvaz City, Iran (2021) · cites this paper as [13]

    The Defining Empathy section says that understanding another person’s thoughts and feelings can involve imagination. The Aging and Cognitive Empathy section discusses how accurately couples identify their partners’ emotions. Neither section addresses stable marriages or shows that a lack of creative power causes partners difficulty understanding each other’s experiences. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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References 82 · Cited by 140

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Authors
Beadle, J. N., & de la Vega, C. E.
Affiliations
University of Nebraska at Omaha (US)
Corresponding author
Beadle, Janelle N.
ORCID
Beadle, Janelle N.
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2019-06-11
Volume
10
Pages
331-331
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00331
PMC
PMC6580149
OpenAlex
W2949486400
Cited by
140
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
FWCI
1.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
Keywords
empathy, aging, older adults, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, age differences, neural mechanisms, socioemotional selectivity theory, loneliness, caregiver-patient relationship, brain activity

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