Mirror-touch synaesthesia: the role of shared ... - UCL Discovery

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Chapter 4
Synaesthetes also differed from controls on the openness to experience trait of
the BFI [t(30) = 2.62, p = .014], with synaesthetes demonstrating higher scores on this
personality trait. No significant differences were found on the other BFI subscales
(Figure 4.4).
Empathy and personality
Pearson’s correlations were conducted to investigate the relationship between
five components of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
neuroticism and openness) with empathic abilities on each component of the EQ
(cognitive empathy, emotional reactivity, social skills). This analysis revealed that
the cognitive empathy subscale of the EQ showed a moderate correlation with
extraversion [n = 120, r = .401, p = < .001], agreeableness [n = 120, r = .463, p = <
.001], and conscientiousness [n = 120, r = .383, p = < .001]; but not neuroticism or
openness traits. Similar associations were observed for the emotional reactivity
subscale, which was associated with extraversion [n = 120, r = .292, p = < .01],
agreeableness [n = 120, r = .455, p = < .001], conscientiousness [n = 120, r = .248, p
= < .01] and openness [n = 120, r = .180, p = < .05]. Importantly, emotional reactivity
was not correlated with neuroticism / emotional stability [n = 120, r = .016, p = .862].
The social skills subscale displayed a positive relationship with extraversion [n = 120,
r = .337, p = < .001], agreeableness [n = 120, r = .336, p = < .001], and
conscientiousness [n = 120, r = .324, p = < .001]; a negative relationship with
neuroticism [n = 120, r = -.311, p = < .01]; but no relationship with openness.
Additionally, the relationship between IRI scores and personality were
explored. This revealed a positive association between the perspective taking
subscale and agreeableness [n = 120, r = .237, p = < .01]; the fantasizing subscale and
openness [n = 120, r = .319, p = < .001]; the empathic concern subscale and