Emotional Empathy
The Emotional Empathy scale is a 30-item measure of emotional empathy for adolescents as well as adults, with six factors: Empathic Suffering, Positive Sharing, Responsive Crying, Emotional Attention, Feeling for Others, and Emotional Contagion.
Categories
Geographies Tested: United States of America
Populations Included: Female, Male
Age Range: Adolescents, Adults
Items:
- I cry easily when watching a sad movie.
- Certain pieces of music can really move me.
- Seeing a hurt animal by the side of the road is very upsetting.
- I don’t give others’ feelings much thought.
- It makes me happy when I see people being nice to each other.
- The suffering of others deeply disturbs me.
- I always try to tune in to the feelings of those around me.
- I get very upset when I see a young child who is being treated meanly.
- Too much is made of the suffering of pets or animals.
- If someone is upset I get upset, too.
- When I’m with other people who are laughing I join in.
- It makes me mad to see someone treated unjustly.
- I rarely take notice when people treat each other warmly.
- I feel happy when I see people laughing and enjoying themselves.
- It’s easy for me to get carried away by other people’s emotions.
- My feelings are my own and don’t reflect how others feel.
- If a crowd gets excited about something so do I.
- I feel good when I help someone out or do something nice for someone.
- I feel deeply for others.
- I don’t cry easily.
- I feel other people’s pain.
- Seeing other people smile makes me smile.
- Being around happy people makes me feel happy, too.
- TV or news stories about injured or sick children greatly upset me.
- I cry at sad parts of the books I read.
- Being around people who are depressed brings my mood down.
- I find it annoying when people cry in public.
- It hurts to see another person in pain.
- I get a warm feeling for someone if I see them helping another person.
- I feel other people’s joy.
Response Options:
A five-point response scale was used, where 1 was “Strongly Disagree” and 5 was “Strongly Agree”.
Scoring Procedures
Not Available
Original Citation
Caruso, D. R., & Mayer, J. D. (1998). A measure of emotional empathy for adolescents and adults.
Citation