What We Talk About When We Talk About Empathy: Toward a Common Lexicon of Empathy-Related Constructs

IF 9.5 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Perspectives on Psychological Science Pub Date : 2026-09-25 DOI:10.1177/17456916261443519

Mark H. Davis, Sara Konrath, Fritz Breithaupt, C. Daryl Cameron, Jean Decety, Frans B. M. de Waal, Nancy Eisenberg, Judith A. Hall, Sara D. Hodges, Suzanne Keen, Birgit Koopmann-Holm, Heidi L. Maibom, Stephanie D. Preston, Jacquie D. Vorauer, Jamil Zaki

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Almost since the term “empathy” was coined, there has been scholarly disagreement about its meaning. Today it can best be viewed as an umbrella term encompassing a host of more specific constructs, almost all of which are regularly referred to as “empathy” in some form or fashion. Promiscuous use of this global label to denote very different constructs has impaired communication among and between scholars, practitioners, and the general public. A team of 15 empathy scholars assessed this issue and created a lexicon for these specific lower-order constructs. In this article we report the result of this effort. The lower-order constructs making up this lexicon are vicarious affect , emotional contagion , emotion co-sharing , sympathy / compassion , personal distress , perspective taking , accurate inference , mimicry , synchrony , projection , and transportation . We recommend that this more specific language be used more frequently and that the umbrella term “empathy” be used more sparingly.

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当我们谈论移情时，我们在谈论什么：关于移情相关构念的共同词汇

几乎自“共情”一词被创造出来以来，学术界对其含义就一直存在分歧。今天，它最好被视为一个涵盖了许多更具体结构的总称，几乎所有这些结构都以某种形式或方式经常被称为“同理心”。混淆地使用这个全球标签来表示非常不同的结构已经损害了学者，从业者和公众之间的交流。一个由15名共情学者组成的团队评估了这个问题，并为这些特定的低阶构念创建了一个词典。在本文中，我们将报告这项工作的结果。构成该词汇的低阶构念是替代影响、情绪传染、情绪共享、同情/同情、个人痛苦、视角获取、准确推断、模仿、同步、投射和运输。我们建议更频繁地使用这种更具体的语言，而更少地使用总括性术语“同理心”。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Perspectives on Psychological Science PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

22.70

自引率

4.00%

发文量

111

期刊介绍： Perspectives on Psychological Science is a journal that publishes a diverse range of articles and reports in the field of psychology. The journal includes broad integrative reviews, overviews of research programs, meta-analyses, theoretical statements, book reviews, and articles on various topics such as the philosophy of science and opinion pieces about major issues in the field. It also features autobiographical reflections of senior members of the field, occasional humorous essays and sketches, and even has a section for invited and submitted articles. The impact of the journal can be seen through the reverberation of a 2009 article on correlative analyses commonly used in neuroimaging studies, which still influences the field. Additionally, a recent special issue of Perspectives, featuring prominent researchers discussing the "Next Big Questions in Psychology," is shaping the future trajectory of the discipline. Perspectives on Psychological Science provides metrics that showcase the performance of the journal. However, the Association for Psychological Science, of which the journal is a signatory of DORA, recommends against using journal-based metrics for assessing individual scientist contributions, such as for hiring, promotion, or funding decisions. Therefore, the metrics provided by Perspectives on Psychological Science should only be used by those interested in evaluating the journal itself.