Genes have a role in empathy, study says (2024)

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Genes have a role in empathy, study says? ›

First, it found that how empathetic we are is partly due to genetics. Indeed, a tenth of this variation is due to genetic factors. This confirms previous research examining empathy in identical versus non-identical twins. Second, the new study confirmed that women are on average more empathetic than men.

Scientists then looked for differences in their genes that could explain why some of us are more empathetic than others. They found that at least 10% of the differences in how empathetic people are is down to genetics.

Seminal studies by Daniel Batson and Nancy Eisenberg have shown that people higher in empathy are more likely to help others in need, even when doing so cuts against their self-interest. Empathy is contagious: When group norms encourage empathy, people are more likely to be empathic—and more altruistic.

Heritability of emotionality and emotion-induced fMRI activations. Emotionality, measured as neuroticism, introversion or harm avoidance, is moderately to highly heritable in both sexes: 40-60%, with little effect of shared environment [7,76].

This suggests we have a natural predisposition to developing empathy. However, social and cultural factors strongly influence where, how, and to whom it is expressed.

The fact that genetic influences are crucially important for most areas of behavior does not mean that environmental influences are unimportant. Genes typically account for no more than one-half to two-thirds of the variation seen in most individual's psychological traits.

Studies suggest that human personality is 30-60% heritable, meaning that 30-60% of differences in personality can be explained by genetic differences.

In the past decade, scientists have used powerful functional MRI imaging to identify several regions in the brain that are associated with empathy for pain. This most recent study, however, firmly establishes that the anterior insular cortex is where the feeling of empathy originates.

For example, the right supramarginal gyrus helps people overcome egocentric bias (self-centeredness) when making decisions. The orbitofrontal cortex is another area of the brain that helps us react to another person's feelings. Therefore, if any of these brain regions become damaged, a lack of empathy can occur.

People who spend more time with individuals different from themselves tend to adopt a more empathic outlook toward others. Other research finds that reading novels can help foster the ability to put ourselves in the minds of others. Meditation has also been shown to help cultivate brain states that increase empathy.

What is the genetic theory of emotions? ›

The genetic theory of the emotions is thus that excitement, the undifferentiated emotion present at birth, becomes differentiated and associated with certain situations and certain motor responses to form the separate emotions of later life.

The findings of this study provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that variation in the oxytocin pathway gene CD38 influences social-emotional sensitivity, finding that A allele carriers are more prone to distress-related emotions in response to a negative social stressor.

Researchers estimate that about 30 to 60 percent of kindness is genetically determined, while the rest depends on life experiences and individual choices. With this genetic and environmental interaction, people display different degrees of kindness.

The OXTR gene (Oxytocin Receptor gene) is associated with empathy and love. Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes love and social bonding in humans. The oxytocin receptor is regulated by the OXTR gene. Changes in this gene can increase or decrease a person's ability to feel empathetic.

The exact causes of a lack of empathy aren't entirely understood, but it is believed that a number of factors likely play a role. Empathy is believed to be largely influenced by genetics and socialization. Genetics play a part in the heritable aspects of personality and temperament.

Patients unconsciously mimic the actions and facial expressions of others through brain mechanisms that mirror the actions of others by stimulating the same motor and sensory areas in the observers' brains as the person they are observing.

They can be the result of genetics (or the characteristics you inherited from your parents), environment (especially in early childhood), disease, or physical or psychological damage and trauma related to an event. Two psychological terms particularly associated with a lack of empathy are sociopathy and psychopathy.

As Darwin said, between humans and non-human animals, the differences in our minds are those of degree, not of kind. Empathy is an evolutionarily beneficial trait that we inherited, not one that evolved separately.

Neuroimaging studies indicate that the same areas of the brain are activated when people experience their own emotions and when they observe such emotions in others. Sharing an emotional state with others is, thus, an important aspect of empathizing.

Based on the results of these tests, Melcher and colleagues estimate that affective empathy is between 52-57 percent heritable, whereas cognitive empathy is less determined by genetics—about 27 percent heritable, presumably influenced more by environment and learning experiences.