AUTHOR=Martínez-Pernía David , Cea Ignacio , Troncoso Alejandro , Blanco Kevin , Calderón Vergara Jorge , Baquedano Constanza , Araya-Veliz Claudio , Useros-Olmo Ana , Huepe David , Carrera Valentina , Mack Silva Victoria , Vergara Mayte 

TITLE=“I am feeling tension in my whole body”: An experimental phenomenological study of empathy for pain

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.999227

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.999227

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Traditionally, empathy has been studied from two main perspectives: the theory-theory approach and the simulation theory approach. These theories claim that social emotions are fundamentally constituted by mind states in the brain. In contrast, recent research based on phenomenological and enactive theories considers empathy as the basic process of contacting others’ emotional experiences through direct bodily perception and sensation.
Objective: This study aims to enrich knowledge of the empathic experience of pain by using an experimental phenomenological method.
Method: Implementing an experimental paradigm used in affective neuroscience, we exposed 28 healthy adults to a video of sportspersons suffering physical accidents while practicing extreme sports. Immediately after watching the video, each participant underwent a phenomenological interview to gather data on embodied, multi-layered dimensions (bodily sensations, emotions, and motivations) and temporal aspects of empathic experience. We also performed quantitative analyses of the phenomenological categories.
Results: Experiential access to the other person’s painful experience involves four main-themes. Bodily resonance: participants felt a multiplicity bodily, affective, and kinesthetic sensations. Attentional focus: some participants centered their attention more on their own personal discomfort and sensations of rejection, while others on the pain and suffering experienced by the sportspersons. Kinesthetic motivation: some participants experienced the feeling in their bodies to avoid or escape from watching the video, while others experienced the need to help the sportspersons avoid suffering any injury while practicing extreme sports. Temporality of experience: participants witnessed temporal fluctuations in their experiences, bringing intensity changes in their bodily resonance, attentional focus, and kinesthetic motivation. Finally, two experiential structures were found: one structure is self-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the participant’s own experience of seeing the sportsperson suffering, and self-protective kinesthetic motivation; the other structure is other-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the sportsperson, and prosocial kinesthetic motivation to help them.
Discussion: We show how phenomenological data may contribute to comprehending empathy for pain in social neuroscience. In addition, we address the phenomenological aspect of the enactive approach to the three dimensions of embodiment of human consciousness.