Empathic Expression Research Articles

How Personality Traits Affect Customer Empathy Expression of Social Media Ads and Purchasing Intention: A Psychological Perspective

Consumers’ personality traits significantly influence their perceptions regarding social media advertising. While prior research on consumers’ purchasing intentions in social networking sites advertising has mainly focused on advertising valence antecedents, it is crucial to recognize that consumers’ susceptibility to advertising persuasion, particularly in terms of empathic expression, varies based on a key criterion: whether consumers are driven to attain a specific desired state or are more inclined to avoid an undesirable state. Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) posits that individuals operate under distinct motivational mechanisms that govern their determination to achieve desired goals, influencing how they process and evaluate advertising messages. In light of RFT, we conducted an online survey with 524 valid responses, utilizing partial least squares (PLS) for research model analysis. The findings revealed that promotion-focused individuals have positively influenced perceptions of social media ad effectiveness (informativeness, ad creativity, perceived relevance, and emotional appeal). In contrast, prevention-focused individuals negatively perceived social media ad effectiveness. Furthermore, this study highlighted that perceived relevance and emotional appeal have a more significant impact on attitudes toward expressing empathy than informativeness and ad creativity.

RLCA: Reinforcement Learning Model Integrating Cognition and Affection for Empathetic Response Generation

Empathy is a crucial field of social science research. The current research on the dialog systems with empathy has two main limitations: 1) less adequate integration of the cognition and affection aspects of empathy for enhancing the perceptual and emotional expression abilities and 2) lack of the evaluation of the generated response at the sentence level in the training process for reducing the problem of exposure bias. Therefore, we proposed the reinforcement learning model integrating cognition and affection (RLCA) model that utilizes the RL framework integrating cognition and affection to evoke greater empathetic expression in the model. In particular, the cognitive response generator can reason commonsense information based on the user’s situation to improve the perceptual capabilities of the proposed model. Moreover, the emotional regulator can mitigate the exposure bias problem by distilling multiple emotion signals from predicted responses and imparting higher emotional intelligence to the proposed model. Furthermore, the interaction between the cognition and affection aspects helps the model to learn the features of empathic expressions in human conversation. Extensive experimental findings on a benchmark dataset indicate that the RLCA outperforms the popular baseline models of automatic metrics and human evaluations while generating more interpretable empathetic responses.

A Survey on Identifying Empathic Expression in Remote Collaboration From Empathic Computing

A Survey on Identifying Empathic Expression in Remote Collaboration From Empathic Computing

In praise of empathic AI

In this article we investigate the societal implications of empathic artificial intelligence (AI), asking how its seemingly empathic expressions make people feel. We highlight AI’s unique ability to simulate empathy without the same biases that afflict humans. While acknowledging serious pitfalls, we propose that AI expressions of empathy could improve human welfare.

Family Responses to Different Types of Clinician Empathy Expression in Pediatric Care Conferences.

Background: Clinician empathy positively impacts patient outcomes. Few studies have assessed the effects of different types of empathic expression. Objective: To describe how families respond when clinicians express empathy in different ways. Design: Prospective, mixed-methods cohort. Setting/Subjects: English and interpreted pediatric inpatient care conferences at a U.S. quaternary hospital between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2021. Measurements: Directed content analysis of clinician empathic statements and family responses. Results: Of 29 patient-family dyads, 11 (39%) used language interpretation. In response to 80 clinician empathic statements, families expressed agreement or shared more 84% (67/80) of the time. Families shared more about their perspective in response to explore statements 71.4% (10/14) of the time, in response to validate statements 61% (17/28) of the time, and in response to respect/support statements 39% (11/28) of the time. Conclusion: Certain types of empathic statements may be more effective at prompting families to share more about their perspective, a key element of shared decision-making.

