A-156: Behavioral Inhibition and Multidimensional Empathy in Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: This study examined whether behavioral inhibition differentially relates to cognitive versus affective dimensions of empathy. Method/Data Selection: Participants included 143 younger adults (ages 18–34; 81 females, 62 males; 12–24 years of education) from the Open Science Framework dataset Goal-Directed Cognition in Older and Younger Adults (Spreng, 2024). Behavioral inhibition was assessed with the Inhibition subscale of the Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Scale (BIS/BAS). Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which includes four subscales: perspective taking, fantasy, empathic concern, and personal distress. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined whether behavioral inhibition predicted each empathy domain while controlling for age, sex, and education. Results/Data Synthesis: Results indicated that behavioral inhibition significantly predicted higher levels of fantasy and personal distress. Specifically, higher behavioral inhibition was associated with greater imaginative engagement, β = .312, p < .001, and increased self-oriented emotional reactivity, β = .302, p < .001. In contrast, behavioral inhibition was not significantly associated with perspective taking, β = −.136, p = .145, or empathic concern, β = .172, p = .068. The model predicting personal distress demonstrated the strongest effect, explaining 25.8% of the variance. Conclusions: These findings suggest that behavioral inhibition is differentially related to components of empathy. Rather than enhancing cognitive or prosocial empathic processes, behavioral inhibition appears to be more strongly associated with internal emotional sensitivity and distress. This pattern highlights the importance of distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive forms of empathy in relation to individual differences in behavioral inhibition.