Investigating the validity of implicit measures of empathy in a racial intergroup context

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine implicit measures of empathy towards members of both the racial in-group and racial out-group. In study 1, McMaster students completed the Intergroup Emotional Go/No-Go Task to measure affective empathy towards racial in-group and racial out-group faces. Although, there was a significant effect of emotion, there was no significant effect of racial group suggesting that participants either showed similar levels of affective empathy towards both racial in-group and racial out-group members, or the Intergroup Emotional Go/NoGo task was not sensitive enough to detect the intergroup effect on affective empathy. In study 2, McMaster students completed the Intergroup Empathy Selection Task to measure motivation to engage in cognitive empathy towards both racial in-group and racial out-group faces. White participants were equally likely to empathize with faces that resembled their racial out-group compared to their racial in-group. However, Asian participants were significantly more likely to empathize with faces that resembled their racial in-group than their racial out-group. These findings provide insight into potential implicit measures of both affective and cognitive empathy, as well as reinforce our current understanding of how intergroup dynamics effect empathy.