Gómez-Leal Raquel, Costa Ana, Megías-Robles Alberto, Fernández-Berrocal Pablo, Faria Luísa
Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
PeerJ. 2021 Apr 16;9:e11274. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11274. eCollection 2021.
Previous research has highlighted that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is related to an array of positive interpersonal behaviours, including greater human empathy. Nonetheless, although animals are an integral part of our lives, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the way in which EI relates to empathy towards animals. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between EI and empathy towards humans and animals. We used the Trait-Meta Mood Scale to assess EI, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index to assess empathy for humans, and the Animal Empathy Scale to assess empathy for animals. Our findings revealed a positive relationship between empathy for humans and animals. The results also supported the idea that EI is positively related to empathy for humans, while the relationship between EI and empathy for animals was dependent on whether or not the participants had experience with pets. In addition, multiple regression analysis showed that the variables that best predicted empathy for animals were having a pet (or not), age, gender and human empathic concern. Finally, the relationship between human empathic concern and empathy for animals was stronger in participants who had pets. These findings provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying empathic behaviour and suggest that empathy for humans and animals can be influenced by different factors. Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.
先前的研究强调，情商（EI）与一系列积极的人际行为有关，包括更强的人类同理心。然而，尽管动物是我们生活中不可或缺的一部分，但关于情商与对动物的同理心之间的关系仍不明确。本研究的目的是调查情商与对人类和动物的同理心之间的关系。我们使用特质元情绪量表来评估情商，人际反应指数来评估对人类的同理心，以及动物同理心量表来评估对动物的同理心。我们的研究结果揭示了对人类和动物的同理心之间存在正相关关系。结果还支持了这样一种观点，即情商与对人类的同理心呈正相关，而情商与对动物的同理心之间的关系则取决于参与者是否有养宠物的经历。此外，多元回归分析表明，最能预测对动物同理心的变量是是否养宠物、年龄、性别和对人类的共情关注。最后，在有宠物的参与者中，对人类的共情关注与对动物的同理心之间的关系更强。这些发现有助于更好地理解共情行为背后的机制，并表明对人类和动物的同理心可能受到不同因素的影响。文中讨论了研究的局限性和未来的研究方向。
