What is empathy?
Empathy is a topic of interest in a number of fields, as “[b]ehavior that benefits others at a personal cost to the behaving individual is a widespread phenomenon that continues to attract research attention in several fields, including philosophy, evolutionary biology, psychology, and economics” (Lönnqvist & Walkowitz, 2019).
Research has shown that “empathizing with another person is widely associated with helpful behaviors”, and that “[i]ndividuals higher in trait empathy generally tend to help others more” (Jenkins, 2019). In addition, empathy “can buoy well-being by reducing the negative impact of poor peer relations on personal adjustment” (Kral et al., 2018). But what exactly is empathy from a psychological perspective?
Psychological definitions of empathy
As empathy has been described in a number of ways in psychology research, let us walk through some of them.
One study that examined the neural basis of empathy as it related to chronic trauma described empathy as “a multifaceted psychological construct that plays a key role in social life and enables humans to feel and understand each other and form social groups and cultural communities” (Levy et al., 2019).
Another study attempting to develop a questionnaire for empathy stated that, from a “traditional phenomenological account, the description of empathy might be generally summarized as a multifaceted function that consents an individual to experientially connect with others’ inner experiences and to be naturally aware of those experiences … while also recognizing that these experiences primarily originate in the other” (Innamorati et al., 2019).
It should be noted that research into empathy has also suggested that “empathy is a multifaceted construct composed of two components, including affective empathy and cognitive empathy” (Yu & Chou, 2018).
Altogether, empathy may be defined as a psychological concept that allows people to engage with the experiences of those around them. It is an important aspect of social behavior. In addition, it consists of affective empathy and cognitive empathy.
Wrapping up
Ultimately, it can be stated that empathy is a crucial aspect of society that is beneficial for both the person behaving with empathy and the person that they are empathizing with. As you can see, all of these definitions refer to empathy as “multifaceted”, suggesting that it is more complicated than it may initially seem. The studies cited here are a good starting point for people who want to learn about empathy in a variety of contexts, whether that be from a neural perspective or a social perspective.
References
Innamorati, M., Ebisch, S.J.H., Gallese, V., Saggino, A. (2019). A bidimensional measure of empathy: Empathic Experience Scale. PLoS One, 14(4), e0216164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216164.
Jenkins, A.C. (2019). Empathy affects tradeoffs between life’s quality and duration. PLoS One, 14(10), e0221652. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221652.
Kral, T.R.A., Stodola, D.E., Birn, R.M., Mumford, J.A., Solis, E., Flook, L., Patsenko, E.G., Anderson, C.G., Steinkuehler, C., Davidson, R.J. (2018). Neural correlates of video game empathy training in adolescents: a randomized trial. NPJ Science of Learning, 3(1), 13, doi: 10.1038/s41539-018-0029-6.
Levy, J., Yirmiya, K., Goldstein, A., Feldman, R. (2019). The Neural Basis of Empathy and Empathic Behavior in the Context of Chronic Trauma. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1), 562. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00562.
Lönnqvist, J.E., Walkowitz, G. (2019). Experimentally Induced Empathy Has No Impact on Generosity in a Monetarily Incentivized Dictator Game. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1), 337. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00337.
Yu, C.L., Chou, T.L. (2018). A Dual Route Model of Empathy: A Neurobiological Prospective. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(1), 2212. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02212.
