Because of its multidimensional nature, empathy as defined by Davis assesses a much wider spectrum of behavior, from prosocial to antisocial, and acts as a happy medium within the tangled web of previously established definitions and conceptualizations. In fact, Eisenberg and Miller (1987) concluded from their metaanalysis, “It is clear . . . the degree of positive association between measures of empathy and prosocial behavior varies depending on the method of measuring empathy,” and furthermore, in reference to a cluster of measures that includes the Davis IRI, that “the relations [are] strongest for selfreport indices” (p. 113).
Sara H. Konrath
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA, skonrath@isr.umich.edu
