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Empathy: A Review of the Concept
Open accessAbstract
The inconsistent definition of empathy has had a negative impact on both research and practice. The aim of this article is to review and critically appraise a range of definitions of empathy and, through considered analysis, to develop a new conceptualisation. From the examination of 43 discrete definitions, 8 themes relating to the nature of empathy emerged: “distinguishing empathy from other concepts”; “cognitive or affective?”; “congruent or incongruent?”; “subject to other stimuli?”; “self/other distinction or merging?”; “trait or state influences?”; “has a behavioural outcome?”; and “automatic or controlled?” The relevance and validity of each theme is assessed and a new conceptualisation of empathy is offered. The benefits of employing a more consistent and complete definition of empathy are discussed.
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“Third, empathy can also be evoked by stimuli about a fictional or imaginary person (Decety & Jackson, 2004; Pelligra, 2011; Singer & Lamm, 2009).”
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Decety, J., Bartal, I. B.-A., Uzefovsky, F., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0077 · Cited by 740
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Large Language Models and Empathy: Systematic Review
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cuff, B. M. P., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L., & Howat, D. J.
- Venue
- Emotion Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-12
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 144-153
- ISSN
- 1754-0739 (ISSN-L)
- 1754-0747
- OpenAlex
- W2325035506
- Cited by
- 1,640
- References
- 17
- FWCI
- 20.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- Licence
- journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
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