ArticleEmotion (Washington, D.C.)2013
The effect of the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) on empathic and self-conscious emotional reactivity.
Article in Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Underlying Mechanisms of Gene-Environment Interactions in Externalizing Behavior: A Systematic Review and Search for Theoretical Mechanisms.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2015Pooled it
- The Monoamine-Glutamate Continuum of Depression: A Neurobiological Framework for Precision Psychiatry.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Assessment of Aggression and Anger Levels in Athletes: A Study on Gene Polymorphisms in Forensic Science.Genes · 2025Article
- Genetic Contributions on Attachment in Emerging Adults: Cumulative Effects of Serotonergic Polymorphisms.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Article
- Focal pharmacological manipulation of serotonin signaling in the amygdala does not alter social behavior.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Genes of cancer-related fatigue: a scoping review.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Emotional and Cognitive Empathy in Caregivers of Persons with Neurodegenerative Disease: Relationships with Caregiver Mental Health.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2021Article
- Childhood maltreatment, serotonin transporter gene, and risk for callous and unemotional traits: A prospective investigation.Psychiatry research · 2020Article
- The nature and nurture of social development: The role of 5-HTTLPR and gene-parenting interactions.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2019Article
- Neurodegenerative Disease Caregivers' 5-HTTLPR Genotype Moderates the Effect of Patients' Empathic Accuracy Deficits on Caregivers' Well-Being.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2019Article
- Antidepressant treatment, not depression, leads to reductions in behavioral and neural responses to pain empathy.Translational psychiatry · 2019Article
- Article
- Caring helps: Trait empathy is related to better coping strategies and differs in the poor versus the rich.PloS one · 2019Article
- Serotonergic gene polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR, 5HTR1A, 5HTR2A), and population differences in aggression: traditional (Hadza and Datoga) and industrial (Russians) populations compared.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2018Article
- Psychopathic traits mediate the association of serotonin transporter genotype and child externalizing behavior.Aggressive behavior · 2016Article
- Variant at serotonin transporter gene predicts increased imitation in toddlers: relevance to the human capacity for cumulative culture.Biology letters · 2016Article
- Effects of Gene × Attachment Interaction on Adolescents' Emotion Regulation and Aggressive Hostile Behavior Towards their Mothers during a Computer Game.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2016Article
- Effects of Recent Stress and Variation in the Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) on Depressive Symptoms: A Repeated-Measures Study of Adults Age 50 and Older.Behavior genetics · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
We examined the relationship between a functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and individual differences in emotional reactivity in two laboratory studies. In Study 1, empathic responding and physiological reactivity to viewing films of others in distress were assessed in healthy adults in three age groups. In Study 2, emotional responding to watching oneself in an embarrassing situation was assessed in healthy adults and in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In Study 1, participants with two short alleles of 5-HTTLPR reported more personal distress and showed higher levels of physiological responses in response to the films than participants with long alleles. In Study 2, participants with two short alleles reported more anger and amusement and displayed more emotional expressive behaviors in response to the embarrassing situation than participants with long alleles. These two findings from diverse samples of participants converge to indicate that individuals who are homozygous for the short allele variant of 5-HTTLPR have greater levels of emotional reactivity in two quite different socially embedded contexts.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.