Exploration of empathy factors in the science and development of related scales

Abstract

For a scientific educational approach toward empathy, this study newly defined empathy in science as “empathy with a problematic situation and other people.” In 6 competency frameworks, content related to empathy was extracted, and exploratory factor analysis was conducted through an online survey of 150 teachers. Three factors of empathy with other people and four factors of empathy with the problem situation were extracted. Based on this content, the study modified the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980) for use in a scientific situation. This scale was applied to 357 high school students in Korea, and the scale’s validity was confirmed through exploratory factor analysis. Finally, scientific empathy with others was defined as the ability to understand the emotions, thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others and share their viewpoints with accurate emotional responses. And this consisted of perspective-taking in cognitive factor and empathic concern and empathic arousal in emotional empathy. Scientific empathy with the problem situation was defined as an intellectual mechanism deeply involved in the phenomenon of inquiry to clearly understand the scientific problem situation and to share the viewpoint. And this turned out to be perspectivetaking and scientific imagination as cognitive factors.