Olber Eduardo Arango Tobón

Empathic skills and theory of mind in female adolescents with conduct disorder

Objective: Most studies on conduct disorder (CD) have focused on male adolescents, disregarding analysis of this psychopathology in women. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in empathy and theory of mind (ToM) in a group of adolescent women with CD and a control group. Method: Thirty-six adolescent women were selected from an initial sample of 239 adolescents (CD group = 18, control group = 18). Empathy and ToM were evaluated through objective instruments. Mean comparisons and multivariate analysis were performed to ascertain differences between cases and controls and to propose a prediction model based on clinical status. Results: Significant differences in empathic abilities and ToM were found between the groups. The model that differentiated both groups was composed of eye-reading ability, perspective taking, and personal distress. Conclusion: These findings are consistent with previous studies. Capacity to take the other’s perspective and the recognition of emotions in the face are protective factors against CD in women.

Aproximación a la automaticidad de los juicios evaluativos: Implicaciones de los errores en la atribución

espanolEl papel que desempenan los procesos implicitos en los juicios evaluativos es objeto central de la investigacion en psicologia cognitiva. La presente revision tiene como objetivo profundizar en las implicaciones del concepto de automaticidad evaluativa para la cognicion social, con especial enfasis en los errores en la atribucion afectiva, y las teorias de la cognicion corporizada. Con este fin, se recapitulan los ha-llazgos mas relevantes en estos fenomenos y se proponen posibles lineas de aplicacion fuera del laboratorio. Se concluye que los errores en la atribucion afectiva se encuentran operativos en diversos aspectos de la cognicion social, por lo que entender su funcionamiento puede ser de mucha utilidad para ciertos ambitos sociales aplicados. EnglishThe automatic nature of evaluative judgments and, in particular, the role of implicit processes in this type of response is a central theme in cognitive psychology. The purpose of the present review is to explore the implications of the automaticity concept in social cognition, with a special emphasis on two well-documented phenomena: affective misattribution and embodiment. With this aim, we review the most relevant findings in this area, and we propose potential lines of application outside the laboratory. We conclude that affective misattribution is opera-tive in several domains of social cognition, which suggests that our daily life can benefit substantially from a better understanding of how our implicit mind works.