TY  - UNPB
ID  - cogprints1042
UR  - http://cogprints.org/1042/
A1  - Preston, Stephanie D.
A1  - de Waal, Frans B. M.
TI  - Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases
Y1  - 2000///
N2  - The empathy literature is characterized by debate regarding the nature of the phenomenon. We propose a unified theory of empathy, divided into ultimate and proximate levels, grounded in the emotional link between individuals. On an ultimate level, emotional linkage supports group alarm, vicariousness of emotions, mother-infant responsiveness, and the modeling of competitors and predators; these exist across species and greatly effect reproductive success. Proximately, emotional linkage arises from a direct mapping of another's behavioral state onto a subject's behavioral representations, which activate responses in the subject. This ultimate and proximate account parsimoniously explains different phylogenetic and ontogenetic levels of empathy.
AV  - public
KW  - emotion; perspective taking; emotional contagion; cognitive empathy; comparative; evolution; altruism; perception-action
ER  -

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