Empathy and synchronization in social and non-social contexts

Synchronization with others appear to promote empathy and people with higher empathy are better at synchronizing to others. Why there is this bidirectional relationship between empathy and synchronization is unclear, but a prevailing theory suggests that the ability to perceive yourself as another (i.e., internal simulation) is responsible. The current study will help in understanding the role of empathy and why it may be related to synchronization by testing whether it is only linked to synchronization in social contexts (e.g., synchronizing with another person) where internal simulation can occur compared to synchronization in non-social contexts (e.g., synchronizing with an object). Motion capture will be used to measure the participant’s movement and synchronization to the person or object and measures of empathy will be collected from participants. If empathy is only associated with synchronization in a social context, there is support for the idea that empathy affects synchronization through internal simulation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jessica Grahn

Student:

Partner:

University of Oslo

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Other

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program: