Measures the degree of empathic emotional response a person feels toward another individual or group in a specific situation. Items capture affective reactions — including sympathy, warmth, compassion, and tenderness — that are evoked in response to a target's circumstances. Higher scores reflect stronger empathic feelings. Versions with five, six, and seven items have been used in consumer research.
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Developed from items used by Batson and colleagues across several decades of prosocial motivation research (e.g., Batson, 1987; Batson et al., 1997, 2005). Three versions have been used in consumer research: (1) a 6-item version (items 1–6) used by Lee et al. (2014) and Schrift and Amar (2015); (2) a 7-item version (all items) used by Lee et al. (2014) in Study 4, with item 7 created specifically for that study to reference AIDS patients; and (3) a 5-item version (items 1–4 and 6) used by Fisher and Ma (2014) in response to photos of children in need. The scale stem and target referent should be adapted to the specific study context. A related compassion scale by Cavanaugh, Bettman, and Luce (2015) uses items overlapping with items 1, 3, and 6.
Lee, S., Winterich, K. P., & Ross, W. T., Jr. (2014). I'm moral, but I won't help you: The distinct roles of empathy and justice in donations. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(3), 678–696.
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