Empathy

Dimensions and Forms of Empathy

Empathy consists of both a cognitive and an affective component. Cognitive empathy refers to the individual’s ability to accurately perceive and comprehend the other person’s emotion (also known as perspective taking). In young children, cognitive empathy typically also refers to the child’s attempts to comprehend the other’s predicament (also termed inquisitive behavior or hypothesis testing). The affective component of empathy refers to the emotional resonance; that is, the ability to feel what the other is feeling. This is also known as empathic arousal, because the individual is emotionally affected by the other’s emotion. Empathy is therefore also characterized by changes in physiological arousal, because perceiving the other person’s state generates autonomic arousal in the individual. The ability to feel what another person is feeling is thought to result from a partial overlap in neural circuits: Observing another person expressing an emotion activates some of the same brain structures involved when one experiences that emotion firsthand. Although cognitive empathy and affective empathy frequently co-occur, it is also possible to have cognitive empathy without the accompanying affective response.

The bulk of the research has focused on empathy for others in distress. The empathic arousal that is generated in these situations can give rise to two different empathy-related responses. One is empathic concern (also called sympathy), an other-focused response which involves having tender feelings on behalf of the distressed other (feeling for the other, being concerned about the other’s welfare). Empathic concern is an important motivator of prosocial behavior (i.e., attempts to alleviate the other’s distress by helping or comforting). The second response is personal distress (also known as empathic distress), a self-focused response in which the individual becomes overwhelmed and anxious. Prosocial behavior is less likely in this case, as the individual is more likely to seek comfort or relief for the self (e.g., withdraw from the situation). The ability to regulate negative emotion plays an important role in how the individual responds: If one is able to regulate the empathic arousal well (be moved by the other but not overwhelmed), then empathic concern will ensue, whereas difficulties regulating this emotional arousal often lead to personal distress.

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