Open AccessThe influence of anger on empathy and theory of mind
Author(s) -
Ronja Weiblen,
Noam Mairon,
Sören Krach,
Macià Buades-Rotger,
Mor Nahum,
Philipp Kanske,
Anat Perry,
Ulrike M. Krämer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0255068
Subject(s) - empathy , anger , psychology , recall , cognition , theory of mind , cognitive psychology , frustration , social psychology , neuroscience
Social cognition allows humans to understand and predict other people’s behavior by inferring or sharing their emotions, intentions and beliefs. Few studies have investigated the impact of one’s own emotional state on understanding others. Here, we tested the effect of being in an angry state on empathy and theory of mind (ToM). In a between-groups design we manipulated anger status with different paradigms in three studies (autobiographical recall (N = 45), negative feedback (N = 49), frustration (N = 46)) and checked how this manipulation affected empathic accuracy and performance in the EmpaToM. All paradigms were successful in inducing mild anger. We did not find the expected effect of anger on empathy or ToM performance but observed small behavioral changes. Together, our results validate the use of three different anger induction paradigms and speak for rather weak behavioral effects of mild state anger on empathy and ToM.