Toward a contingency hypothesis of empathy development.

Found that the empathy level (assessed by a version of the Feshbach and Roe Situational Test for Empathy) of 42 normal 9- and 10-yr-old children from a Greek island was negatively related to their fear of physical punishment from their parents, particularly from their fathers. Low empathy Ss also reported more spanking from and more fear of their fathers than their mothers. Ss whose fathers were away from home for most of the year scored higher in empathy. Results are explained in terms of the relatively distant and ambivalent relationship that Greek children have with their fathers, in contrast to the very positive relationship they have with their mothers. It is therefore suggested that when punishment is delivered by a parent with whom the child has a prior strong positive bonding, such punishment may not be very deleterious to the child's development of empathy. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring response empathy: The development of a multicomponent rating scale.

Describes psychometric data on a new approach to the measurement of the empathic quality of counselor behavior. The Response Empathy Rating Scale (1) divides the empathy construct into a set of components tapping different aspects of empathic behavior; (2) provides greater specification of the construct; and (3) focuses on the empathic qualities of individual counselor responses. Results from 28 counselor/client (undergraduates) pairs indicate good interrater reliability. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of empathy.

Factor analysis of R. Hogan's Empathy Scale, scored in Likert format, yielded 4 factors: Social Self-Confidence, Even Temperedness, Sensitivity, and Nonconformity. Data for the analysis were obtained from 168 undergraduates and from the 45 research scientists and 66 student engineers in Hogan's (1969) study; 65 males and 45 females also completed a battery of personality measures (e.g., 2 scales of the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, the Survey of Ethical Attitudes, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index). Correlations with the 16 personality measures and a set of 12 adjective rating scales confirmed the factors' unique psychological meanings. Empathy subscales, created from items loading primarily on 1 factor, accounted for roughly equal amounts of variance in Hogan's original Q-set empathy criterion, although the Sensitivity and Nonconformity factors appeared to be slightly more important. Implications include ways to improve the scoring of the Empathy Scale for future research and several broader measurement issues: the costs and benefits of using sophisticated statistics, the importance of manifest item content, and the importance of scale homogeneity. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The current state of empathy research.

The literature on empathy, primarily from counseling and psychotherapy and secondarily from social and developmental psychology, is reviewed. Obstacles that may account for theoretical confusions and empirical difficulties in studying empathy are highlighted. The decrease in empathy research in recent years appears attributable to the lack of clear focus and effective research tools as well as the shift in interest from empathy to other concepts such as the working alliance. It is argued that there is a need to return to studying empathy. Researchers should distinguish between dispositional and experiential empathy and between intellectual empathy and empathic emotions and indicate whether they are examining therapist or client experience of empathy. Suggestions for future research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The theory and measurement of empathy.

Discusses several studies that (a) support the idea that empathy is an important aspect of interpersonal behavior and moral conduct and (b) provide further evidence for the validity of R. Hogan's (see record 1969-12966-001) empathy scale. In addition, Minres factor analyses were performed to determine the underlying structure of the empathy scale and its relationship to the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) from which it can be scored in a study with 260 male and 99 female undergraduates. The items on the scale were sorted into 3 factors: (a) tolerant, even-tempered disposition; (b) ascendant, sociable interpersonal style; and (c) humanistic sociopolitical attitudes. With regard to the CPI, the scale was most closely related to the factor labeled interpersonal adequacy. Characteristics of empathic persons and uses of the empathy scale in future research are discussed. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between leadership and empathy.

To test the hypothesis that the selection of the leader of a group is a function of his ability to satisfy the needs of the group members, the results on two tests purporting to measure empathy were correlated with leadership ratings. The results are interpreted to indicate support for the need theory of leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narrative empathy.

