Higher Levels Of Empathy Research Articles

Protective roles of empathy and compassion against loneliness early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

ImportanceThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused concern of an impending “second wave” of loneliness and mental health problems following social disruption that included mandates to physically and socially distance from others. Research is needed to identify factors that can mitigate loneliness, which results from perceptions that one's social connections are less than desirable. ObjectiveWe examined whether individual differences in empathy and compassion would predict loneliness in a large sample of adults surveyed early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic controlling for social desirability and loneliness risk factors. DesignUsing a cross-sequential design, a baseline survey was fielded at seven time points (every two weeks) to seven different cohorts from March 22 to June 15, 2020. For each cohort, a follow-up survey was fielded one month after each baseline survey. ParticipantsParticipants who comprised the seven cohorts were recruited from two U.S. convenience samples, Amazon Mechanical Turk and Qualtrics Online Panels. The response rate across the follow-up surveys was 59% (total N = 3262). Main outcomes and measuresWe hypothesized that dispositional empathy and compassion at baseline would be associated with lower levels of loneliness at one-month follow-up. ResultsHigher empathy at baseline (Beta = -0.03; 95% CI -0.05 to -0.02; P < .001) was associated with lower loneliness at follow-up, even after controlling for social desirability and other loneliness risk factors. Higher compassion at baseline (Beta = -0.03; 95% CI -0.05 to -0.01; P < .001) was also associated with lower loneliness at follow-up. Conclusion and relevanceWe found that early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, higher levels of empathy and compassion predicted lower levels of loneliness one month later. Future research, including experimental designs, should examine whether increasing empathy, or the tendency to share others’ positive and negative feelings, can confer a protective effect against perceived social isolation during collective trauma characterized by physical and social distancing.

Associated Factors of Empathy Level Among Nurses in Tertiary Care Hospital Lahore

It is well acknowledged that a high level of empathy among nurses is critical to their nursing care. For successful and efficient nursing care, empathy is a fundamental component of the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses are responsible to deliver patient-centered, safe, and effective nursing care at all levels of the health-care system. Nurses' sympathetic role in the therapeutic setting begins with a thorough assessment of their patients' bodily, psychological, and spiritual needs. Nurses' capacity to listen empathetically to their patients and deliver empathic nursing care successfully leads to proper patient care, which increases patient satisfaction with nursing care. Objective: To determine the association of empathy levels with demographic factors among Nurses working at Public Tertiary care Hospitals Lahore. Methods: A cross sectional analytical study design was used to conduct this study. The Sample size of n=180 nurses were recruited through simple random sampling technique. Jefferson Empathy scale was used for data collection from participants to assess the empathy level among nurses. Filled questionnaires were collected and processed for data analysis through SPSS version 21. Results: The study findings stated that empathy level among nurses was not found in association with educational institute (p-value=.623), marital status (p-value-.771), education level (p-value=.556) and job experience (p-value=.395). It simply means that the mentioned demographic factors have no influence on nurses’ empathy level here in this study. Conclusion: It is concluded that the level of empathy among nurses was not found to be associated with the demographic factors of nurses like their age, experience and institute of graduation.

Assessment of Psychological Variables amongst Indian Medical Professionals: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: The doctor–patient relationship is of critical importance to patient satisfaction and is impacted by various doctor-related factors. Aim: To assess the levels of emotional intelligence (EI), empathy, everyday/perceived discrimination and verbal aggression amongst medical professionals and medical students, and to understand the interrelations between these variables and their differences across groups. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included convenience sampling of 191 medical students, and 94 medical professionals (residents and attending doctors). They were administered the Wong and Law emotional intelligence scale, Toronto empathy questionnaire, everyday discrimination scale and verbal aggression sub-scale from the Buss–Perry aggression scale. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20. Results: EI was significantly greater amongst professionals as compared to students, and positively correlated to years of experience in the medical profession. Everyday discrimination increased with years of experience in the medical fraternity and was also negatively correlated with the ‘emotion regulation’ component of EI. Female participants had higher levels of empathy and lower levels of everyday discrimination. Conclusion: In Indian medical professionals the levels of EI increase with years of experience and are higher for medical professionals than students. The levels of perceived discrimination increase with years of experience and were greater for medical professionals and male doctors. Perceived discrimination and verbal aggression showed a negative association with empathy and EI. Understanding the factors that impact the doctor–patient relationship, as well as the doctor’s personal experience in the medical fraternity, are crucial to improve patient satisfaction, as well as to improve the well-being of the medical professionals.