Does deliberate practice surpass didactic training in learning empathy skills? – A randomized controlled study

A large body of research identifies therapist expressed empathy as one of the most important predictors of psychotherapy outcome. Deliberate practice (DP) is an effective method to improve skills in many fields. We asked if DP also can be used to enhance the skill of expressing empathy. Objective: The aim was to compare the efficacy of DP to didactical learning methods (DLM) in enhancing the skill of empathic expression in students. Method: A repeated measures randomized controlled group design was used. Novice students (N = 36) from psychologist-, medicine-, social work-, and nursing programs received two training sessions of either DP (n = 21) or DLM (n = 15). Participants’ skills in empathic expression were assessed with the Measure of Expressed Empathy (MEE) on three occasions: before the first, between, and after the last training session. Results: Participants in the DP-group showed improved empathic expression, whereas participants in the DLM-group did not. Conclusions: These findings suggest that DP is an effective training method for therapeutic skills such as empathic expression and holds implications for the future development of educational practices to incorporate active skill training methods.

Parent–Preschooler Writing on an Internet Forum as a Potential Platform for Promoting Respectful Online Discourse and Executive Functions

This research explored young children’s online writing with the support of their parents. In this pioneering study, we explored the nature of the online discourse. We studied parents’ potential influence on their children’s executive function (EF) development by directing their online discourse. After a workshop in the preschools on supporting children’s writing and the promotion of ethics in online discourse, we encouraged parents to support their children in writing messages to their friends within a closed online forum. We asked them to help their children in responding to a child who had not yet received any comments and in writing new posts. The participants were 174 Hebrew-speaking parents and their children (M = 65.57 months) from eight preschools in Israel. We analyzed the written messages (N = 1167), including posts and comments. Parents guided their children to write positive, friendly messages that included empathic expressions. We identified 14 themes (e.g., sharing experience) in the posts and 4 in the comments. Despite the positive nature of the online discourse, 49 children did not receive any comments, while others received several. We suggest that guided writing in closed forums can be a good platform for promoting EF and teaching children to use the network empathetically.

How, when and why abilities go social: researching children's empathy and prosocial behaviors in context.

The current paper undertakes interdisciplinary research on empathy in children by combining insights and methodological tools from the fields of psychology, education and anthropology. The researchers aim to map how children's individual empathic abilities studied on a cognitive level do or do not coincide with their empathic expressions as part of group dynamics in daily life at the classroom level. We combined qualitative and quantitative methods within three different classrooms at three different schools. In total, 77 children aged between 9 to 12 years participated. The results indicate how such an interdisciplinary approach can provide unique insights. Through the integration of data from our different research tools we could reveal the interplay between different levels. More specifically this meant showing the possible influence of rule-based prosocial behaviors versus empathy based prosocial behaviors, the interplay between community empathic abilities and individual empathic abilities, and the role of peer culture and school culture. These insights can be seen as encouragement toward a research approach that extends beyond the single disciplinary field in social science research.

Physician Empathy in Doctor-Patient Communication: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Physician empathy is at the heart of doctor-patient communication and significantly influences patient outcomes. However, the research on how physicians express their empathy and how physician empathy affects patient outcomes and doctor-patient communication has not been well summarized in the latest literature. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to synthesize existing studies on physician empathy and its value to patient outcomes and doctor-patient communication. The systematic review consisted of studies published in English peer-reviewed journals between January 2017 and October 2021. Following the PRISMA procedure, a total of 3055 articles were retrieved, and 11 articles were retained. The thematic analysis revealed three emergent themes: physicians’ empathic expressions; patient outcomes (patient functional status, patient safety, and patient satisfaction); and empathy enhancing doctor-patient communication. This study highlighted the different ways empathy may be expressed by physicians and its positive effects on patient outcomes and doctor- patient communication. This study also suggested the under-researched areas that can be expanded in the future.

Empathy Expression in Interpreted and Noninterpreted Care Conferences of Seriously Ill Children.

