Mark H. Davis

Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach.

To facilitate a multidimensional approach to empathy the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) includes 4 subscales: Perspective-Taking (PT) Fantasy (FS) Empathic Concern (EC) and Personal Distress (PD). The aim of the present study was to establish the convergent and discriminant validity of these 4 subscales. Hypothesized relationships among the IRI subscales between the subscales and measures of other psychological constructs (social functioning self-esteem emotionality and sensitivity to others) and between the subscales and extant empathy measures were examined. Study subjects included 677 male and 667 female students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes at the University of Texas. The IRI scales not only exhibited the predicted relationships among themselves but also were related in the expected manner to other measures. Higher PT scores were consistently associated with better social functioning and higher self-esteem; in contrast Fantasy scores were unrelated to these 2 characteristics. High EC scores were positively associated with shyness and anxiety but negatively linked to egotism. The most substantial relationships in the study involved the PD scale. PD scores were strongly linked with low self-esteem and poor interpersonal functioning as well as a constellation of vulnerability uncertainty and fearfulness. These findings support a multidimensional approach to empathy by providing evidence that the 4 qualities tapped by the IRI are indeed separate constructs each related in specific ways to other psychological measures.

Stability and change in adolescent self-consciousness and empathy ☆

Abstract The present investigation was carried out to examine the evidence for stability and change during adolescence in two sets of theoretically important traits: self-consciousness and empathy. While the sets are clearly distinct from one another, they fall into the same general domain—that of constructs concerned with ones tendency to attend to psychological states, motives, and behavioral tendencies of the self and others. Two hundred and five high school students (103 males and 102 females) were surveyed at 1-year intervals for 3 successive years, completing the Self-Consciousness Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (a measure of empathy) at each time point. Results indicated a considerable degree of year-to-year stability in scores on all three self-consciousness scales and all four empathy scales; in addition, for two of the self-consciousness scales (private and public) the degree of year-to-year stability increased with age. Mean scores on the three self-consciousness scales exhibited no significant change from year to year; for empathy, however, predicted year-to-year increases were found for perspective taking and empathic concern, and a predicted decrease over time was found for personal distress. These results are consistent with previous research and theorizing, and are discussed in terms of Hoffmans views on the development of empathic capacities in children.

Empathy, Expectations, and Situational Preferences: Personality Influences on the Decision to Participate in Volunteer Helping Behaviors

Although considerable evidence indicates that dispositional empathy is associated with the degree of help that observers will offer needy targets, little is known about the effect of empathy on ones initial willingness to enter situations in which such needy targets might be found. Three studies were conducted to evaluate two related propositions: (1) that dispositional empathy influences such situational preferences, and (2) that this influence is mediated by the expectancies one holds regarding the emotions likely to occur in those situations. Using hypothetical judgments, Study 1 found support for both propositions. Study 2, in which participants believed that their responses actually committed them to encountering needy targets, provided further support for the model, as did Study 3, which examined the experiences of actual community volunteers. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The First Year: Influences on the Satisfaction, Involvement, and Persistence of New Community Volunteers

This investigation tests an elaborated form of Omoto and Snyder’s volunteer process model, which explains how the helping behavior of volunteers is influenced by antecedent factors and by subjective experiences while volunteering. Two-hundred-thirty-eight community volunteers from nine different organizations were recruited at the time of initial orientation and completed measures of personality and motivation. They were contacted at four times during their first year of volunteering and queried regarding their emotional reactions (sympathy, distress), satisfaction, and degree to which their motivations for volunteering were being fulfilled. Consistent with the elaborated model, feelings of sympathy, distress, and motive fulfillment were substantially predicted by antecedent factors, and satisfaction with the volunteer work was substantially predicted by these subjective experiences. Also consistent with the elaborated model, volunteer involvement (hours per week volunteered) was predicted by satisfaction, although volunteer persistence over time was not. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Relationship-specific and global perceptions of social support : Associations with well-being and attachment

Is ones global sense of social support largely a summation of the support perceived to exist within current social relationships, or is it a trait-like construct independent of current support levels? To address this issue, 183 college students completed measures of global support, support from four different social domains, attachment style, and several measures of well-being. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that for two well-being measures (global and social loneliness), both global and domain support displayed significant unique associations; for emotional loneliness, only domain support had a significant unique influence. For the well-being measure reflecting generalized negative affect, only global support displayed such a unique association. Thus, global and domain support appear to be, to a considerable degree, independent constructs, each with its own sphere of influence in affecting well-being.

