Background: Sociocultural factors play an essential role in the way we process and express emotions. In this study, we asked whether Cultural Capital (CC)-the set of knowledge, cultural codes, and skills embodied by people-explains individual differences in two constructs measuring the capacity to understand our own emotions (alexithymia) or others' emotions (empathy).
Method: A pre-registered survey was conducted with an Italian sample (N = 475). Alexithymia and empathy were assessed respectively via the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.
Results: Regression analyses confirmed a significant, although limited, role of CC in predicting alexithymia and empathy. People with higher CC showed lower Externally Oriented Thinking, higher Perspective Taking, and higher Fantasy. Self-reported alexithymia and empathy were also impacted by scores on a social desirability scale.
Conclusions: These results suggest that i) Cultural Capital influences the ability to analyse one's own feelings and understand others' perspectives, and ii) social desirability threatens the validity of self-report measures of emotional abilities. Overall, this research underlines the importance of studying affective processes by considering an individual's cultural context.