The physiology of empathy: Linking oxytocin to empathic responding

Broadly defined, empathy is an innate human capacity referring to the response of one individual to the experiences of another (Davis, 1996). Researchers have proposed a link between empathy and oxytocin, a neuropeptide that has been found to support a wide range of other-regarding and prosocial behaviors. The current research attempts to clarify and support the empathy-oxytocin link by arguing that oxytocin shifts people from self-focused feelings of distress to other-focused feelings of concern when witnessing the plight of others, thereby facilitating prosocial behavior.;Study 2 investigated how individual differences in trait empathy may affect the established relationship between oxytocin and prosocial behavior found in studies utilizing oxytocin infusion methods. There was no direct support for a trait empathy moderation of oxytocin infusion effect on prosocial behavior. It was found, however, that the size of monetary donations was increased for those high in trait empathic concern in the oxytocin condition relative to those on placebo or those in the oxytocin condition who reported low trait empathic concern.;These findings particularly support a relationship between oxytocin and empathic concern as a disposition and as an emotional experience. Perspective-taking and personal distress measures had weaker or negative relationships with oxytocin. This research suggests that oxytocin plays a part in the physiological process involved in an empathic response to others, particularly in the experience of concern for the well-being of others.;Study 1 tested how seeing others experiencing strong emotions manifests into distinct empathic states (i.e., empathic concern, personal distress) in relation to fluctuations of endogenous oxytocin. As expected, the experience of empathic concern was positively associated with a change in plasma oxytocin after an emotional stimulus, while the experience of personal distress was negatively related to the change in oxytocin. Trait measures of empathy were all positively correlated with the change in plasma oxytocin. Moreover, the predicted relationships between empathy and oxytocin were stronger in women than in men.