The Heritability of Characteristics Associated with Dispositional Empathy

ABSTRACT This investigation used data from Loehlin and Nichols's (1976) study of over 800 sets of twins to examine evidence for the heritability of three facets of empathy: empathic concern, personal distress, and perspective taking. Expert judges first identified sets of adjectives, included w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality 1994-09, Vol.62 (3), p.369-391
Main Authors: Davis, Mark H., Luce, Carol, Kraus, Stephen J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Affect
Correlates
Emotions
Empathy
Female
Genetic aspects
Genetics
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Perceptions
Personality
Personality - genetics
Personality Tests
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design
Social research
Stress, Psychological
Temperament
Twins
Twins, Dizygotic - psychology
Twins, Monozygotic - psychology
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Summary:ABSTRACT This investigation used data from Loehlin and Nichols's (1976) study of over 800 sets of twins to examine evidence for the heritability of three facets of empathy: empathic concern, personal distress, and perspective taking. Expert judges first identified sets of adjectives, included within Loehlin and Nichols's original data, which reflected each empathy construct; these items were then validated in an independent sample. Comparisons of the responses given to these items by identical and fraternal twins in the Loehlin and Nichols investigation revealed evidence of significant heritability for characteristics associated with the two affective facets of empathy—empathic concern and personal distress—but not for the nonaffective construct of perspective taking. This pattern is consistent with the view that temperamental emotionality may underlie the heritability of affective empathy.
ISSN:0022-3506
1467-6494
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1994.tb00302.x