Clinician empathy is associated with improved communication and clinical outcomes. We hypothesized that, when clinicians express empathy, families are more likely to deepen discussions, and that clinicians express less empathy in care conferences with language interpretation. Prospective, mixed methods cohort study of English and interpreted audio-recorded transcripts of care conferences for pediatric patients with serious illness hospitalized at a single urban, quaternary medical institution between January 2018 and January 2021. Directed content analysis identified empathic opportunities, clinician empathetic statements or missed opportunities, and family responses. Clinician empathic statements were "buried" if immediately followed by more clinician medical talk. Descriptive analyses summarized demographics and codes. χ2 analyses summarized differences among language interpretation and family responses. Twenty-nine patient-family dyads participated. Twenty-two (81%) family members were female. Eleven (39%) used language interpretation (8 Spanish, 2 Vietnamese, 1 Somali). Families created 210 empathic opportunities. Clinicians responded with unburied empathy 80 times (38%, no differences for English versus interpreted care conferences, P = .88). When clinicians buried empathy or missed empathic opportunities, families responded with alliance (agreement, gratitude, or emotional deepening) 14% and 15% of the time, respectively. When clinicians responded with unburied empathy, families responded with alliance 83% of the time (P < .01). Our study suggests that clinician empathic expression does not differ when language interpretation is used in pediatric care conferences. Clinicians often miss opportunities to express empathy, or they bury it by medical talk. Although unburied empathy created opportunities for relationship-building and family-sharing, buried empathy negatively impacted these domains similarly to no empathic expression.

Cultural empathy in intercultural interactions: the development and validation of the intercultural empathy index

ABSTRACT Based on discussions of cultural empathy in intercultural communication and counselling and multicultural psychology, this paper presents a model and a measure of cultural empathy suited for a broad range intercultural interactions – the Intercultural Empathy Index (IEI). We examined the IEI’s psychometric properties via two studies involving approximately 2000 undergraduate students at a western Canadian university. Reflecting the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of empathy, the IEI includes subscales that assess (1) one’s awareness of the cultural similarities and differences that arise during cross-cultural interactions (Cross-Cultural Awareness), (2) the degree to which one could take the perspective of a person from a different culture (Ease of Perspective-taking), (3) the extent to which one could identify with the emotions of other cultural groups (Empathic Feelings), and (4) the extent to which one behaves empathically toward people from other cultures (Empathic Expressions). The findings of confirmatory factor and correlational analyses provided evidence on the reliability and validity of the IEI. The findings’ implications in regards to the role of cultural empathy in positive intercultural interactions and relations are discussed.

Are You Communicating Empathy (In)Effectively? An Evaluation of Empathic Expressions in Responses to Negative and Positive Events

Empathic expressions refer to various ways in which one com-municates empathy. This includes verbal and nonverbal expres-sions of empathy in responses to positive and negative events. The present study provides an evaluation of empathic expressions in the context of friendship in order to find out which empathic expression(s) are considered the most supportive and rated the highest quality. Based on the analyses, “emotional reactivity” as an empathic expression is rated as the most supportive and high-est quality in response to a disclosure of a negative event. Also, “experience sharing” is perceived as the most supportive and highest quality in response to a disclosure of a positive event. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Psychometric Validation of the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy in a Sample of Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Rehabilitation: A Brief Report

Ethnocultural empathy is one of the most important multicultural competencies in counseling psychology. Wang et al. developed the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE) for counseling psychology educators as an outcome variable to evaluate multicultural counseling competencies of counselors-in-training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurement structure of the SEE in a sample of undergraduate and graduate students in rehabilitation. Confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the four-factor intercorrelated model fit the data very well. The four factors are (a) empathic feeling and expression, (b) empathic perspective taking, (c) empathic awareness, and (d) acceptance of cultural differences. The SEE can be an invaluable tool for rehabilitation counselor educators to evaluate their students’ level of multicultural rehabilitation counseling competency and as an outcome variable for multicultural rehabilitation counseling training.

“I get you”: A qualitative study on group members’ empathic expression.

“I get you”: A qualitative study on group members’ empathic expression.

Medical Students' Perspectives on the Factors Affecting Empathy Development During Their Undergraduate Training.

This study investigated the perspectives of medical students on the factors influencing empathy development during their undergraduate training. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to generate illustrations of empathy development and decline that had educational significance and applicability. Individual online semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit experiential details from twelve final-year medical students. The interview recordings were transcribed verbatim, and data were analysed employing Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method. The self-reported empathic behavior of medical students seemed to have improved with time in medical school. Students attributed their empathy development to real patient encounters, positive role-modelling by teachers, and attainment of confidence and personal maturity. They identified exams, academic overload, time constraints, personal stresses, negative role models, unconducive learning environments, and lack of formal empathy training as barriers to empathy development. Medical institutes should identify and address the barriers to empathy development and encourage the holistic development of medical students. Furthermore, medical educators should model their behavior accurately for their increasing roles and responsibilities and support the students in their empathic expressions with patients.

