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Theories and Models of Empathy

Theories and Models of Empathy. Carsten Zoll. Outline. Basic terms A short history of empathy A broad definition Distinctions. Basic terms. Observer. Target. Historical View I. Titchener (1909): Empathy, derived from the Greek “empatheia” Lipps (1903): “Einfühlung”

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Theories and Models of Empathy

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  1. Theories and Models of Empathy Carsten Zoll

  2. Outline • Basic terms • A short history of empathy • A broad definition • Distinctions

  3. Basic terms Observer Target

  4. Historical View I • Titchener (1909): Empathy, derived from the Greek “empatheia” • Lipps (1903): “Einfühlung” • Mechanism: inner imitation (motor mimicry) emotional effects, “shared affects”

  5. Historical View II • Kohler (1929): Understanding other‘s feelings • viewing and interpreting  cognitive effects • Piaget (1932): decentering • Mead (1934): role-taking

  6. A broad definition Empathy is “any process where the attended perception of the object’s state generates a state in the subject that is more applicable to the object’s state or situation than to the subject’s own prior state or situation” (Preston, 2001) Subject = Observer Object = Target

  7. Distinctions Empathy vs. Sympathy Congruent vs. Contrast Affective vs. Cognitive vs. Ideomotoric Situation-mediated vs. Expression-mediated

  8. Empathy vs. Sympathy • Sympathy used for shared affects between an observer and a target until 1950s • Clear distinction today • Sympathy = compassion • Empathy  see Preston definition resp. the distinctions to follow

  9. Congruent vs. Contrast Empathy • Congruent Empathy • The inner state of the observer is similar to the inner state of the target • Contrast Empathy • The inner state of the observer is different to the target‘s inner state (e.g. gloat) • Many contemporay researchers restrict their definitions to Congruent Empathy

  10. Affective vs. Cognitive vs. Ideomotoric Empathy • Affective Empathy • Observer feels something due to the perception of the Target • Cognitive Empathy • Observer knows about the inner state of the target • Ideomotoric Empathy • Observer’s motoric preactivation due to the perception of movements of the target

  11. Situation-mediated vs. Expression-mediated Empathy • Situation mediated Empathy • Observer concludes inner state of the Target from the situation the Target is dealing with • Expression mediated Empathy • Observer concludes inner state of Target from the emotional expression of the Target • Facial expression • Gesture, Posture • Paraverbal Cues (e.g. voice pitch) • Psychophysiological Cues (e.g. flush)

  12. Summary • Heterogeneous and broad construct • All changes of the Observer’s inner state that are due to the perception of the Target are empathic outcomes • Main distinction: Affective vs. Cognitive empathy

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