Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T09:54:43.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Developing an Alternative Chinese Version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Normal Population and Patients with Schizophrenia in Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Shih-Kuang Chiang ,
Mau-Sun Hua ,
Wai-Cheong Carl Tam ,
Jian-Kang Chao  and
Yung-Jong Shiah
Shih-Kuang Chiang*
Affiliation:
Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan
Mau-Sun Hua
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Wai-Cheong Carl Tam
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Chun Yuan Christian University, Taiwan
Jian-Kang Chao
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yuli Veterans Hospital, Taiwan Department of Health Administration, Tzu Chi College of Technology, Taiwan
Yung-Jong Shiah
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of Guidance and Counseling, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan
*
Address for correspondence: Shih-Kuang Chiang, No. 1, Sec. 2, Da Hsueh Rd, Shoufeng, Hualien 97401, Taiwan, R.O.C. Email-skchiang@mail.ndhu.edu.tw
Get access

Abstract

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a multidimensional individual-difference measure of empathy. The original IRI has been used in many studies to assess both normal and clinical samples. Because of its wide availability and convenience of use, the IRI has been translated into several languages. In Taiwan, the IRI was translated into traditional Chinese as a Chinese Version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (C-IRI) in 1987. Because the C-IRI was developed over 26 years ago and recent studies have shown some unsatisfactory psychometric properties on the C-IRI, there was a need to develop an alternative to the C-IRI and verify its psychometric properties again. In this study, we assessed the psychometric properties of an alternative C-IRI by administering it to 516 college students, 35 community residents and 70 schizophrenic patients, all of whom are adults. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a four-factor structure: Fantasy, Perspective Taking, Empathy and Personal Distress. Acceptable convergent and divergent validity supported the construct validity of the alternative C-IRI. Evidence was also found for its discriminant validity between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls on the Empathy subscale and Affective Empathy, while the full scale and its factors demonstrated good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. In the future, the alternative C-IRI should be validated with adolescent or elderly samples, and different clinical samples.

Keywords

empathyInterpersonal Reactivity Indexpsychometric propertiesschizophrenia
Type
Articles
Information
Brain Impairment , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , September 2014 , pp. 120 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aketa, H. (1999). Structure and measurement of empathy: Japanese version of Davis’s interpersonal reactivity index (IRI-J). The Psychological Report of Sophia University, 23, 19–31.Google Scholar
Berger, K.S., & Thompson, R.A. (2000). The developing person through childhood and adolescence. New York: Worth.Google Scholar
Bora, E., Gökcen, S., & Veznedaroglu, B. (2008). Empathy abilities in people with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 160, 23–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M.C., Mazziotta, J.C., & Lanzi, G.L. (2003). Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: A relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 5497–5502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chao, M. R., & Chung, S.K. (2004). The development of an empathy scale using perspective-taking stories. Chinese Annual Report of Guidance and Counseling, 15, 39–60 (in Chinese)Google Scholar
Connor, L.E., Berry, J.W., Weiss, J., & Gilbert, P. (2002). Guilt, fear, submission, and empathy in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 71, 19–27.Google Scholar
Corte, K.D., Buysse, A., Verhofstadt, L.L., Roeyers, H., Ponnet, K., & Davis, M.H. (2007). Measuring empathic tendencies: Reliability and validity of the Dutch version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Psychologica Belgica, 47, 235–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M.H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.Google Scholar
Davis, M.H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M.H. (1994). Empathy. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.Google ScholarPubMed
Davis, M.H. (1996). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Davis, M.H., & Franzoi, S.L. (1991). Stability and change in adolescent self-consciousness and empathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 70–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decety, J., & Jackson, P.L. (2004). The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 3, 71–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Greck, M., Scheidt, L., Bölter, A., Frommer, J., Ulrich, C., Stockum, E., . . . Northoff, G. (2012). Altered brain activity during emotional empathy in somatoform disorder. Human Brain Mapping, 33 (11), 2666–2685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dziobek, I., Preissler, S., Grozdanovic, Z., Heuser, I., Heekeren, H.R., & Roepke, S. (2011). Neuronal correlates of altered empathy and social cognition in borderline personality disorder. Neuroimage, 57 (2), 539–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H.R., Wolf, O.T., & Convit, A. (2008). Dissociation of cognitive and emotional empathy in adults with Asperger syndrome using the multifaceted empathy test (MET). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 464–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egan, G. (1998). The skilled helper. Pacific Grove, CA: Books/Cole.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., & Miller, P. A. (1987). The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 91–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, N., Miller, P.A., Shell, R., McNalley, S., & Shea, S. (1991). Prosocial development in adolescence: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 27, 849–857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Shea, C.L., Carl, G., & Knight, G.P. (1991). Empathy-related responding and cognition: A ‘chicken and the egg’ dilemma. In Gewirtz, W.M. & Kurtines, J.L. (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development. Volume 2: Research (pp. 63–87). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Eslinger, P.J. (1998). Neurological and neuropsychological bases of empathy. European Neurology, 39, 193–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eslinger, P.J., Dennis, K., Moore, P., Antani, S., Hauck, R., & Grossman, M. (2005). Metacognitive deficits in frontotemporal dementia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 76, 1630–1635.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farrow, T.F., Zheng, Y., Wilkinson, I.D., Spence, S.A., Deakin, J.F., Tarrier, N., . . . Woodruff, P.W. (2001). Investigating the functional anatomy of empathy and forgiveness. Neuroreport, 12, 2433–2438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference. 11.0 update (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Guilford, J.S., Zimmerman, W.S., & Guilford, J.P. (1976). The Guilford–Zimmerman Temperament Survey handbook: Twenty-five years of research and application. San Diego, CA: EdITS.Google Scholar
Hair, J.F. Jr, Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L., & Black, W.C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis. Upper Sadder River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Huang, M.Y. (2003). Empathy in life-long offenders, adolescent-only offenders, and adolescent non-offenders. Unpublished Masters thesis, National Taiwan University (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Kang, I., Kee, S., Kim, S.E., Jeong, B., Hwang, J.H., & Song, J.E. (2009). Reliability and validity of the Korean version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, 48, 352–358.Google Scholar
Kline, P. (1999). The handbook of psychological testing (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lai, B.J. (1993). The Lai Personality Inventory. Taipei: Psychological Publishing Company (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Laible, D.J., Carlo, G., & Roesch, S.C. (2004). Pathway to self-esteem in late adolescence: The role of parent and peer attachment, empathy, and social behaviors. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 703–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J., Zaki, J., Harvey, P.O., Ochsner, K., & Green, M.F. (2011). Schizophrenia patients are impaired in empathic accuracy. Psychological Medicine, 41, 2297–2304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litvack-Miller, W., McDougall, D., & Romney, D.M. (1997). The structure of empathy during middle childhood and its relationship to prosocial behavior. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 123, 303–324.Google ScholarPubMed
Losoya, S., & Eisenberg, N. (2001). Affective empathy. In Hall, J.A. & Bernieri, F.J. (Eds.), Interpersonal sensitivity: Theory and measurement. The LEA series in personality and clinical psychology (pp. 21–43). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McDonald, S., & Flanagan, S. (2004). Social perception deficits after traumatic brain injury: interaction between emotion recognition, mentalizing ability and social communication. Neuropsychology, 18, 572–579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, P.A., & Eisenberg, N. (1988). The relation of empathy to aggressive and externalizing/antisocial behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 324–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montag, C., Heinz, A., Kunz, D., & Gallinat, J. (2007). Self-reported empathic abilities in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 92, 85–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, B., Jones, J., & Guthrie, I. (1998). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children's sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality. Developmental Psychology, 34, 910–924.Google Scholar
Neumann, D., Zupan, B., Babbage, D.R., Radnovich, A.J., Tomita, M., Hammond, F., & Willer, B. (2012). Affect recognition, empathy and dysosmia after traumatic brain injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 93, 1414–1420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paulus, C. (1992). Empathie, Kompetenz und Altruismus [Empathy, competence, and altruism]. Retrieved 15 March 2010 from www.unisaarland/De/fak5/ezw/abteil/motiv/paper/empathie.htm.Google Scholar
Rankin, K.P., Gorno-Tempini, M L., Allison, S.C., Stanley, C.M., Glenn, S., Weiner, M.W., & Miller, B.L. (2006). Structural anatomy of empathy in neurodegenerative disease. Brain, 129, 2945–2956.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rankin, K.P., Kramer, J.H., & Miller, B.L. (2005). Patterns of cognitive and emotional empathy in fronto-temporal lobar degeneration. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 18, 28–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, D., Hammock, G., Smith, S., Gardner, W., & Manuel, S. (1994). Empathy as a cognitive inhibitor of interpersonal aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 25, 81–89.Google Scholar
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Aharon-Pertz, J., & Levkovitz, Y. (2007a). The neuroanatomical basis of affective mentalizing in schizophrenia: Comparison of patients with schizophrenia and patients with localized prefrontal lesions. Schizophrenia Research, 90, 274–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Aharon-Peretz, J., & Perry, D. (2009). Two systems for empathy: A double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions. Brain, 132, 617–627.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Shur, S., Harari, H., & Levkovitz, Y. (2007b). Neurocognitive basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. Neuropsychology, 21, 431–438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Tomer, R., Berger, B.D., & Aharon-Pertz, J. (2003). Characterization of empathy deficits following prefrontal brain damage: The role of the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15, 324–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Tomer, R., Berger, B.D., Goldsher, D., & Aharon-Pertz, J. (2005). Impaired ‘affective theory of mind’ is associated with right ventromedial prefrontal damage. Cognitive and Behavior Neurology, 18, 55–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Tomer, R., Goldsher, D., Berger, B.D., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2004). Impairment in cognitive and affective empathy in patients with brain lesions: Anatomical and cognitive correlates. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 26, 1113–1127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strayer, J. (1987). Picture-story indices of empathy. In Eisenberg, N. & Strayer, J. (Eds.), Empathy and its development (pp. 351–355). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Viskontas, I.V., Possin, K.L., & Miller, B.L. (2007). Symptoms of frontotemporal dementia provide insights into orbitofrontal cortex function and social behavior. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1121, 528–545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Völlm, B.A., Taylor, A.N., Richardson, P., Corcoran, R., Stirling, J., McKie, S., . . . Elliott, R. (2006). Neuronal correlates of theory of mind and empathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in a nonverbal task. Neuroimage, 29, 90–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, K.C. (1998). A re-construction of studies on morality in Taiwan. Indigenous Psychological Research, 9, 121–175 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yang, K.S., Weng, C.Y., Hsu, Y., & Li, S.M. (2005, October). The concept analysis and development of a scale of global self-esteem and self-debasement in Chinese. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Chinese Psychological Association, Taoyuan, Taiwan (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zan, Z.Y. (1987). Relations among age, gender role, renqing and empathy. Unpublished Masters thesis, National Chengchi University.Google Scholar
Zhang, F.F., Dong, Y., Wang, K., Zan, Z.Y., & Hsieh, L.F. (2010). Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the international reactivity index. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18 (2), 155–157.Google Scholar
Zhou, Q., Valiente, C., & Eisenberg, N. (2003). Empathy and its measurement. In Lopez, S.J. & Snyder, C.R. (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 269–284). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar