I Feel Your Pain:
Gender Differences in Empathy
Dr. Linda Rueckert
Department of Psychology
Northeastern Illinois University
Definition of empathy:
The capability to share another being's
emotions and feelings.
Types of Empathy
• Cognitive: knowing what another person
is thinking or feeling, also called Theory
of Mind.
• Emotional: feeling the same thing as the
other person.
Methods of Measuring Empathy
• Self report (e.g. “It makes me feel sad to see a
stranger in a crowd”).
• Imitation of facial expression or gesture.
• Autonomic measures (GSR, heart rate).
• Brain imaging (fMRI, PET, EEG).
Evidence for Gender Differences
• Self-reports yield highly reliable female
advantage.
• More objective measures yield much smaller,
or no difference.
• Baron-Cohen et al. studies of pre-natal
testosterone correlations.
• Some brain imaging studies have shown
gender differences in activation despite equal
performance.
Derntl et al. 2010
Singer et al. (2006) Results
Women:
Men:
NEIU Studies of Gender Differences in
Empathy
• Rueckert & Naybar, 2008: Correlation
between right hemisphere activation and
empathy.
• Rueckert & Oyola, 2008: Gender differences
in cognitive and emotional empathy.
• 2009 Capstone class: Differences in emotion,
and in empathy towards friends and enemies.
Chimeric Faces Task
Which face is happier?
Rueckert & Naybar, 2008
• Female advantage in self-reported empathy
(Mehrabian & Epstein questionnaire).
• No gender difference in use of right
hemisphere on chimeric faces task.
• Right-hemisphere activation on chimeric faces
task correlated with empathy in women, not
men.
Rueckert & Naybar, conclusions
• Men and women use the right hemisphere, to
an equal extent, when judging emotional
expression.
• This right hemisphere activation correlates
with self-reported empathy only for women.
• Female advantage on empathy questionnaires
may be due to greater emotional involvement.
Rueckert & Oyola, 2008
• Gender differences in cognitive and emotional
empathy.
• Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis,
1983).
– Emotional Concern (EC): emotional empathy
– Perspective Taking (PT): cognitive empathy
– Fantasty (FS)
– Personal Distress (PD)
Rueckert & Oyola, 2008
Social Neuroscience Capstone Class,
2009
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Vivian Benjamin
Brandon Branch
Tiffany Doan
Juan Fonseca
Zahra Hosseinian
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Matt Markowicz
Annum Qureshi
Lindsey Schreier
Kristen Wren
Social Neuroscience Capstone Class,
2009
• Might gender differences in self-report
empathy scales be due to differences in selfreported emotion, rather than empathy?
• Does the target of the empathy make a
difference?
Social Neuroscience Capstone Class,
2009
• Davis IRI
• NEIU empathy scale
– 10 emotional scenarios
– Each scenario rated for happy, sad, anger
– Each scenario was rated for degree of emotion
that would be felt if it happened to the subject
themselves, to a friend, and to an enemy.
Soc. Neuro. Class results: IRI
Soc. Neuro. Class results:
NEIU scale overall emotion
Soc. Neuro. Class Results:
Soc. Neuro. Class Results
• Empathy quotient: rating given to self minus
rating given to other person (friend or enemy)
on each of the 10 scenarios.
• A higher score = greater difference between
self and other, ie less empathy.
Soc. Neuro. Class Results: Empathy
Scores for Friends and Enemies
Soc. Neuro. Class Conclusions
• Female advantage in emotional empathy may
be due, in part, to women’s tendency to
experience and report stronger emotions in
general.
• Women may differentiate more between
friends and enemy. (Congruent with results
from helping studies).
Questions for Future Study
• Develop more objective behavioral measures of
empathy.
• Explain difference between our friend/enemy results
and Singer et al.’s good guy/bad guy results.
• Achieve a better understanding of the conditions
under which gender differences in empathy are
found.
• Examine the relationship between empathy and
moral reasoning and moral behavior.
The End!
For more information: PSYC 300P, Seminar in
Social Neuroscience, Fall, 2010.
Mind in the Eyes Task
What is this person thinking or feeling?
____ playful
____ comforting
____ irritated
____bored