Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Empathy is the human capacity to understand and feel for the other human in distress. The capacity to understand the others emotions and the capacity to feel for the other are separate, dissociable processes, called cognitive empathy and affective empathy, latter of which is the focus of this study. A review of the current methods of assessing affective empathic arousal revealed that there is currently a dearth of available ecologically valid ways to test empathic reactions. Thus, the goal of this study was to develop a new way to measure affective empathy called Pictorial Empathy Test (PET), and assess the reliability and validity of this new test. Pictorial Empathy Test (PET) consists of 7 pictures of people in distress. Subjects were asked to rate their emotional arousal in a five-point scale. It was hypothesized that seven pictures all showed variance in one latent trait, affective empathy. The fit of one-latent-factor model was assessed using structural equation modeling. PET's validity was assessed with tests of other theoretically related and unrelated concepts, such as self-reported empathy, social intelligence, intuitive thinking and gender role orientation. Correlations between PET scores and other scales were assessed to determine the validity of PET. Also, relationships between PET scores, participants' sex and gender role orientation were analyzed using mediation analysis. PET was shown to be a reliable and valid measure of affective empathy. One-latent-factor model was shown to be a good fit to the data. Relationships between PET scores and other related concepts were all in the hypothesized direction. Mediation analysis showed that although gender role mediates much of the effect of participants' sex on the final PET scores, there was still a significant unique portion on the sex directly to the PET scores. The strengths and weaknesses of the present study are discussed. PET is recommended as a free and easy-to-use tool in further research concerning affective empathy.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Iivo Koirikivi
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W601059261