Cocaine Users Enjoy Social Interactions Less, Lack Empathy
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 - 20:00
in Psychology & Sociology
Cocaine users display worse memory performance, concentration difficulties, and attentional deficits. They have difficulties understanding the perspective of others, show less emotional empathy, find it more difficult to recognize emotions from voices, behave in a less prosocial manner in social interactions and report fewer social contacts. So why is it the second most popular drug in Europe, after marijuana? Scholars at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich say the worse emotional empathy was correlated with a smaller social network and the social cognitive deficits contribute to the development and perpetuation of cocaine addiction. read more