Empathy and self-interest

Abstract

Empathy is narrowly defined in this study as a situationally induced response comprised of experiences which parallel the feelings and thoughts of another person, and is distinguished as different from, but not unrelated to, sympathy and personal distress. The proposal of empathy as situationally dependent is in contrast to existing views that empathy is a dispositional trait. This study proposed that attentional focus is a critical factor in determining empathic arousal and examined the relationships between empathy and situational factors such as self-interest and passage of time.

The Empathy and Self Interest (ESI) scale was developed as a measure of personality and situational characteristics that contribute to self-focus, and subsequently block empathic arousal. It was administered to 327 undergraduate students at Saint Mary's University. In addition, the relationships between empathy, self-interest and time were examined.

A factor analysis of the ESI scale revealed three factors: Hostility, Self-Focus, and Sexual Harm. Scale items and interscale correlations supported the scale's theoretical base. Significant gender differences found in all three scales were believed to issue from differential socialization. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)