Psychopathy, autism, and basic moral emotions: Evidence for sentimentalist constructivism

Philosophers and psychologists often claim that moral agency is connected with the ability to feel, understand, and deploy moral emotions. In this chapter, I investigate the nature of these emotions and their connection with moral agency. First, I examine the degree to which these emotional capacities are innate and/or ‘basic’ in a philosophically important sense. I examine three senses in which an emotion might be basic: developmental, compositional, and phylogenetic. After considering the evidence for basic emotion, I conclude that emotions are not basic in a philosophically important sense. Emotions, I argue, are best understood as socially constructed concepts. I then investigate whether these emotions are necessary for moral agency. In order to do this I examine the philosophical and psychological literature on psychopathy and autism (two conditions defined in terms of empathic and emotional deficits). Persons with psychopathy appear incapable of distinguishing moral from non-moral norms. Additionally, while persons with autism often struggle to develop their empathic capacities, they are capable of understanding and deploying moral emotions like guilt and shame. I conclude that, in line with the conceptual act theories of emotion, that only contagion-based empathy is necessary for the acquisition of moral concepts

The nurse is present : a review exploring the temporality of illness through presence and narrative, an artist's perspective

“Illness works to deform and distort all the meaning and value one gives to one’s life” (Ahlzén, 2011, p.325). A feeling of terminal loss is experienced within the physical body as chaos floods the brain. Even language is incapable of fully addressing the internal tension that comes with illness, because it strives to make articulate the unpresentable or the abject. This review is directed towards analysing the experience of embodiment in illness, one’s relation to the self and to others, all within a particular context such as a place of constraint (hospital) or exchange (museum). The mediation between care and art practice, in fact, allows for the emergence of similar states that fluctuate between closeness and distance and between the unpresentable and the presentable as they enter in a process of dialogue. Such states allow the nurse and the artist to engage freely with the Other in a space defined by the intensity of the present moment and its assimilation through the path of narrativity. An empathic audio-visual tool called Sanctuary was created to serve a narrative, the ill person’s narrative. It is presented in the form of a visor which allows the viewer to enter a ‘bunker-like’ space. An empathic encounter with the self, aims to be triggered through the process of participation in the artwork. The play of tension within a restorative, sheltering space is followed with planned empathic dialogue between the nurse and the ill person.peer-reviewe

Using Empathy in Design to Foster Interest in Social Issues

Design has transformed from being merely a product oriented discipline focused on the promotion of consumer goods to become a goal oriented practice seeking to address the needs and challenges faced by people in their communities. Conventionally, most designers have engaged various processes that help identify the real needs of an audience in order to develop effective solutions. Designing for social change presents the interesting challenge of reaching audience members who may not be directly affected by an issue to become invested in communityled transformations. My thesis uses the context of homelessness to examine how empathic techniques can be employed to simulate experiences that foster interest in social issues. It presents a model for generating empathy through design and explores how understanding can lead to emotion and subsequently to a desirable action. This project led to a gallery exhibition including infographics, print layouts, animation and interactive designs. Direct data was collected from the exhibition to determine the affective and cognitive responses of the audience

Biosignals as an Advanced Man-Machine Interface

As is known for centuries, humans exhibit an electrical profile. This profile is altered through various physiological processes, which can be measured through biosignals; e.g., electromyography (EMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA). These biosignals can reveal our emotions and, as such, can serve as an advanced man-machine interface (MMI) for empathic consumer products. However, such an MMI requires the correct classification of biosignals to emotion classes. This paper explores the use of EDA and three facial EMG signals to determine neutral, positive, negative, and mixed emotions, using recordings of 24 people. A range of techniques is tested, which resulted in a generic framework for automated emotion classification with up to 61.31% correct classification of the four emotion classes, without the need of personal profiles. Among various other directives for future research, the results emphasize the need for both personalized biosignal-profiles and the recording of multiple biosignals in parallel

Understanding customers' holistic perception of switches in automotive human–machine interfaces

For successful new product development, it is necessary to understand the customers' holistic experience of the product beyond traditional task completion, and acceptance measures. This paper describes research in which ninety-eight UK owners of luxury saloons assessed the feel of push-switches in five luxury saloon cars both in context (in-car) and out of context (on a bench). A combination of hedonic data (i.e. a measure of ‘liking’), qualitative data and semantic differential data was collected. It was found that customers are clearly able to differentiate between switches based on the degree of liking for the samples' perceived haptic qualities, and that the assessment environment had a statistically significant effect, but that it was not universal. A factor analysis has shown that perceived characteristics of switch haptics can be explained by three independent factors defined as ‘Image’, ‘Build Quality’, and ‘Clickiness’. Preliminary steps have also been taken towards identifying whether existing theoretical frameworks for user experience may be applicable to automotive human–machine interfaces

Learning outcomes of a narrative exchange program for high school students : empathy and related constructs

Narrative 4 is an organization of writers, artists, teachers, and other community leaders, which isprimarily focused on promoting empathy and prosocial behavior among high school students.Narrative 4 uses a unique narrative exchange process and curriculum as their method foraccomplishing this goal. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to systematicallyinvestigate the effectiveness of this unique program in promoting participant empathy andprosocial behavior. Analysis was limited due to low participation (N=13) and incomplete data.Pretest and posttest measures of empathy and related constructs were taken before and afterparticipation in the program. It was predicted that posttest measures of emotional contagion,cognitive empathy, empathic concern, perspective-taking, and prosocial behavior would besignificantly higher than pretest measures. Paired-sample t-tests were used to examine the datafor significant differences. Contrary to prediction, the only significant change was a decrease incognitive empathy. However, this change was seen only after eliminating a participant’s pair ofoutlier scores to meet normal distribution assumptions for analysis, and caution is recommendedin interpreting the result. It was also hypothesized that changes in prosocial behavior would bemediated by changes in affective empathy (emotional contagion). Because no significantdifference was found between pretest and posttest measures, mediation analysis was not performed. Relationships of changes in empathy measures were also examined using Pearson’sproduct-moment correlation values. It was hypothesized that changes in cognitive empathy andperspective-taking would negatively correlate with changes in emotional disconnection andpersonal distress. Results were unable to provide support for this hypothesis, as the statedrelationships between difference scores were not found to be significant. Lastly, it was predictedthat students’ written reflections on the N4 program would reveal mostly positive viewsregarding the experience, as well as themes of community bonding. Only one participant forwhom consent and assent was obtained provided a reflection. Therefore, this prediction was notevaluated. Discussion follows, including that of the challenges of conducting research withinschools, limitations of the study, and suggested future directions for research