GRATITUDE DURING THE COVID CRISIS - TO WHOM AND FOR WHAT THE BULGARIANS ARE GRATEFUL

Gratitude influences the establishing, maintaining and deepening of interpersonal relationships and readiness to provide support in crisis situations. Еxperiencing and expressing gratitude is оften associated with high levels of positive emotions, resilience, life satisfaction, optimism, empathy and&nbsp; prosocial behavior. Оn the other hand lack of gratitude is associated with depression and high levels of stress. At the beginning of the Covid crisis in April 2020, a non-representative sample poll was conducted through an online survey, involving 200 people between the ages of 18 and 65. The aim is to conduct a qualitative reasearch on the gratitude subject and the person of gratitude during the emergency. With content analysis, the collected answers for the subject of gratitude are grouped into categories - Health, Communicating with loved ones, Work, What you have, Other people's actions, Slow living, New opportunities, Nothing, Protection from God. Answers revealing the person of gratitude are grouped into categories - Family and friends, Institutions, Medical practitioners, People outside the immediate circle, Employer, God/Fate, Myself, None, Pet. The hypothesis that during a crisis people also notice the positive in life (relationships, material and non-material resources), feel gratitude and tend to value relationships highly has been confirmed. Programs and activities, developing gratitude as an attitude or character strength, would enhance positive and protective effect during crisis situations and beyond.

Not Ideal, But Still Acknowledged: A 10-Country Survey on Empathy for Victims of Anti-LGBT Violence.

Using data from a cross-national survey conducted on representative samples of populations from 10 European countries (n = 10,766), the present study is the first one to empirically measure the validity of Christie's influential ideal victim model. We use a range of scenarios built around common types of anti-LGBT violence to verify the extent to which the public's empathy for victims is contingent on the victim's identity and the circumstances of the crime. The results provide strong evidence that, when applied to this group of victims, the rules of the ideal victim work, adequately moderating the public's emotional reactions. We found that all victims receive relatively high levels of empathy, but the further the victim is from the ideal, the less support they can count on. Thus, even though no victim is "rejected," a clear hierarchy of victimization emerges. As a group, LGBT people suffer from an empathy deficit, but there also are considerable variations within this group, with a lesbian attacked by extremists receiving the most, and a drunk transgender person receiving the least empathy from the public. The study contributes to the development of theory by embedding the ideal victim model in a broader sociological paradigm of dramaturgical analysis. Since our research shows that the victim's LGBT status decreases the levels of empathy (being seen as a type of stigma), we call for more attention to be paid to the actor's identity in Goffman's framework. Implications for practice and further research are offered.

Fatigue, Pro-Social Attitude and Quality of Life as Predictors of Empathy in Medical and Social-Oriented Students

Empathy is significant in professions that require establishing proper contact as a condition for providing help. Identifying factors related to empathy is important for understanding how to teach empathic behavior. The main goal of this study was to find variables related to empathy in a group of students from two universities: medical and social oriented (N = 1701). The study group consisted of female (81%) and male (19%) participants, aged between 18-20 (37%), 21-23 (49%), or 24 years and above (14%). A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographical information, with additional questions (social self-esteem, prosocial attitude, subjective quality of life). Empathy was measured with the EQ-40, fatigue with CHFQ-PL, and stress with PSS-10. The results showed a statistically significant regression model for empathy. A high quality of life and having feelings of pleasure when helping other people allows to predict a high level of empathy, especially among females. Higher levels of fatigue and social self-esteem, the latter of which is measured here by the belief that you are more important than others, predicts lower empathy. There were no differences between students from two different kinds of universities when taking into consideration stress levels, subjective quality of life, and prosocial attitude. However, students from the medical university were more exhausted and more convinced that their value was greater than others, as compared to the students studying social sciences. When teaching empathic behavior, it is beneficial to attempt to maintain or restore students' well-being and reduce fatigue and to teach how to achieve such effects in the future. Learning the balance between compassion, willingness to help, and self-compassion also seems to be important.

Parental Harsh Discipline and Cyberbullying Perpetration among Chinese College Students: Why and When are They Related?

