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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice

Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice

Published on: November 22, 2024

Basic Empathy Scale: A Systematic Review and Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis.

Javier Cabedo-Peris¹, Manuel Martí-Vilar¹, César Merino-Soto²

¹Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy, Universitat de València, 46010 Valencia, Spain.

Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)

|January 21, 2022

Summary

The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) is widely used but shows high heterogeneity in reliability. While suitable for general populations, it is not recommended for clinical diagnosis due to these variations.

Keywords:

empathy meta-analysis prosocial behavior reliability systematic review

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Social Sciences

Background:

The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) is an internationally recognized instrument for measuring empathy.
Its application has expanded across diverse research areas since its development in 2006.

Purpose of the Study:

To systematically review the use of the BES.
To analyze the validity and reliability generalization of the BES through meta-analysis.

Main Methods:

A systematic review of 74 articles utilizing the BES.
Evidence validity analysis and reliability generalization meta-analysis.

Main Results:

BES usage is increasing, with broader research applications.
Validity analyses indicate a focus on factor analysis and reliability over testing consequences.
Meta-analysis revealed a mean Cronbach's alpha of 0.81 for both cognitive and affective empathy, with high heterogeneity (I² = 98.81%).

Conclusions:

The BES is appropriate for general population studies.
The scale is not recommended for clinical diagnostic purposes.
Moderate to high heterogeneity in Cronbach's alpha necessitates careful interpretation.