Affect Displays with Color Expression of Teardrop in the Teary-eyed Robot

Human tears have an effect as an empathic signal that visually conveys evoked strong affects or emotions to them. We focused on human tears as an expression method with strong affects or emotions and developed a teary-eyed robot called Tearoid. Tearoid has the structure of mimicking human lacrimal apparatus and generates the teardrops by controlling the inflow of tears. However, the affect displays of the kinds for the teardrops with various affects or emotions were not examined so far. Therefore, if the robot’s affects or emotions can be inferred from various teardrops, it becomes a new empathic expression for humanoid robots. In this study, we proposed new affect displays that enhance affective expressions by adding color to the teardrops that flow into the Tearoid. It was confirmed that the colored teardrops express various affects or emotions even if the facial expressions do not change.

Using character connection journaling to develop cultural empathy

ABSTRACT This study explored character connection journaling as a cultural immersion exercise in a multicultural counselling course at a Midwestern university in the United States. Qualitative data were collected from students' (N = 21) journal entries. The findings suggest that counsellors-in-training students value character connection journaling in a number of ways with many describing the significant impacts it has had on developing cultural empathy (empathic awareness, empathic perspective-taking, and empathic feeling and expression). The findings also revealed that six major categories (increased awareness of white privilege, increased awareness of microaggressions, challenging bias and open-mindedness, social initiative, self-reflection, and acknowledging limitations) emerged that reflected students' reactions to the character journaling experience. Implications for using character connection journaling as a cultural immersion exercise in multicultural counselling courses and future research are discussed.

Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Empathic Expressions: A Communication Perspective

ABSTRACT This research focuses on developing and providing validation for Empathic Expressions Scale (EES). Three studies were conducted using different samples: (1) a qualitative study that uncovered empathic responses, (2) a quantitative study using exploratory factor analysis to determine subscales for the EES and then test for convergent with empathy quotient and compassionate communication, and divergent validity with narcissism and verbal aggressiveness, and (3) a quantitative study using confirmatory factor analysis to validate the structure of the EES. Results suggest a consistent structure for the EES, which includes five factors on: verbal affirmation, experience sharing, empathic voice, emotional reactivity, and empathic touch. These factors represent, both, verbal and nonverbal communication.

‘I want to join the play’. Young children’s wants and needs of empathy when experiencing peer rejections in ECEC

ABSTRACT Peer rejections impair children’s well-being in ECEC, impede their social and emotional development, and increase the risk of multiple forms of peer adversities. This study explores children’s need for empathy when experiencing rejections from peers in free play situations in ECEC. The data were collected through video-recorded dialogical interviews with children between three and a half and six years of age and analysed within a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. The findings show that children’s need for empathy was most dominantly initiated by the wish to play and experience belonging, and this need was felt in relation to other children as well as ECEC staff. The findings highlight the importance of the ECEC practitioner’s being present and available for emotional and social support for children in play negotiations, as well as her or his involvement in facilitating participation, encouraging children’s empathic expressions, and promoting inclusion.

Towards a relational conceptualization of empathy.

Empathy is a fundamental concept in health care and nursing. In academic literature, it has been primarily defined as a personal ability, act or experience. The relational dimensions of empathy have received far less attention. In our view, individualistic conceptualizations are restricted and do not adequately reflect the practice of empathy in daily care. We argue that a relational conceptualization of empathy contributes to a more realistic, nuanced and deeper understanding of the functions and limitations of empathy in professional care practices. In this article, we explore the relational aspects of empathy, drawing on sources that offer a relational approach, such as the field of care ethics, the phenomenology of Edith Stein and qualitative research into interpersonal and interactive empathy. We analyse the relational aspects of three prevalent components of empathy definitions: the underlying ability or act (i.e. the cognitive, affective and perception abilities that enable empathy); the resulting experience (i.e. empathic understanding and affective responsivity) and the expression of this experience (i.e. empathic expression). Ultimately, we propose four inter‐related understandings of empathy: (a) A co‐creative practice based on the abilities and activities of both the empathizer and the empathee; (b) A fundamentally other‐oriented experience; (c) A dynamic, interactive process in which empathizer and empathee influence each other's experiences; (d) A quality of relationships.