Summary of Part A studies
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[edit] Summary of Studies on the Meaning(s) of Compassion & Empathy
Originally based on a 2007 article by Jennifer Goetz, UC Berkeley
The construct of compassion is not clearly defined in psychological literature. Our first step was to form a working definition that would allow us to explore related constructs. We define compassion as a feeling of sorrow or concern for another person's suffering or need accompanied by a subsequent desire to alleviate the suffering. This phrasing focuses on compassion as an emotion: a short-lived feeling that anyone may experience. We expect, however, that there are specific conditions in which people will be more likely to feel compassion, that there are differences in individual propensities to feel compassion, and that many people and cultures may view compassion as a basic human value.
Strict dictionary definitions have a hard time separating the feelings of empathy, sympathy, compassion, and pity. Often these words are used to define each other. However research on the concepts has begun to pull them apart. Empathy is considered a mirroring or vicarious experience of another's emotions, whether they be sorrow or joy. Sympathy, on the other hand, is a feeling of sorrow associated specifically with the suffering or need of another. Literally, it is fellow-feeling, and requires a certain degree of equality in situation or circumstances. This is in contrast to pity, which regards its object not only as suffering, but weak, and hence as inferior. Compassion is much like sympathy in that it stems from the suffering of another, but it also includes the need or desire to alleviate suffering (Eisenberg, 2002).
Psychological research by Batson and his colleagues has identified two distinct emotions: empathic concern and personal distress (Batson, Fultz, & Schoenrade, 1987). Empathic concern is other-focused congruent emotion produced by witnessing another person's suffering that involves such feelings as sympathy, compassion, softheartedness, and tenderness. Personal distress, on the other hand, is the negative self-focused emotion that may be the result of the uncomfortable situations that often produce empathic concern. There is recent evidence for facial and physiological components to these emotions (Zhou, Valiente, & Eisenberg, 2003). Similar work has found personality correlates of empathic concern and distress. With their scale, Davis and colleagues were able to predict people who were likely to feel empathic concern, personal distress, and also those who were more likely to look at situations from another person's perspective (Davis, 1983). Finally, research on basic human values has identified constructs that are related to our conception of compassion. Benevolence is concerned with the preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent and personal contact, while universalism reflects a focus on understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature (Schwartz et al, 2001).
