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The Development and Validation of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ).
Laurie Batchelder1, Mark Brosnan1, Chris Ashwin1
1Dept. of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
Plos One
|January 12, 2017
Summary
A new Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) was developed to measure cognitive and affective empathy, including ability and drive. This validated tool offers a comprehensive assessment of empathy for research with diverse populations.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Sciences
Background:
- Empathy is recognized as a multidimensional construct with cognitive and affective components.
- Current theories propose further distinctions within these components, such as empathy ability versus drive.
- Existing self-report measures do not comprehensively capture these nuanced aspects of empathy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ).
- The ECQ aims to measure cognitive and affective empathy, encompassing both ability and drive dimensions.
- To provide a psychometrically sound instrument aligned with contemporary empathy theories.
Main Methods:
- Initial item pool created using established empathy measures.
- Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on a sample of 101 adults to identify underlying factors.
- Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on an independent sample of 211 adults to validate the proposed five-component structure.
Main Results:
- PCA revealed a five-component model: cognitive ability, cognitive drive, affective ability, affective drive, and affective reactivity.
- CFA confirmed this five-component structure in an independent sample.
- Females scored higher than males on the ECQ, aligning with prior research.
- ECQ components demonstrated convergent validity by predicting social behavior.
Conclusions:
- The Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) is a validated, multidimensional measure of empathy.
- The ECQ effectively captures cognitive and affective components, including ability and drive.
- This new instrument offers a valuable tool for assessing empathy in research with healthy and clinical populations.
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