Empathy in Nonhumans: A Brief Overview

Abstract

We present a brief overview of the study of empathy in nonhumans. We begin with a historical perspective that focuses on early ideas about empathy developed by Peter Kropotkin and Adam Smith. From there we discuss the origin and evolution of the multiple layers of empathy – emotional contagion sympathetic concern, and empathetic perspective-taking – casting that dis-cussion within the “Russian doll model” of empathy developed by de Waal. For each layer we provide examples from the animal behavior literature.