Empathic Concern

Abstract

Abstract Empathic Concern provides an evidence-based review of developments over the past five decades in our understanding of other-oriented emotion felt for another in need, including the motivational and behavioral consequences of this emotional state. Empathic concern, or empathy for short, is an umbrella term that refers to feelings that may be described as sympathy, compassion, tenderness, and the like. The book considers what empathic concern is (and isn’t), where it comes from, its forms, its motivational consequences, and its importance in interpersonal and intergroup relations. Rather than touting empathic concern as a panacea or castigating it as a problem, the empirical evidence supports a more nuanced view: Empathic concern has potential benefits but also liabilities, and its benefits can be realized only if we recognize and address its liabilities. Programs that have employed empathic concern as a means to improve interpersonal and intergroup relations are described. The hope is that this review will stimulate more theory-based research on the nature and function of empathic concern, and more theory-based applications of what we now know.