The contribution of empathy to harmony in interpersonal relationships

The modern psychological concept of empathy is traced to its roots in the 18th century moral philosophy of David Hume and Adam Smith as well as in German aesthetics. After contrasting empathy with sympathy the evolution of the term "empathy" through the 20th century is examined with emphasis on the major schools of thought of that time period and the most influential empathy theorists. After a consideration of the modern topic of empathy measurement, the importance of empathy to the promotion of positive social interactions and inhibition of antisocial behavior as well as its importance in the proper treatment of animals are discussed. From this literature it is apparent that while strong theoretical support has been accompanied by empirical evidence for the importance of empathy to harmony in the interpersonal relationships of adults and older children this same relationship has not been found in young children. A new picture/story empathy measure (The Empathy Measure for Preschoolers), which attempts to avoid some of the pitfalls of previous measures, was developed. Scores on this measure were compared with preschool children's scores on a measure of their social skills and problem behavior. Empathy scores, as measured by the Empathy Measure for Preschoolers (EMP), were found to be positively related to social skills and negatively related to problem behavior. In addition, an inventory of children's bond to their pets was developed. Scores on the Pet Bonding Scale (PBS) were not predictive of empathy or of quality of interaction with a live rabbit. However, the quality of interaction with the rabbit, pet ownership, and length of pet ownership were postively related to empathy. The Pet Bonding Scale appeared to be susceptible to social desirability and halo effect confounding in part due to lack of camouflaging the intent of the questions. The Empathy Measure for Preschoolers needs additional testing to assure its validity and reliability. However, based on the results of this study, empathy as assessed by the EMP was predictive of harmonious social behavior, which is in accordance with the majority of theoretical evidence.