Relationship between some personality traits and emotional contagion

Emocionalna zaraza, kao jedan od koncepata empatije, spada pod kategoriju afektivne empatije. Radi se o psihofiziološkom, ponašajnom i socijalnom fenomenu s dvije faze koje se odvijaju na automatskoj razini. Prva faza uključuje automatske pokrete koje pojedinac nesvjesno imitira od druge osobe. U drugoj fazi pojedinac te imitirane pokrete doživljava kao jednu vrstu emocionalnog iskustva. Dosadašnja istraživanja pokazuju pozitivnu povezanost emocionalnosti i emocionalne zaraze te negativnu povezanost narcizma i emocionalne zaraze. Cilj ovog završnog rada je ispitati odnos emocionalnosti i narcizma s osjetljivošću na emocionalnu zarazu kod muškaraca i žena mlađe odrasle dobi. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku studenata (N=157; NM=74; NŽ=83). Podaci su prikupljeni online metodom te su korišteni sljedeći instrumenti: Skala emocionalne zaraze (Doherty, 1997), HEXACO-PI-R upitnik ličnosti, podljestvica Emocionalnost (Ashton i Lee, 2008,2009) i NPI-40 (Raskin i Terry, 1988). Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da su žene osjetljivije na negativne emocije u odnosu na muškarce. S druge strane, nema razlike u osjetljivosti na pozitivne emocije između muškaraca i žena. Nadalje, postoji pozitivna povezanost emocionalnosti i osjetljivosti na negativne kao i na pozitivne emocije. Utvrđena je pozitivna povezanost narcizma i osjetljivosti na pozitivne emocije. Također je utvrđena negativna povezanost narcizma i osjetljivosti na negativne emocije kod žena. Rezultati potvrđuju samo neke od pretpostavljenih odnosa te je očita potreba za daljnjim istraživanjima ove tematike.Emotional contagion, as one of the concepts of empathy, falls under the category of affective empathy. It is a psychophysiological, behavioral and social phenomenon with two phases that take place on an automatic level. First phase involves automatic movements that an individual unconsciously imitates from another person. In second phase, the individual experiences these imitated movements as a kind of emotional experience. Previous research show a positive correlation between emotionality and emotional contagion, and also a negative correlation between narcissism and emotional contagion. The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between emotionality, narcissism and emotional contagion in students (N=157; NM=74; NW=83). Data was collected through an online survey and the following instruments were used: Emotional Contagion Scale (Doherty, 1997), HEXACO-PI-R personality questionnaire, Emotionality subscale (Ashton and Lee, 2008, 2009) and NPI-40 (Raskin and Terry, 1988). Results show that women are more sensitive to negative emotions than men. On the other hand, there is no difference in sensitivity to positive emotions between men and women. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between emotionality and sensitivity to negative as well as positive emotions. The results show that there is a positive correlation between narcissism and sensitivity to positive emotions. Also, results indicate negative correlation between narcissism and sensitivity to negative emotions in women.The results confirm only some of the assumed relationships and there is an obvious need for further research on this topic