1. Empathy Measurement Sibylle Enz

2. Psychological Empathy Measures Self-Description  Questionnaires Empathy as an ability  Face Recognition  Picture Stories Somatic and Psychophysiological Measures Behavioural Measures

3. Psychological Empathy Measures Questionnaires Subjects rate their tendency to react empathically on a series of items  easy and differentiated Problems:  Situational context of empathic reactions  Influence of introspective and verbal skills  Influence of self-presentation “I can tell by looking at a person whether they are happy.” 01234 I strongly agreeI strongly disagree

4. Psychological Empathy Measures Empathy as an Ability Emotional Face Recognition Subjects identify emotions on the basis of pictures of facial expressions E.g. Ekman & Friesen (1975) facial emotion expressions Very limited perspective on empathy: interpersonal accuracy

5. Psychological Empathy Measures Empathy as an Ability Which emotion is the person on the photo currently experiencing?

6. Psychological Empathy Measures Picture Stories Picture Stories Affectively charged stories; Subjects label feelings of characters and indicate own feelings  Empathy = same/similar emotion  Pros:  Interview-based approach: subjects report subjectively experienced emotions  Easy and differentiated  Cons:  Influence of introspective and verbal skills  Influence of self-presentation  Degree of emotional match?

8. Psychological Empathy Measures Somatic/Psychophysiological Measures 1.Presentation of affectively charged stories, usually on videotapes 2.Measurement of observer’s reaction via Somatic indices Physiological indices 3.Empathy scored for adequate observer’s reaction Pros: -Less vulnerable to verbal skills and self-presentation Cons: -Psychophysiological Indices: Differentiation? Devices? -Somatic Indices: Expressive styles? Observer bias? Physiological Indices  Skin conductance  Heart rate  Palm sweating  Skin temperature  Vasoconstriction  Electromyographic procedures Somatic Indices  Facial  Gestural  Postural  Paraverbal

9. Psychological Empathy Measures Behavioural Measures Empathy is seen as precondition for observable behaviour By assessing this behaviour, empathy is measured E.g. helping/prosocial behaviour:  Kobayashi: Painting aquarelle Problem:  Relation between behaviour and empathy?

10. Summary Is it really empathy I am assessing? Self-presentation Emotional arousal Liking …  combination of empathy measures!