The comparison of affective and cognitive empathy and facial mimicry when facing with verbal and nonverbal expressions of emotion in people with borderline personality traits.
Subject Areas : روانشناسی شناختی و نوروسایکولوژیbehzad rezaeii 1 , Tahereh Elahi 2 , Javaad Saalehi 3
1 - Department of Psychology, Faculty of humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.
2 - Department of Psychology, Faculty of humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran
3 - Department of Psychology, Faculty of humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.
Keywords: Borderline personality disorder , Empathy, Facial mimicry,
Abstract :
Introduction: Emotion recognition and empathy defects are considered as the foundation of interpersonal problems of borderline personality disorder patients. Some studies report a decrease in emotion recognition and facial mimicry in people with borderline personality disorder, and some report an increase. The present study aims to compare the facial sensitivity of normal people and people with borderline personality traits to verbal and non-verbal expressions of emotion and clarify whether the two groups have differences in emotional and cognitive empathy. Method: The current research was an experimental type with repeated measurement of three factors. Its statistical population was the students of Zanjan University in 1400-1399which were screened by the available sampling method in terms of borderline personality traits, and among them 30 borderline people and 30 normal people were randomly selected and exposed to emotional expressions and interpersonal reactivity questionnaire. The results were analyzed using Spss22 software. Result: borderline people performed better than normal people in emotional empathy (p=/001) and Fantasy scale (p=/001) of cognitive empathy. There was no significant difference in the facial mimicry of borderline people when faced with verbal and non-verbal expressions of sadness, But in the emotion of anger in verbal expression, normal people performed better (p=/002). Conclusion: Contrary to previous studies, borderline people had more empathy than normal people. and the similarity of facial expressions between the two groups shows that emotional contagion and facial expressions form the basis of emotional empathy .Key words: Borderline personality disorder, Empathy, Facial mimicry