ABSTRACT Cyberbullying is a prevalent phenomenon in Chinese college students. Previous research has identified parental harsh discipline as a potential risk factor for this behavior. However, little is known about why and when parental harsh discipline is related to cyberbullying. To fill in the gap, the present study constructed a moderated mediation model, in which deviant peer affiliation and moral identity were examined as two mediators, and empathy was examined as a moderator. Participants were 1,492 Chinese vocational college students (54.2% females) aged 17–25 years (M = 19.07, SD = 1.03). They completed an online survey measuring the variables of interest. Results indicated that deviant peer affiliation and moral identity separately and serially mediated the relationship between parental harsh discipline and cyberbullying perpetration. Empathy moderated the predictive effects of parental harsh discipline and deviant peer affiliation on cyberbullying perpetration, as well as the mediation effect via deviant peer affiliation. These effects were much weaker for students with higher levels of empathy. The present findings can extend our knowledge about the mechanisms linking parental harsh discipline to cyberbullying behavior. The implications and limitations of this study are further discussed.

Empathy level among the Nursing Workforce in the selected Health Institutes in Kathmandu consuming Toronto Empathy Scale

Introduction: Empathy is an essential ingredient of the nurse-patient relationship. The current study’s goal is to investigate empathy levels and associated demographic variables among the nursing workforce in Kathmandu's selected health institutions. Materials and Methods: cross-sectional study and purposive sampling technique; a total of 89 nursing workforce attained in this study; and online through the Google form was used to collect primary information. TEQ is made up of 16 items that are scored on a 5-point Likert scale as well as sociodemographic data (such as age, qualification, experience, and training). There are a total of 64. A score of &gt;45 shows that the person has a high level of empathy. The data was analyzed using descriptive and multiple regression techniques. Results: The descriptive analysis revealed that mostly 65.2% of the nursing workforce had below-average (&lt;45) empathy scores. In the regression analysis model, beta age had a value of 0.357 and beta education had a value of 0.028. It was discovered that education level and age have a significant impact on empathy. Conclusion: The study found that most of the nursing workforce had below-average empathy scores. However, it is an essential attribute for developing nurse-patient relationships at work. It can be learned and acquired. Key words: Empathy, Nursing Workforce, Toronto Empathy Scale

Project DABE: Empathy among Spanish Medical Students

IntroductionEmpathy refers to an aspect of personality, important in interpersonal relationships and in communication, considered to be an important value in the medical profession. In the present study, we have studied empathy in a sample of more than 5,000 medical students of all 43 medical schools in Spain. MethodsThe data belong to the DABE project, a study that included mental health variables and that was applied through a web survey just before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions started. To measure empathy, we used the Jefferson Empathy Scale (Student Version), which comprises 20 items relating to three underlying components, Perspective Taking, Compassionate Care, and Standing in the Patient’s Shoes. ResultsEmpathy global score was high and it increased progressively every year during medical school. Empathy score was greater in the female students, with a 20% of participants showed high levels of empathy, again more in women. High empathy was associated with students having greater social support, more interest and participation in everyday experiences and satisfaction with social activities. The three components of empathy were also greater in women than in men. Empathy scores were significantly lower in those students that reported smoking and also in the students that reported use of frequent use of cannabis. DiscussionEmpathy scores are high in the spanish medical students population, with a 20% of them showing high levels. Empathy scores increase longitudinally during medical school, are greater in female students and lower in those smoking either tobacco or cannabis.

Empathy level among Saudi medical students using the Toronto empathy scale

Background: Empathy is a crucial component of professionalism in medicine, having a solid relationship with improved patient outcomes. The current study aims to examine the factor structure of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) with a sample of Saudi medical students and to assess the differences in empathy scores by gender, year of study, and future career preference. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using anonymous self-administered online questionnaires. The study tool targeted a random sample of medical students in public and private Saudi medical schools in five regions (North, South, East, West, and Central) of Saudi Arabia. Results: 941 Saudi medical students enrolled in the study. 52.3% were male students, and 30.6% of the students were from the central region of Saudi Arabia. The most desired specialties were general surgery (19.2%), internal medicine (12.5%), and family medicine 8.2%. The average TEQ score was 42.31%, with 67.1% scoring low to average empathy levels. About one-third (32.9%) scored high empathy levels; females scored a higher average on the empathy score compared to males (43.48 vs. 41.24) P-value &lt;0.001. The never-married studentsalso scored higher empathy than married students 42.53 vs. 38.78) P-value &lt;0.00. The region with the highest empathy scores was the central province, 44.72%. Conclusion: Different factors could influence empathy scores, such as gender, marital status, GPA, and study year. Female students had a higher empathy score compared to male students. Senior medical students scored lower on the scale than younger students, and could be associated with a higher level of burnout. Further empathy-based discussions should be inserted into the Saudi medical curricula. Keywords: professionalism, Toronto empathy scale, medical students, Saudi Arabia.

