Kang Yoona, Mesquiti Steven, Baik Elizabeth S, Falk Emily B
Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA.
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 25;15(1):3256. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87221-2.
Decades of research hold that empathy is a multifaceted construct. A related challenge in empathy research is to describe how each subcomponent of empathy uniquely contributes to social outcomes. Here, we examined distinct mechanisms through which different components of empathy-Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, and Personal Distress-may relate to prosociality. Participants (N = 77) watched a prerecorded video of a person sharing an emotional real-life story and provided verbal support in response. The listeners then reported how positive and negative they felt while listening to the story. We found that individuals with greater tendencies to experience Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking felt more positive (e.g., connected, compassionate), whereas those with higher Personal Distress felt more negative (e.g., nervous, anxious) in response to another's suffering. We also observed indirect relationships between Empathic Concern / Perspective Taking and the tendency to help others through positive affective responses to the other's suffering. These findings build upon the growing literature that distinguishes different components of empathy and their mechanisms that relate to divergent behavioral consequences. Results also highlight the role of positive affect that may motivate prosociality in the face of others' suffering.
数十年的研究认为，同理心是一个多方面的概念。同理心研究中的一个相关挑战是描述同理心的每个子成分如何独特地对社会结果产生影响。在此，我们研究了同理心的不同成分——同情关注、观点采择和个人痛苦——可能与亲社会行为相关的不同机制。参与者（N = 77）观看了一段预先录制的视频，视频中一个人分享了一个情感丰富的真实生活故事，并以言语提供支持作为回应。然后，倾听者报告他们在听故事时的积极和消极感受。我们发现，更倾向于体验同情关注和观点采择的个体感觉更积极（例如，有联系、有同情心），而个人痛苦程度较高的个体在面对他人的痛苦时感觉更消极（例如，紧张、焦虑）。我们还观察到同情关注/观点采择与通过对他人痛苦的积极情感反应来帮助他人的倾向之间存在间接关系。这些发现建立在越来越多的文献基础上，这些文献区分了同理心的不同成分及其与不同行为后果相关的机制。研究结果还强调了积极情感在面对他人痛苦时可能激发亲社会行为的作用。
