Empathy Measurement Sibylle Enz

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

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.” I strongly agreeI strongly disagree

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

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

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?

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

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?

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