Evaluator empathy in risk assessment interviews.

Should forensic evaluators convey empathy during forensic assessments? Opponents contend that empathy causes harm by leading evaluees to disclose potentially incriminating information, but proponents hold that empathy is crucial for establishing rapport and conveying respect. This study provides a comprehensive examination of experienced forensic evaluators' use of empathy in forensic assessment. The study was exploratory and not hypothesis-driven, but we expected to find identifiable subgroups of evaluators who differed in their use of empathy in the context of a risk assessment interview. We also expected that evaluator subgroups would differ in their attitudes and practices regarding empathy and that higher levels of empathy may be associated with more favorable views of evaluees. Experienced forensic evaluators (N = 200) assumed the role of interviewer in a written parole risk assessment interview and chose questions (high or low empathy) they would ask the evaluee if they were conducting the interview. Evaluators also provided ratings of their perceptions of the evaluee and responded to questions regarding their attitudes toward, and use of, empathy in forensic assessment. Latent class analysis results indicated that most evaluators fell into low- (46.0%) or moderate- (43.0%) empathy subgroups, with few falling into a high-empathy subgroup (11.0%). Higher levels of empathy in the interview were associated with attitudes and practices supporting empathy use and higher self-reported understanding of the evaluee, but not with opinions of the evaluee's risk or suitability for parole. These findings of clear differences in evaluator empathy add to the growing body of research documenting the extent to which forensic evaluators differ in their evaluation styles and tendencies. Although there was support for both very low and very high levels of empathy, support for very high levels of empathy was uncommon. Most evaluators opted for low to moderate empathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Role of Empathy, Customer Orientation and Work Engagement in the Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Customer-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

This work explores the relationship between servant leadership in the service context and the extent to which employees engage in customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Data were collected at two time points from 158 full-time employees, working in16 branches of a large bank in Israel. The results show that there is a positive relationship between servant leadership and customer-oriented OCB and that this relationship is mediated by employees’ levels of customer orientation and work engagement. Likewise, the relationship between servant leadership and customer orientation is stronger among employees with low levels rather than high levels of empathy.

Case Study on VR Empathy Game: Challenges with VR Games Development for Emotional Interactions with the VR Characters

Empathy development in young children (6 to 9 years old) sets a foundation for emotional regulation and social skills for children’s futures. Researchers from the fields of virtual reality (VR) and game design highlight the potential of VR technologies as a great tool to promote empathy. However, there is little empirical and systematic knowledge on how to use VR technology to help promote empathy in young children. To address this gap, we developed a VR Empathy Game prototype to explore how VR experiences can inculcate empathy development in young children. To evaluate this prototype, we conducted a qualitative study with 15 children from 6 to 9 years old. We used an interpretive case study to provide an in-depth understanding of children’s experiences with the VR Empathy Game. To guide participant selection, we used a purposeful sampling approach and intentionally included K-3 children with different empathy and social skills levels.&#x0D; &#x0D; This paper describes one case representing a challenge that children with a low level of empathy can experience while playing the VR Empathy Game. This case explains the game experience of a seven-year-old boy, Gabe. The case is entitled: “The VR Empathy Game Experience with a Focus on Exploring the Environment and Looking for Clues.” Gabe confused intrinsic and extrinsic game goals and played the game focusing only on the VR environment. He perceived the game characters as an information source rather than building relationships with them unlike the children with a higher level of empathy. This case represents the group of four boys who participated in our study. In comparison with other participants, Gabe’s case provided very little evidence of noticing the characters' emotions. Our findings suggest that game designers should provide additional scaffolding for children with little levels of empathy, including additional reflective questions and reminders to interact with the characters. We also suggest a follow-up study exploring how different storylines would help children’s game experience.

