A revised instrument for the assessment of empathy and Theory of Mind in adolescents: Introducing the EmpaToM-Y

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Christina Breil - , Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) (Author)
  • Philipp Kanske - , Chair of Clinical Psychology an Behavioral Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Author)
  • Roxana Pittig - , University of Würzburg (Author)
  • Anne Böckler - , Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Author)

Abstract

Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2487-2501
Number of pages15
JournalBehavior research methods
Volume53
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC8613142
Scopus 85105864558

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adolescence, Social cognition, Empathy, Social understanding, Theory of Mind, Mentalizing, Development