Abstract
Empathy refers to the communication of affect or experience between individuals. One possible outward manifestation of empathy is helping. Here we describe the development of a novel paradigm to test for helping in rats. Potential helper rats are allowed to freely roam in an arena where a rat is trapped in a centrally located Plexiglas restrainer. Hour-long experimental sessions are repeated for 12days. Over progressive days, rats open the restrainer door with increasing consistency and at a decreasing latency. Door-opening does not require that the free rat have the opportunity to play with the released rat. It is also of value to the free rat, on a par with highly palatable food, and is socially selective. Furthermore, door opening behavior is blocked by treatment with a benzodiazepine anxiolytic, demonstrating that door opening is emotionally motivated. Despite the many positive virtues of empathic helping, empathy and helping can also produce antisocial consequences.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Neuronal Correlates of Empathy |
| Subtitle of host publication | From Rodent to Human |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Pages | 151-160 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780128053973 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780128093481 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- emotional contagion
- empathy
- helping
- prosocial behavior
- rodents
- vicarious stress