The feeling of affective participation regarding what affects others is a skill that seems to be learned and developed in childhood, and thanks to the environment. But now, the results of a study conclude that being more or less empathetic not only depends on education and experience, but that there is a genetic component involved.
Empathy can be divided into two types: the ability to recognize the thoughts and feelings of another person and the ability to respond with an appropriate emotion to the thoughts and feelings of another person. The first part is called ‘cognitive empathy’ and the second part ‘affective empathy’.
This is not the first time that scientists have tried to identify the biological origin of empathy. Previous research has shown that some of us are more empathetic than others and that, on average, women are slightly more empathetic than men.
It also showed that people with autism have a lower score on psychological tests, and that this is because they have difficulties with cognitive empathy, even though their affective empathy remains intact.
In a new study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry , an international team of scientists has managed to capture the conclusions of the largest genetic study of empathy using genetic information from more than 46,000 people.
The results were clear: Empathy is due, in part, to genetics. Specifically, one tenth of this variation is due to genetic factors. This confirms the findings of previous research, which examined empathy in identical versus non-identical twins.
Second, the new study confirmed that, although women are more empathetic than men, this difference is not due to our DNA: no differences were found in the genes that contribute to empathy between men and women.
This implies that the sexual difference in empathy is the result of other non-genetic biological factors, such as prenatal hormone influences, or non-biological factors such as socialization, which also differ between the sexes.
Finally, the new study found that genetic variants related to less empathy are also associated with an increased risk of autism.
However, only one tenth of individual empathy differences in the population are due to genetics . Therefore, it is equally important to understand non-genetic factors, which account for the other 90%.
A clue to a faster diagnosis of autism
The new study shows that genes play a role in empathy, but the specific genes involved have yet to be identified.
The researchers hope that the study’s findings will lead to a better understanding of the biology of autism , and that this will allow for a faster and more accurate diagnosis.
Within the spectrum, autistic people have different strengths and difficulties. Finally, those with a clinical diagnosis are perfectly matched with those in the population who do not have a diagnosis but simply have many autistic traits.