Therapeutic empathy is described as an active narrative process, in which the therapist attempts to construe and express the inner emotional logic of the client's problem patterns. The empathic narrative is contrasted to the external narrative, which describes the client from the outside and the client's behavior as making sense from the point of view of the theory rather than from that of the client's. The criterion of an empathic narrative is that it elicits from the client the response "That's me!" The external narrative, in distinction, fails to elicit this self-recognition. The persistent rejection of the therapist's formulations by the client and the ensuing state of therapeutic impasse is interpreted as being often due to the therapist's assumption that the client should accept an external narrative as if it were an empathic one. When such a situation develops, the therapist may overcome the impasse by acknowledging the externality of the previous therapeutic narrative and proposing a potentially empathic one in its stead. Three case examples of a 49-yr-old married woman, a teenage girl, and 28-yr-old single male are presented to demonstrate narrative empathy within the therapeutic context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The heritability of hypnotic susceptibility in twins.

Tested 140 pairs of twins (mean age = 9 yrs) and their families on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A. A significant heritability index for the scores of the twin pairs and a significant correlation between the midparent score (i.e., the average of the mother's and father's score) and the mean child score were obtained, supporting a genetic component in hypnotizability. However, a statistically significant interaction between parent hypnotizability and the child's hypnotizability, conditional upon the resemblance of the child to the like-sexed parent in personality, was interpreted as a consequence of environmental influence, either through social learning or identification. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations between temperament and empathy in 2-year-olds.

The role of infant and toddler temperament in the prediction of empathy in 2-year-old children was examined. Assessments of temperament included reactivity and affect observed at 4 months of age, as well as inhibition at Age 2. Empathy was measured in 2-year-old children's responses to simulations of distress performed by their mothers and by an unfamiliar person. Children showed relatively more concern for the mother's distress, but they were also responsive to unfamiliar victims. Infants who were unreactive and showed little affect also showed less empathy toward the unfamiliar adult almost 2 years later. Inhibition toward an unfamiliar adult (but not toward the mother) at 2 years of age was negatively related to empathy. Inhibited temperament may thus have a major impact on young children's empathy in unfamiliar contexts. Findings also highlight the need to consider early underarousal as another dimension of temperament that may dampen expressions of empathic concern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early sex differences in empathy.

Replicated the N. D. Feshbach and S. Feshbach (see record 1969-08191-001) study which identified the tendency for 4-yr-old girls to be more empathic than boys ( p     

The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors.

In a prior review involving a meta-analysis (Underwood & Moore, 1982), no relation between affective empathy and prosocial behavior was found. In this article, the literature relevant to this issue is reexamined. The studies were organized according to the method used to assess empathy. When appropriate, meta-analyses were computed. In contrast to the earlier review, low to moderate positive relations generally were found between empathy and both prosocial behavior and cooperative/socially competent behavior. The method of assessing empathy did influence the strength of the relation; picture/story measures of empathy were not associated with prosocial behavior, whereas nearly all other measures were. Several possible explanations for the pattern of findings are discussed, as are the implications of the findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental development: Concordance for same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins.

Administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence to 375 same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins from 3 mo–6 yrs of age. With 1 exception (9 mo), there was no significant difference in concordance at any age for same-sex and opposite-sex twins. In both groups, the within-pair correlations increased during early childhood to a maximum value at 3 yrs, then gradually regressed at 6 yrs. Data provide no evidence of greater discordance among opposite-sex twins for mental development in the preschool years. It is concluded that sex differences may be set aside as a nonsignificant factor in the concordance estimates for DZ twins. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual orientation and empathy.

Administered an empathy scale and the Embedded Figures Test to 32 male undergraduates to explore the relationship between empathy, as an interpersonal affective variable, and psychological differentiation. As was predicted, empathy was significantly correlated with perceptual orientation (p     

The meaning of empathy: Reply to Maryhelen Synder.

