Induction of vicarious social pain using Cyberball
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1
University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Australia
Aims: The measurement of empathy has traditionally relied on self-report, making it vulnerable to social desirability bias. The aim of this study was to examine whether an ostracism paradigm, Cyberball, could be used to induce vicarious social pain, thus eliciting empathy in observers.
Method: Participants were 56 (7 male) undergraduate psychology students aged 18-44 years (M = 21, SD = 5). Two participants were present for each session, one player and one observer, seated next to each other. Participants played two games of Cyberball, a pseudo online ball tossing game. Participants were instructed that they are playing with other real participants while in reality the other players are programmed to either include or ostracise them. The Cyberball questionnaire was used to measure distress in the player, and was modified to measure the observers’ perceived distress of the player (vicarious ostracism). An already validated self-report measure of empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index) was also used to capture cognitive and affective empathy in the observer, and physiological responses (skin conductance) were collected from the observer to objectively examine affective empathy (arousal).
Results: Players reported significantly greater distress [F(2.04, 55.09) = 8.82, p<.001], and observers inferred significantly greater levels of distress on the part of the player [F(3, 81) = 6.13, p<.001], during the ostracism condition compared with the inclusion condition. The magnitude of the observed distress was not associated with self-reported affective or cognitive empathy on the part of the observer (p > .05). Greater levels of arousal in the observer when the player was being ostracised were not observed, nor was a relationship found between skin conductance and self-reported affective empathy (p’s > .05).
Conclusions: While the current methodology successfully elicited self-reported vicarious social pain (cognitive empathy), validation of an objective physiological measure (affective empathy) was not possible.
Keywords:
Empathy,
vicarious ostracism,
social exclusion,
Skin conductance,
cyberball
Conference:
ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia, Adelaide,SA, Australia, 12 Dec - 14 Dec, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Abstract (general)
Citation:
Kelly
M and
Kerslake
K
(2016). Induction of vicarious social pain using Cyberball.
Conference Abstract:
ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2016.221.00016
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Received:
31 Oct 2016;
Published Online:
05 Dec 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Michelle Kelly, University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia, michelle.kelly@newcastle.edu.au