Empathy and EGO-drive in the B2B salesforce: Impacts on job satisfaction

It has long been assumed that empathy and ego-drive are two fundamental characteristics of effective salespeople. Taking a wholistic view of sales effectiveness to include job satisfaction in sales positions, this research assesses the relationship between salesperson empathy and ego-drive and sales job satisfaction. While evidence suggests that high empathy and high ego-drive are predictors of sales performance, this does not always translate to job satisfaction based on our findings. Using the automated text analysis tool, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to analyze company reviews written by B2B salespeople, our results show that B2B salespeople who are most satisfied with their jobs possess high levels of empathy but low levels of ego-drive.

A Time to Say Goodbye: Empathy and Emotion Regulation Predict Timing of End-of-Life Decisions by Pet Owners

Little is known about how pet owners make end-of-life (EoL) decisions regarding their pets. We analyzed data from 1542 pet owners from North America and Europe that had made EoL decisions involving their dogs (n = 546) or cats (n=996). We measured participants’ empathy towards animals, emotion regulation, and attitudes toward pets, and asked for demographic information about themselves and the most recent pet that they had euthanized. We asked them to indicate a preference for making a decision too early versus too late, the stage of an illness or injury at which they had made their decision to euthanize, and the amount of guilt they felt for making a decision too early and too late. We hypothesized that individuals with high levels of empathy would prioritize the reduction of their pet’s suffering and would therefore make earlier decisions and feel greater guilt for having made decisions too late. This might be especially true for those with low emotion regulation as they might have more difficulty managing their own distress related to the pet’s condition. In addition, we recognized that pet owners would also consider their desire to extend the pet’s life - particularly when they had strong positive attitudes toward pets. Contrary to our predictions, those with higher reported empathy for animals were more likely to make decisions to euthanize at later stages compared to earlier stages. Cat owners made decisions later compared to dog owners. Higher levels of empathy and lower levels of emotion regulation predicted guilt for both early and late decisions. Further work is needed to explore how various owner characteristics impact EoL decisions. Our study makes a first attempt to understand this complex issue.

The effects of high-fidelity simulation training on empathy and attitudes toward older people among undergraduate nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

AimTo evaluate the effects of high-fidelity simulation training on attitudes towards older people and empathy among undergraduate nursing students. BackgroundPeople worldwide are living longer and, consequently, the number of older people is increasing globally. Geriatric syndromes are highly prevalent and associated with increased morbidity and mortality in this population. Positive attitudes towards older people and high levels of empathy are necessary for the provision of high-quality nursing care, which will contribute towards improving the quality of life of older patients affected by these syndromes. MethodsA quasi-experimental study was conducted using a longitudinal design with a single group and a pre- and post-intervention evaluation. The development of attitudes towards older people and empathy skills were evaluated using high-fidelity simulation-based training, comparing the levels obtained in these skills at baseline and after the simulation experience. The simulated scenarios recreated the great geriatric syndromes in older patients: instability, immobility, intellectual impairment and incontinence. ResultsAfter the simulation sessions, nursing students significantly improved their total scores for both attitudes toward older people and empathy, moreover, improvements were found in the three subscales of empathy. The effect size was large for the total scores of both the attitudes towards older people and the empathy scales and the ‘perspective taking’ subscale. The obtained effect size was small for the ‘compassionate care’ subscale, whereas for the ‘standing in the patient’s shoes’ subscale, the obtained effect size was medium. ConclusionsOur high-fidelity simulation-based training allows undergraduate nursing students to improve their empathy levels and positive attitudes toward older people. The development of these skills may provide benefits directly related to high-quality care for older patients. Therefore, the inclusion of simulation training programs in geriatric nursing study plans is necessary to train nursing students in the care of older people and to prepare them for real clinical practice.

The impact of face-to-face mental health consumer-led teaching on occupational therapy student empathy levels: Two group comparison design.

