Introduction

This chapter will briefly explore the current definitions of empathy and report on studies looking at empathic deficits in antisocial and personality-disordered groups. To date, the literature on empathy, emotional-information-processing deficits and mentalizing ability is largely limited to studies in sex offenders or aggressive samples. There are few studies of empathy in DSM-IV personality-disordered samples although both antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders highlight empathy deficits in their criteria (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2).

Definitions of empathy

The experimental and theoretical literature on empathy has failed to agree on a single definition (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987); however, most theories about empathy have been based in trait psychology and empathy is seen as a fixed disposition evident over time and across situations and persons.

Empathy and sympathy have often been used interchangeably. Ohbuchi (1988) described the affective component of empathy as sympathy. Hogan (1969) used both terms when describing his empathy scale and Feshbach (1978) used the terms synonymously. By contrast, Miller and Eisenberg (1988) make a distinction between these concepts suggesting that empathy is the emotional response to another's distress while sympathy reflects feelings of concern.

Sympathy (e.g. Cooley, 1956) and empathy (e.g. Hogan, 1969) have both been defined as the ability to identify others' emotional states, i.e. to achieve a cognitive understanding of others' feelings. Others, however, have defined empathy (Feshbach, 1978; Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972) and sympathy (McDougall, 1950) primarily in affective terms.