Citation

Sakurai S, Hayama D, Suzuki T, Kurazumi T, Hagiwara T, Suzuki M, Ohuchi A, Chizuko O. Shinrigaku Kenkyu 2011; 82(2): 123-131.

Affiliation

Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan. ssakurai@human.tsukuba.ac.jp

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Japanese Psychological Association, Publisher University of Tokyo Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21735722

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to develop and validate the Empathic-Affective Response Scale, and to examine the relationship of empathic-affective responses with prosocial behaviors and aggressive behaviors. Undergraduate students (N = 443) participated in a questionnaire study. The results of factor analysis indicated that empathic-affective responses involved three factors: (a) sharing and good feeling toward others' positive affect, (b) sharing of negative affect and (c) sympathy toward others' negative affect. Correlations with other empathy-related scales and internal consistency suggested that this scale has satisfactory validity and reliability. Cluster analysis revealed that participants were clustered into four groups: high-empathic group, low-empathic group, insufficient positive affective response group and insufficient negative affective response group. Additional analysis showed the frequency of prosocial behaviors in high-empathic group was highest in all groups. On the other hand, the frequency of aggressive behaviors in both insufficient positive affective response group and low-empathic group were higher than others' groups. The results indicated that empathic-affective responses toward positive affect are also very important to predict prosocial behaviors and aggressive behaviors.

Language: ja