Fatores moduladores da empatia e distinção eu-outro

: uma scoping review

Abstract

Background / Aim: empathy is a complex phenomenon that comprises not only sharing the feelings of another person but also being able to make a self-other distinction. The empathic response can be modulated and the aim of this review was to elucidate which modulatory factors of empathy, among those that are described in the literature, have been studied in order to understand their role on self-other distinction during empathy, Methods: it was followed a scoping review methodology. Electronic database searches included PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text and Scopus. As for the grey literature,database searches comprised RCAAP – Portugal’s Open Access Scientific Repository, Open Grey and Google Scholar. Results: 7 studies met the criteria for review. These studies were published between 2010 and 2020 and studied the following modulatory factors of self-other distinction in empathy: professional experience, gender, stress (in interaction with gender), attachment styles, similarities or dissimilarities focus, and dispositional empathy. Professional training as a counselor, male gender, being under stress provided one belongs to female gender, avoidant attachment style, a similarity focus, and higher scores on some questionnaires measuring dispositional empathy were all factors that enhanced self-other distinction in empathy. This enhanced self-other distinction correlates with certain patterns of brain activation, psycho physiological responses and brain electrical activity. Conclusions: the analysis of the 7 studies supports the idea that self-other distinction is avery malleable phenomenon. The study of the emotional self-other distinction is recent, so there is still much to be studied and understood. The papers included in this review give some hints about future studies and questions that should be addressed.

Date of Award	9 Nov 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Vânia Silva Nunes (Supervisor)