Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind

Abstract Aggressive, violent behaviour is a major burden and challenge for society. It has been linked to deficits in social understanding, but the evidence is inconsistent and the specifics of such deficits are unclear. Here, we investigated affective (empathy) and cognitive (Theory of Mind) routes...

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Autores principales:	Korina Winter, Stephanie Spengler, Felix Bermpohl, Tania Singer, Philipp Kanske
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fedd7c5721cc449092c28421c2e8aa7e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fedd7c5721cc449092c28421c2e8aa7e2021-12-02T12:32:15ZSocial cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind10.1038/s41598-017-00745-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/fedd7c5721cc449092c28421c2e8aa7e2017-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00745-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Aggressive, violent behaviour is a major burden and challenge for society. It has been linked to deficits in social understanding, but the evidence is inconsistent and the specifics of such deficits are unclear. Here, we investigated affective (empathy) and cognitive (Theory of Mind) routes to understanding other people in aggressive individuals. Twenty-nine men with a history of legally relevant aggressive behaviour (i.e. serious assault) and 32 control participants were tested using a social video task (EmpaToM) that differentiates empathy and Theory of Mind and completed questionnaires on aggression and alexithymia. Aggressive participants showed reduced empathic responses to emotional videos of others’ suffering, which correlated with aggression severity. Theory of Mind performance, in contrast, was intact. A mediation analysis revealed that reduced empathy in aggressive men was mediated by alexithymia. These findings stress the importance of distinguishing between socio-affective and socio-cognitive deficits for understanding aggressive behaviour and thereby contribute to the development of more efficient treatments.Korina WinterStephanie SpenglerFelix BermpohlTania SingerPhilipp KanskeNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Korina Winter Stephanie Spengler Felix Bermpohl Tania Singer Philipp Kanske Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
description	Abstract Aggressive, violent behaviour is a major burden and challenge for society. It has been linked to deficits in social understanding, but the evidence is inconsistent and the specifics of such deficits are unclear. Here, we investigated affective (empathy) and cognitive (Theory of Mind) routes to understanding other people in aggressive individuals. Twenty-nine men with a history of legally relevant aggressive behaviour (i.e. serious assault) and 32 control participants were tested using a social video task (EmpaToM) that differentiates empathy and Theory of Mind and completed questionnaires on aggression and alexithymia. Aggressive participants showed reduced empathic responses to emotional videos of others’ suffering, which correlated with aggression severity. Theory of Mind performance, in contrast, was intact. A mediation analysis revealed that reduced empathy in aggressive men was mediated by alexithymia. These findings stress the importance of distinguishing between socio-affective and socio-cognitive deficits for understanding aggressive behaviour and thereby contribute to the development of more efficient treatments.
format	article
author	Korina Winter Stephanie Spengler Felix Bermpohl Tania Singer Philipp Kanske
author_facet	Korina Winter Stephanie Spengler Felix Bermpohl Tania Singer Philipp Kanske
author_sort	Korina Winter
title	Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
title_short	Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
title_full	Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
title_fullStr	Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
title_full_unstemmed	Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
title_sort	social cognition in aggressive offenders: impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/fedd7c5721cc449092c28421c2e8aa7e
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Social cognition in aggressive offenders: Impaired empathy, but intact theory of mind

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