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Empathy as a special case of emotional mediation of social behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2003

Filippo Aureli
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Earth Sciences, John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, United Kingdomf.aureli@livjm.ac.uk www.livjm.ac.uk/bes/Research_Staff/Bio_Anth/Aureli.htm
Colleen M. Schaffner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University College Chester, Chester CH1 4BJ, United Kingdomc.schaffner@chester.ac.uk http://www.chester.ac.uk/research/ccsr/publications.html#ColleenSchaffner
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Abstract

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Empathy can be viewed as an intervening variable to explain complex webs of causation between multiple factors and the resulting responses. The mediating role of emotion, implicit in the concept of an intervening variable, can be at the basis of the flexibility of empathic responses. Knowledge of the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms is needed for empathy to be considered as a biologically functional intervening variable.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press