| dc.description.abstract | Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that occur before the ages
of eighteen. Research shows the negative outcomes of these events are far reaching, impacting
both physical and mental health. Currently there is only a small body of research about the
effects of ACEs on empathy levels. What is available suggests people who have faced adversity
in childhood show higher levels of empathy, this is important in the development of pro-social
behaviours. This investigation sets out to establish a link between high ACE scores and somatic
empathy by measuring sweat production after exposure to different facial expressions. It was
hypothesised the higher ACE scores would have a hyper-aroused stress response than the lower
scores. The results were surprising, the higher scorer showed a blunted stress response, reacting
to the facial expression less, especially that of the pain expression. Which supports theories of
hypo-arousal effect as a stress response. | en |
