Profiles in empathy: Different empathic responses to emotional and physical suffering

Empathy often occurs when individuals witness another suffer. Researchers who study empathy have tried to identify reliable behavioral outcomes, affective responses, and physiological changes associated with its experience. However to date, these markers of empathy have remained elusive. We propose that failing to take into account the features of the suffering that elicited the empathy has contributed to this problem. We hypothesized that emotional and physical suffering generate diverging profiles of empathy with different behavioral, affective, and physiological markers. We first examined how observer's rated 75 different types of suffering. Ratings produced 2 independent clusters-primarily emotional and primarily physical, which classified 80% of suffering events (Study 1). Next we measured behavioral, affective, and physiological markers of empathy for emotional and physical suffering. In a 2-step exploratory (Study 2a) and confirmatory (Study 2b; preregistered) process, participants generated open-ended behavioral responses to suffering scenarios, which were coded, classified into thematic categories, and presented to new participants. We found that emotional suffering elicited more comforting and interpersonal emotion regulation behaviors in others, whereas physical suffering elicited more emergency mobilization behaviors. In Study 3, participants viewed pictures of suffering. Self-reports and coded expressions of compassion were stronger for emotional suffering; anxiety and distress were stronger for physical suffering. In Study 4, participants watched videos of suffering. Emotional and physical suffering elicited increased parasympathetic and sympathetic activation, though coactivation was greater for physical suffering. This work generates a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of empathy, which addresses current debates and reconciles inconsistencies in its conceptualization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).