The effects of private self-consciousness and perspective taking on satisfaction in close relationships.

We extended the scope of recent studies in which self-awareness and perspective taking have been used as predictors of social competence or adjustment: We analyzed their influence on the satisfaction experienced in monogamous, heterosexual relationships. Members of 131 couples answered questions concerning themselves and their relationships. We predicted that individual differences in private self-consciousness would be positively related to relationship satisfaction because of the greater self-disclosure resulting from that heightened self-attention. Second, we predicted that individual differences in perspective taking would foster relationship satisfaction, independent of any influence of self-disclosure. Both expectations were confirmed. Scores on the private self-consciousness scale were predictive of reported self-disclosure, and self-disclosure was predictive of satisfaction in the relationship. Furthermore, once the influence of self-disclosure was removed, no effect of self-consciousness on satisfaction remained. In contrast, after disclosure was controlled, perspective-taking scores were significantly related to satisfaction and were in fact unrelated to disclosure at all. These findings indicate that two personality characteristics having to do with habitual attention to behavioral tendencies, to emotions, and to motivations significantly enhance the quality of close heterosexual relationships in different ways. Results are discussed in terms of current theory in the related fields.

Cognitions Associated With Attempts to Empathize: How Do We Imagine the Perspective of Another?

Although the theoretical importance of perspective taking has long been recognized, surprisingly little work has documented the cognitions associated with attempts to imagine another’s point of view. To explore this issue and to determine whether perspective taking increases the likelihood of self-related thoughts, two experiments were carried out. In the first, a thought-listing procedure was used to assess observer cognitions; in the second, a less reactive measure was used. Instructions to imagine the self in the target’s position and instructions simply to imagine the target’s perspective produced increased levels of self-related cognition relative to a traditional control condition; the imagine-self condition also produced more self-thoughts and fewer target thoughts than did the imagine-target condition. The control condition produced thoughts suggesting that the observers were distancing themselves from the target. Observers receiving no instructions at all reported cognitions that closely resembled those of observers who received imagine-target instructions.

Support Provision in Marriage: The Role of Emotional Similarity and Empathic Accuracy

The goal of this investigation was to identify microlevel processes in the support provider that may foster or inhibit the provision of spousal support. Specifically, the authors focused on (a) how emotional similarity between the support provider and support seeker and (b) how empathic accuracy of the support provider relate to support provision in marriage. In a laboratory experiment, 30 couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (support provider: man vs. woman) of a factorial design. The couples provided questionnaire data and participated in a social support interaction designed to assess behaviors when offering and soliciting social support. A video-review task was used to assess emotional similarity and empathic accuracy during the support interaction. As expected, greater similarity between the support providers and support seekers emotional responses, as well as more accurate insights into the support-seeking spouses thoughts and feelings were found to be predictive of more skilful support (i.e., higher levels of emotional and instrumental support and lower levels of negative types of support).

Empathic Concern and the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Empathy as a Multidimensional Construct

A study was conducted to explore the effects of empathic predispositions on viewing and contributing to the annual muscular dystrophy telethon. A multidimensional measure of empathy (the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) was used to assess empathic predisposition, and respondents answered questions concerning their past viewing of the telethon and contributions to it. As predicted, only one facet of empathy-a tendency to experience sympathy and concern for others-was associated with more viewing of and contributing to the telethon. Other aspects of empathy, such as role-taking, fantasizing ability, and feelings of personal distress, were unrelated to either viewing or contributing.

The Effect of Dispositional Empathy on Romantic Relationship Behaviors: Heterosocial Anxiety as a Moderating Influence

Recent research has supported a model that specifies the way dispositional empathy influences everyday social behavior, the present investigation examined one possible boundary condition of the model It was posited that high levels of heterosocial anxiety constitute a self-oriented affective reaction that interferes with the operation of an other-oriented empathic response. As a result, the usual association between dispositional empathy and social behaviors should be weakened among those high in heterosocial anxiety. Data collected from 119 college students involved in monogamous romantic relationships provided partial support for this hypothesis. Evidence for the predicted moderating effect was found for positive social behaviors but not for negative behaviors. Evidence also suggested that the moderating effect was strongest for dispositional perspective taking-the most cognitive facet of empathy-and considerably weaker for the affective constructs of empathic concern and personal distress.