1. Assessing Student to Professor Empathy and Helping in Regards to the Empathy Gap
Sarah Johnson
Advisor: Dr. Alison Young Reusser
Olivet Nazarene University

2. What is Empathy? Trait Empathy State Empathy The Empathy Gap Who What
Visceral states
Accurate empathy
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3. Nordgren et. al, 2011 Series of Cyberball studies
Visceral state = Social rejection
Middle school teachers
Response towards bullies and their victims
Empathy > Behavior

4. The Present Study
Occupation
State Empathy
Helping Behavior

5. Hypotheses 1 Empathy Differences by Condition 2 Interaction 3 Helping
Visceral state > Higher state empathy
Neutral state > Lower state empathy
Interaction 2
Subject-related occupation > Higher state empathy regardless of condition
Helping 3
Higher state empathy > More helping behavior

6. Procedure Participants Incentive Environment Informed Consent
N=182 (124 Female)
Incentive
Environment
Informed Consent
Random Assignment
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7. Manipulation Poorly-written essay Harsh professor evaluations
Few errors in essay
Neutral evaluations
Hot Condition
Cold Condition

8. Measures State Empathy Helpful Studiousness Trait Empathy
Batson et al., 1991; α=.95
Shen, 2010; α=.91
Helpful Studiousness
α=.81
Trait Empathy
Davis, 1983; α=.85
TA status and other variables
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9. Results 1 Empathy Differences by Condition (Supported) 2
Batson: F(1,160)=8.84, p=.003, partial eta squared=.052
Mean=2.71 vs Mean=2.02
Shen: F(1,160)=1.67, p=.19, partial eta squared=.01
Interaction (Not Supported) 2
Subject-related occupation > Higher state empathy regardless of condition
Helping (Not Supported) 3
Higher state empathy > More helping behavior

10. Conclusions and Limitations
Small groups
Behavioral measures
Setting
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11. References
Batson, C. D., Batson, J. G., Slingsby, J. K., Harrell, K. L., Peekna, H. M., & Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 61(3), doi: / Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 44(1), doi: / Nordgren, L. F., Banas, K., & MacDonald, G. (2011). Empathy gaps for social pain: Why people underestimate the pain of social suffering. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 100(1), doi: /a Shen, Lijiang. (2010). On a Scale of State Empathy During Message Processing. Western Journal of Communication /