Investigating the validity of implicit measures of empathy in a racial intergroup context
| dc.contributor.advisor | Obhi, Sukhvinder | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Milliken, Robert Bruce | |
| dc.contributor.author | Leid-Bailey, Jaelon | |
| dc.contributor.department | Psychology | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-02-10T20:54:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-02-10T20:54:50Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.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. | en_US |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science (MSc) | en_US |
| dc.description.degreetype | Thesis | en_US |
| dc.description.layabstract | Research currently measures empathy using self-report methods in which we rely on the participant to accurately judge their ability to empathize. Unfortunately, there are social factors that affect one's own evaluation of themself. For example, one may want to appear socially desirable and therefore, will exaggerate their ability to empathize to appear as a, "good person." Non-self-report measures of empathy are a possible solution, however, such methods require further research to determine if they are accurate measures of empathy. In this thesis, I examine two non-self-report measures of empathy: "The Emotional Go/NoGo Task, and, "The Empathy Selection Task," which are tasks where the participant is required to respond to an emotional face (target). Generally, we have more empathy for those of our own race than for those of another race. One step in determining the accuracy of these non-self-report measures of empathy, is to see if they can measure this difference in empathy based on the race of the target. "The Emotional Go/NoGo Task," did not show this difference, but, "The Empathy Selection Task," did show this difference. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/31059 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject | Empathy | en_US |
| dc.subject | Measures | en_US |
| dc.subject | Implicit | en_US |
| dc.subject | Race | en_US |
| dc.title | Investigating the validity of implicit measures of empathy in a racial intergroup context | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |