Empathy and Psychopathy Traits in University Students in Belgium: a Network Approach

Empathy is the complex prosocial cognitive capacity to recognize and react to the emotions of others. An empathic attitude from medical doctors is essential to build a good relationship with patients. In engineering education there is an hypervalorization of technical skills in disadvantage of these affective elements. Psychopathy is the lack of considerations toward others. These two important personality traits shape social interactions. In this study we analyzed, through the network theory, these characteristics in a young population of medical and engineering university students in Belgium. The aim of this study was therefore to estimate the individual network structure of these traits in both groups, as well as estimate whether there is a fundamental difference in the way that these traits connect in these two populations. Medical and engineering students completed online three self-report questionnaires about empathy and psychopathy traits. There were 178 responders without exclusions due outliers. No significant differences were found in psychopathic traits between the two groups. There was a statistically significant difference in empathic concerns, the medical students being more empathic than their peers in engineering. Psychopathic traits did not vary significantly between the two groups. This study provided insights into the differences in empathic and psychopathic traits among those students. Future research should explore the factors that contribute to these differences and investigate the potential impact of targeted interventions or curricular modifications in cultivating empathy and minimizing antisocial behaviors in both fields.