Am I empathic? Understanding the learning mechanisms underlying the formation of empathic accuracy beliefs

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Katja Bertsch, Ph.D., since 7/2025; Professor Dr. Sören Krach
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556031284

Human beings differ in the way they communicate and adapt to their social surroundings. Most of us are able to form and maintain successful social relationships with fellow human beings. However, for some individuals, social interactions pose a great challenge. Difficulties in connecting and sharing emotions with others may result in withdrawal, loneliness, lack of support, and increased vulnerability for developing or maintaining mental or physical disorders. The complex dynamics of reciprocal interactions requires a number of lower and higher-order cognitive processing, and an integration of feedback from our surroundings. How this feedback is interpreted, will determine future interpersonal actions and reactions. Depending on the interpretation, we learn to build an image of ourselves and form beliefs about who we are and what we are capable of. These selfrelated beliefs influence how we plan, perform, and adapt to familiar and unfamiliar social situations. Therefore, negative self-related beliefs may result in lower motivation, expectation, and eventually lower initiation of and satisfaction with interpersonal exchange. Such negative beliefs are selectively prevalent in healthy individuals, and to a greater extent in individuals with affective disorders, such as depression. Although previous research has brought about ample knowledge about individual mechanisms of social functioning, these findings fall short of integrating the complex nature of social interactions with regard to the flexibility of adaptation and the role of self-related beliefs that alter the relevance of successfully engaging such mechanisms. It remains unclear how individuals “learn” from social interactions. Although empathy (the capability to share others' affective states) has been researched in depth as a central component of social interactions, studies have not investigated to what extent empathic accuracy beliefs are relevant for social interactions and subject to change. Therefore, this project proposal aims to investigate how beliefs are malleable in general, but also with regard to negative self-related beliefs, as seen in depression. Furthermore, we will examine the unfamiliar neural systems involved in this type of learning. The findings of this project will provide more insight into maladaptive beliefs and inform about potential interventions to improve self-related beliefs and thereby ameliorate interpersonal dysfunctions. Especially with regard to maladaptive schemas prevalent in theoretical and practical models concerning the etiology and maintenance of depression, a more profound understanding and integration of relevant mechanisms is essential.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Frieder Paulus
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Dr. Aleya Flechsenhar, until 6/2025