Australian and New Zealand accreditation standards for occupational therapy courses mandate consumer involvement in the design, delivery, and evaluation of courses. Consumer involvement in medical, dental, and nursing education has been evidenced as a factor for increasing student empathy. To date, there has been no known research on the impact of mental health consumer involvement on occupational therapy students' empathy. The aim of this study was to investigate if occupational therapy students who receive teaching from a mental health consumer demonstrate higher levels of empathy compared with students who receive teaching delivered by occupational therapy academics. Pre-post, quasi experimental, two group comparison design was used to measure second-year student empathy pre and post a consumer-led teaching tutorial. Students (N= 217) were randomised into two groups across three university campuses: 'teaching as usual group' (control) or 'consumer-led' group (experimental group). The Jefferson Scale of Empathy was used to measure student empathy. N= 138 matched scales were returned. Little difference in empathy scales was detected between groups. The 'consumer-led' group increased for the empathy scale by 3.4(95% CI: 0.7,6.1, p= 0.014) but was not statistically significant compared to 1.3(95% CI: -1.0,3.5, p= 0.267) for the control group. Both groups scored highly on empathy. This study found that occupational therapy students had pre-existing high levels of empathy. The challenge for future research is to identify appropriate ways to measure the impact of mental health consumer involvement on occupational therapy curriculum and students.

The Lure of Greed Beyond the Business School Popular Wall Street Narratives and Future Work Selves

Popular Wall Street narratives displaying greed and wealth, such as The Wolf of Wall Street, have become large box-office successes, reaching wide audiences. In three exploratory mixed-method experiments, this study investigates how popular Wall Street narratives relate to students’ and sales employees’ future work selves - who they aspire to become in their future job or career. The findings indicate that, for business school students as well as sales professionals, characters in greedy Wall Street narratives are considered more desired future work selves in comparison to characters in critical or realistic narratives. Participants perceived morally ambiguous characters in greed narratives through a “winner frame” of self-made success and wealth. Greed narratives were also associated with lower levels of empathy, indicating an activation of the psychological mechanism of “self-reliance”. In contrast, narratives adopting a “victim perspective” – in which the main characters suffer as a result of financial malpractice – were associated with higher levels of empathy. This study demonstrates the appeal of greedy characters on the future work selves of people who (aspire to) work in the field of financial sales. It sheds new light on the underlying mechanisms with which popular narratives can perpetuate a culture of greed in Wall Street.

Parent and child mental health during COVID-19 in Australia: The role of pet attachment.

Restrictions, social isolation, and uncertainty related to the global COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted the ways that parents and children maintain family routines, health, and wellbeing. Companion animals (pets) can be a critical source of comfort during traumatic experiences, although changes to family routines, such as those caused by COVID-19, can also bring about challenges like managing undesirable pet behaviours or pet-human interactions. We aimed to examine the relationship between pet attachment and mental health for both parents and their children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. A total of 1,034 parents living with a child under 18 years and a cat or dog completed an online cross-sectional survey between July and October 2020. Path analysis using multivariate linear regression was conducted to examine associations between objective COVID-19 impacts, subjective worry about COVID-19, human-pet attachment, and mental health. After adjusting for core demographic factors, stronger pet-child attachment was associated with greater child anxiety (parent-reported, p < .001). Parent-pet attachment was not associated with self-reported psychological distress (p = .42), however, parents who reported a strong emotional closeness with their pet reported greater psychological distress (p = .002). Findings highlight the role of pets during times of change and uncertainty. It is possible that families are turning to animals as a source of comfort, during a time when traditional social supports are less accessible. Alternatively, strong pet attachment is likely to reflect high levels of empathy, which might increase vulnerability to psychological distress. Longitudinal evidence is required to delineate the mechanisms underpinning pet attachment and mental health.

General empathy and medical empathy in Mexican medical students: Integration of an empathic profile.

To identify the association between general empathy and medical empathy. Detect predictors of the level of medical empathy from general empathy. To determine the psychosocial profile that describes the relationship between general empathy, medical empathy, and demographic and academic characteristics in medical students. Descriptive cross-sectional design. Medical students completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-student version (JSPE-S). Relatively high levels of general and medical empathy were detected. The total score of the IRI and the JSPE-S and their dimensions correlated positively (r = 0.14-0.52), except for the dimension personal distress of the IRI. The score of the IRI dimension empathic concern was the best predictor of the JSPE-S score and its dimensions (b = 0.27-0.54). Four profiles were detected: 1) men, preference for technology-oriented specialty, less empathy; 2) pre-clinical period students, less empathy; 3) students of the clinical period, greater empathy; and 4) women, preference for patient-oriented specialty, greater empathy. General and medical empathy are associated. Differentiated empathic profiles will allow the design of instructional strategies in empathy according to the specific needs of each one.