Adapting M. Davis’s Multifactor Empathy Questionnaire

Abstract

This article describes the procedure and results of an adaptation of the empathy questionnaire of the American social psychologist M. Davis, which is widely used in foreign psychology and is recognized by researchers as the most valid and reliable one. Based on an analysis of the psychodiagnostic tools for studying empathy that are available in foreign and Russian psychology, the conclusion is drawn that the Multifactor approach to measuring empathy formulated by David is the one most consistent with current concepts of the structure of empathy. The article describes in detail the procedure of the adaptation and verification of the reliability and construct validity of the test, and presents the results of the studies that were conducted by using it.