共情的维度及辨析

An Analysis of the Dimensions of Empathy

共情是一种对人们的社会生活与情感交流有着重要影响的心理现象。目前共情的概念尚存争议,定义繁多。即便是针对相同变量关系的研究,也可能因为共情定义不同而得到不同的研究结论,从而产生一系列理论和实践上的问题。本文从共情的两个维度(情绪共情和认知共情)入手,梳理和辨析了与这两个维度相关的概念(包括同情、共情关注、个人痛苦和观点采择),并讨论了共情是否应当包含行为维度的问题,帮助研究者更加深入地理解共情的内涵,减少对于共情研究结果的疑惑,帮助研究者选择合适的共情定义和测量工具,提高研究共情和运用共情的有效性。

Empathy is a psychological phenomenon that has an important influence on people’s social life and affective interaction. At present, the concept of empathy is controversial and has many different definitions. The inconsistency of the concept of empathy may result in the different even opposite conclusions in the studies investigating the same variables’ relationship, raising a series of theoretical and practical problems. Starting from the two dimensions of empathy (affective empathy and cognitive empathy), this manuscript differentiated and analyzed the concepts related to these two dimensions (including sympathy, empathic concern, personal distress and perspective taking), and discussed the question whether empathy should include behavioral dimension, so as to help researchers understand the connotation of empathy more deeply, reduce doubts about the research results of empathy, choose the appropriate definition and measurement tools of empathy, and improve the effectiveness of research and application of empathy.