Reduced empathic responses for sexually objectified women: An fMRI investigation
| Autor: | Carlotta Cogoni, Andrea Carnaghi, Giorgia Silani |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Cogoni, Carlotta, Carnaghi, Andrea, Silani, Giorgia |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Cingulate cortex Adolescent Social exclusion Sexual Behavior media_common.quotation_subject Cognitive Neuroscience Theory of Mind Pain Empathy Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Gender-Based Violence Human physical appearance Gyrus Cinguli 050105 experimental psychology Developmental psychology Young Adult 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Anterior insula Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences fMRI Sexual objectification Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology media_common Cerebral Cortex Secondary somatosensory cortex Functional Neuroimaging 05 social sciences Brain Somatosensory Cortex Magnetic Resonance Imaging Frontal Lobe Attitude Psychological Distance Feeling Mentalization Female Psychology Insula 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Popis: | Sexual objectification is a widespread phenomenon characterized by a focus on the individual's physical appearance over his/her mental state. This has been associated with negative social consequences, as objectified individuals are judged to be less human, competent, and moral. Moreover, behavioral responses toward the person change as a function of the degree of the perceived sexual objectification. In the present study, we investigated how behavioral and neural representations of other social pain are modulated by the degree of sexual objectification of the target. Using a within-subject fMRI design, we found reduced empathic feelings for positive (but not negative) emotions toward sexually objectified women as compared to non-objectified (personalized) women when witnessing their participation to a ball-tossing game. At the brain level, empathy for social exclusion of personalized women recruited areas coding the affective component of pain (i.e., anterior insula and cingulate cortex), the somatosensory components of pain (i.e., posterior insula and secondary somatosensory cortex) together with the mentalizing network (i.e., middle frontal cortex) to a greater extent than for the sexually objectified women. This diminished empathy is discussed in light of the gender-based violence that is afflicting the modern society. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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