Replies to M. Snyder's (see record 1993-06522-001) comment on his article (see record 1991-16137-001) in which he described his patient's perception of an adverse therapeutic outcome. A patient's traumatic experiences in early childhood may be so severe that even adequate empathy may not be "heard" by the patient. In certain instances, a patient's difficulties in living may prove insurmountable and the patient will not stay in therapy long enough for the early damage to be repaired by corrective emotional experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The empathy cycle: Refinement of a nuclear concept.

Delineates a sequence of distinct stages involved in empathic interaction and describes conditions that initiate this sequence, which has 3 main interior phases: (Phase 1) empathic resonation by Person A in response to B (who is personally expressive in some way), (Phase 2) A's attempt to convey responsive understanding to B, and (Phase 3) B's actual reception/awareness of A's communication. When the process continues, Phase 1 is again the core feature, and 2 and 3 follow in cyclical mode. There is room for considerable slippage between the inner resonation, communication, and reception levels, and measures based on data from different phases would at best be moderately associated. Principal existing (state) scales are located in reference to the model, and illustrative results take on new meaning not involving contradiction. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genotype€nvironment interaction in personality development: Indentical twins reared apart.

The focus of this study is to identify specific genotype–environment (GE) interactions as they contribute to individual differences in personality in later life. In behavioral genetics, GE interaction refers to the possibility that individuals of different genotypes may respond differently to specific environments. A sample of 99 pairs of identical twins reared apart, whose average age is 59 years, has been studied as part of the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to detect interactions between personality and environmental measures after the main effects of genotype and environment were removed. Analyses yield evidence for 11 significant interactions that provide the first evidence for GE interaction in human development using specific environmental measures. Thus, in addition to the main-effect contributions of heredity and environment, GE interactions contribute to individual differences in personality as measured in the second half of the life course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurocognitive basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia show impaired emotional and social behavior, such as lack of theory of mind and misinterpretation of social situations. However, there is a paucity of work focusing on the empathic abilities of these patients. The present study was designed to examine the degree of impairment in cognitive and affective empathy in schizophrenia and to evaluate the contribution of executive prefrontal functions to empathy in these patients. To explore the neurocognitive processes that underlie the empathic ability in schizophrenic patients, the relationship between empathy scores and the performance on a cognitive flexibility task that assesses dorsolateral and orbitofrontal functioning (set shifting and reversal, respectively) was examined in 26 patients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy control subjects. Results indicated that patients with schizophrenia were significantly impaired in both cognitive and affective empathy compared with healthy control subjects. The degree of impaired empathy related to the severity of negative symptoms. In addition, patients showed impaired performance on measures of both shifting and reversal. However, while cognitive empathy was particularly related to measurements of orbitofrontal (rather than dorsolateral) functioning, affective empathy was related to measures of social functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of an empathy scale.

Discusses the development of a 64-item self-raport measure of empathy, constructed by comparing the responses of group with high- and low-rated empathy, using the combined MMPI-CPI item pool. After providing evidence concerning the scale's reliability and validity, an attempt is made to show its relevance for specifically moral conduct by relating empathy scale scores to real life indexes of socially appropriate behavior and to certain previously well-validated measures of personality. (39 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of accurate empathy ratings.

Studied the accuracy of accurate empathy ratings among 31 counseling graduate students by comparing 2 sets of ratings made under different experimental conditions with each other and with a predefined criterion of accuracy. 10 counselor-client exchanges representing excerpts from a single interview were deliberately constructed to represent 2 interactions at each level of the 5-point Accurate Empathy Scale. 2 groups of raters differing in amount of prior client information rated the exchanges. Data indicated that the 17 informed raters were significantly more accurate in their ratings than 14 noninformed raters and significant discrepancies in ratings occurred at the higher scale points of the Accurate Empathy Scale. Implications and suggestions for using this scale are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality correlates of empathy.

Administered R. Hogan's Empathy Scale and the Psychological Screening Inventory to 278 female and 167 male undergraduates. Results support the prediction that high-empathy persons are significantly lower in signs depicting neurotic and psychotic disturbance (e.g., anxiety) as compared with low-empathy persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)