event-related desynchronization was negatively correlated suggesting that theta and alpha oscillations are impli-
cated in emotional sharing and regulation for empathy in pain scenarios. Gutsell and Inzlicht (2012) explored
EEG alpha oscillations in observers who viewed stimuli of in-group/out-group members in sad contexts and
showed that participants displayed similar prefrontal alpha asymmetry activation toward in-group members
compared with when the participants felt sad themselves. Participants did not display similarity in prefrontal
alpha asymmetry when viewing pictures of out-group members.
Criterion/Predictive
Han et al. (2008) investigated empathy for pain by measuring ERPs in relation to pictures of hands in painful
or neutral situations and revealed that subjective ratings of perceived pain in others were positively correlated
with ERP amplitudes (at 140 /C0180 ms).
Location
Neumann, D.L., & Westbury, H.R. (2011). The psychophysiological measurement of empathy. In D.J. Scapaletti
(Ed.), Psychology of empathy (pp. 119 /C0142). Hauppauge NY: Nova Science.
Results and Comments
EEG and ERP show relatively poor spatial resolution but provide excellent temporal resolution enabling time
locked stimulus presentations to be matched with neural activity. However, physical movement and eye blinks
can also interfere with EEG and ERP recordings and counter methods (e.g., eye blink recordings) must be taken
to account for such artifacts.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
The great diversity in approaches to measuring empathy may be interpreted in different ways. It could mean
that researchers have yet to find an adequately reliable and valid means by which to measure empathy. It could
also reflect the highly complex and multifaceted nature of empathy. It could indicate that what empathy is and
how it should be measured is quite different from situation to situation or population to population. Regardless,
the various measurement approaches may present a significant advantage to researchers and practitioners who
wish to measure empathy. Selecting from the different measurement traditions of self-report, behavioral/observa-
tional, and social cognitive is advantageous.
Subjective self-report measures of empathy currently provide the most comprehensive measures to date.
However, uncertainty remains as to whether empathy should be measured as a unidimensional or a multidimen-
sional construct. Current unidimensional measures tend to be biased towards measuring the affective component of
empathy. In contrast, most multidimensional measures consider empathy to consist of at least two components /C0
affective and cognitive empathy. Aside from their subjectivity and susceptibility to motivational distortion and
response bias, another limitation of self-report measures is that each measure has been based on a different defini-
tion of empathy ( Reniers et al., 2012 ).Lovett and Sheffield (2007) argued that due to questionable psychometric
properties and the social desirability of empathy, self-report measures may be unreliable and contaminated with
motivation/response bias. Furthermore, most of the longstanding measures give little consideration to the multi-
dimensional conceptualization of empathy when research findings suggest that empathy is a multidimensional
construct involving at least cognitive and affective processes ( Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004; Davis, 1983 ).
Another criticism of self-report measures of empathy is that they are prone to presentation bias (e.g.,
Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990 ). Being empathic is likely to be regarded as a socially desirable trait in society, particu-
larly in certain occupational groups including teachers and health care workers. The extent to which response
bias influences responses on self-report measures warrants further consideration. Indeed, in the development of
the BES, Jolliffe and Farrington (2006a) included six items from the Lie Scale of the Eysenck Personality
Questionnaire ( Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991 ) to provide a measure of social desirability. Joliffe and Farrington
reported that scores on the IRI Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern subscales correlated positively with
scores on the Lie Scale ( r..15).
Neuroscientific measures of empathy promise to be an ever expanding field in future research. The increasing
development of technology, combined with cheaper and easier to use equipment, will make neuroscientific mea-
sures more easily available for researchers. However, as a methodology that promises to provide an objective283 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
III. EMOTION REGULATION