Empathic responses to social targets: The influence of warmth and competence perceptions, situational valence, and social identification.

ABSTRACT: Accounts of empathy distinguish between cognitive (attribution of mental states to a social target) and emotional (sharing of emotions with a social target) empathy. To date, however, little is known about whether and how (interactions between) person perceptions, situational characteristics, and the observer-target relationship affect these constructs. The current study hence investigated (a) how the perceived warmth and competence of different social targets relate to both types of empathy, (b) whether there are differences in empathic responding to positive vs. negative scenarios, and (c) the impact of identification with the social targets. Eighty-nine participants rated cognitive and emotional empathy regarding four stereotypical target characters (student, elderly person, businessper

SUBMITTER: Aue T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7959363 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature