Empathic Concern Scale [Gilad Feldman Research WIKI]

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====== Empathic Concern Scale ======

===== Background =====

By Davis (1980).


Citations:
  - Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.
  - Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multi-dimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113−126.

From Woltin etal (2011, JESP):
<blockquote>
 This was the Empathic Concern scale (IRI; Davis, 1980; α=0.80),c ontaining 7 items to be rated on a scale ranging from 1 (does not describe me well) to 5 (describes me very well). Sample items are “When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective toward them” and “Sometimes I don't feel sorry for other people when they are having problems” (reversed). Among a plethora of measures, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980) is the most relevant and frequently used questionnaire for measuring individual differences in empathic tendencies (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004; Pulos, Elison, & Lennon, 2004) and shows covariation with activity in the anterior cingulate and the anterior insula/fronto-insular cortex (i.e., regions activated when observing pain in others; Singer et al., 2006).
</blockquote>

===== The scale =====
<blockquote>
  - When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective toward them. 
  - When I see someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don't feel very much pity for them.  (R) 
  - I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me. 
  - I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person. 
  - Sometimes I don't feel sorry for other people when they are having problems.  (R) 
  - Other people's misfortunes do not usually disturb me a great deal.  (R) 
  - I am often quite touched by things that I see happen. 
</blockquote>

===== SPSS =====

<code>
recode em_2 em_5 em_6 (1=5) (2=4) (3=3) (4=2) (5=1) into  em_2r em_5r em_6r.
compute empathic=mean(em_1, emp_2r, em_3, em_4, em_5r,em_6r,emp_7).
EXECUTE.
</code>