Does Empathy Promote Emotion Regulation In The Context Of Pain? An Experimental Investigation

DOES EMPATHY PROMOTE EMOTION REGULATION IN THE CONTEXT OF PAIN?AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION byLAURA E. M. LEONGAUGUST 2013Advisor: Dr. Annmarie Cano Major: Psychology (Clinical)Degree: Doctor of PhilosophyThe purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a perspective-taking instruction would promote empathic behaviors in couples, resulting in betteremotion regulation and greater pain tolerance during a cold pressor task. Based onempathy and intimacy theories, it was expected that observers who were instructed to take the perspective of their partner would feel and express more empathy, and thattheir partners would have better pain and pain tolerance compared to a control group. Asample of 128 undergraduate romantic couples participated where one partner wasrandomly assigned to complete the cold pressor task while the other partner sat closeby and observed/interacted freely. Couples were first randomly assigned to: a) anempathy group in which observers were privately instructed to take the perspective of the pain participant (n = 65), or b) a control group in which observers received only adescription of the task (n = 63). Trained raters coded empathic and nonempathicobserver behaviors during the pain task. Despite the fact that observers in the empathygroup reported feeling greater empathy and concern, they did not demonstrate greater