The crystal globe: Emotional empathy and the transformation of self

To test whether emotional empathy is linked to altered perceptions of self in relation to other and/or context, participants read one of two tragic news stories and then completed a self-report empathy measure, as well as an abridged version of Hood’s (1975) Mysticism scale either before or after the article. Exposure to a needy other in the story tended to result in greater self-reported mystical experience. Men with a history of mystical experience reported more empathy, but the latter was disconnected from on-line reports of mystical experience. Women’s history of mystical experience did not predict empathic responding overall, but their reported empathy was linked to on-line experiences of oneness, absorption into something larger, and space-time distortion with imputed religious significance. Directions for future research, including the possible facilitative role of oxytocin, are discussed.

► Reading about a needy other yielded higher scores on a short mysticism scale.
► Mystical experience subsequently predicted greater emotional empathy among women.
► Retrospective, not situation-specific, mystical experience predicted empathy for men.
► Exposure to a needy other transforms self in relation to the other and/or context.