An Attempt to Construct the Empathic Experience Scale Revised (Eesr) and Establish a Typology of Empathy

Abstract

It is necessary for empathy not only to share feelings with another, but also to appreciate the individuality between oneself and an other person. The purpose of this study was to construct a questionnaire, Empathie Experience Scale Revised (EESR). Insufficient sharing experience (ISE) items in addition to sharing experience (SE) items were prepared, and 157 male and 145 female students were asked to answer those items together with LSO and Self-consciousness Scale. After factor analysis, the Scale of SE (10 items) and the Scale of ISE (10 items) were selected. Then the typology of empathy (Type double-dominant, Type dominant of SE, Type double -recessive, and Type dominant of ISE) was attempted. ANOVA by typology and sex on LSO-E (subscale of LSO) measuring the belief in individuality of human beings indicated that Type double-dominant differentiated oneself better from the other than Type dominant of SE. Consequently, the typology of empathy by EESR had a criterion-related validity while other results showed the characteristics of each type. © 1994, The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. All rights reserved.