The hierarchical structure of empathy: Dimensional organization and relations to social functioning

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the structure of empathy using a hierarchical approach, and to compare the dimensions of empathy with measures of social functioning, in order to contribute to the understanding of the nature of empathy. The dimensionality of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which comprises four subscales (empathic concern, perspective taking, fantasy and personal distress) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Relations with the Social Skills Inventory were also investigated. A sample of 127 applicants for places on nursing and social work undergraduate programs participated in the study. The study findings indicate that empathy is hierarchically organized, with one general dimension at the apex. The general factor is identical to empathic concern and this dimension overlaps to a great extent with perspective taking and fantasy. The findings also indicate that the general dimension constitutes an integrated entirety, with its main emphasis on emotional reactivity by also involving cognitive processes.

The Relationship Between Empathy and Stringency of Punishment in Mock Jurors

“…The Swedish version of the IRI was validated by Cliffordson (2002), and demonstrated an acceptable alpha reliability (ranging from .71 to .80), which is similar to the alpha reliability (ranging from .71 to .77) reported by Davis (1983). In the present study, all sub-scales together with the overall empathy had acceptable internal consistency, ranging from α = .70 to α = .84.…”

“…Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the relationship between empathy and stringency of punishment in mock jurors. The main hypothesis for this study is that mock jurors high in empathy will tend to punish the defendant more leniently compared to mock jurors low in empathy as measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Cliffordson, 2002;Davis, 1983). In other words, there is a suggested negative relationship between empathy and stringency of punishment in mock jurors.…”

Heightened emotional contagion in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease is associated with temporal lobe degeneration

“…Although emotional contagion may motivate prosocial behaviors that are essential for survival in social groups (36), if too strong, contagion may overwhelm the observer and interfere with helping and consolation (44). Although Personal Distress scores are a proxy measure of emotional contagion, and higher scores may in part reflect generally heightened anxiety and lack of emotional control (75) in the patient groups, our findings suggest that in MCI and AD there may be particular dysregulation of emotional reactivity in social contexts. Other psychological factors, including decreased self-efficacy and waning autonomy, may also contribute to patients' hyper-reactivity in stressful social situations.…”

“…Informant ratings of personality and behavior in patients with dementia have been demonstrated to be a reliable measure of functioning (81). The IRI is a psychometrically robust, multidimensional measure that is composed of four subscales that evaluate distinct components of empathy (44,75). Our measure of emotional contagion was the Personal Distress subscale (scores range from 7 to 35, with higher scores reflecting greater emotional contagion), which measures the degree to which individuals experience anxiety and discomfort when they are exposed to the negative emotions of others (e.g., "Being in a tense emotional situation scares him/her").…”

Critical Synthesis Package: Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)

“…The IRI has been widely used in a variety of populations and has been validated in several languages including Chinese, (5) Dutch, (6) French, (7) German, (8) Italian, (9) Japanese, (10) Korean, (11) Spanish, (12) and Swedish (13) . The IRI was in the General Social Survey (GSS), a nationally representative sample of American adults, for two years.…”