The form and function of empathy
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis explores the form and function of empathy. It begins by exploring the ways in which the phenomenon has been traditionally understood, before advocating contemporary arguments about how it should be conceptualised—as a behavioural exchange of emotional information between two people in a social interaction. The thesis also explores a potential evolutionary function of empathy which has yet to be considered. The social fitness hypothesis is proposed—the idea that when people display strong empathic ability—a highly adaptive skill for the formation and maintenance of social bonds—this acts as a marker of high heritable phenotypic quality, signalling that they would make a strong choice of reproductive partner. The thesis conducts a series of studies to test the social fitness hypothesis. Study 1 firstly explores the link between dyadic empathic behaviour and observer perceptions of social status dynamics. Study 4 explores whether there is a linear relationship between the degree to which people behave empathically towards their interaction partners, and the degree to which they are held in high regard and perceived to have high social status. Study 5 finally explores whether there is a relationship between how empathically people behave and how attractive they are perceived to be by observers. Before empirically addressing the social fitness hypothesis, the thesis critically evaluates a wide range of techniques and approaches which have been traditionally used to assess empathy. Making no assumptions about empathy’s behavioural form in “everyday contexts”, the thesis defers to the expertise of laypeople in Study 1, asking them to rate the empathic behaviour of people taking part in videotaped conversations. Study 2 and 3 explore whether the observers’ perception of empathy has been guided by specific nonverbal cues or by the holistic action of multiple signals, termed here as “expressivity”. Together these studies raise questions about whether there are spe…
abstract: This thesis explores the form and function of empathy. It begins by exploring the ways in which the phenomenon has been traditionally understood, before advocating contemporary arguments about how it should be conceptualised—as a behavioural exchange of emotional information between two people in a social interaction. The thesis also explores a potential evolutionary function of empathy which has yet to be considered. The social fitness hypothesis is proposed—the idea that when people display strong empathic ability—a highly adaptive skill for the formation and maintenance of social bonds—this acts as a marker of high heritable phenotypic quality, signalling that they would make a strong choice of reproductive partner. The thesis conducts a series of studies to test the social fitness hypothesis. Study 1 firstly explores the link between dyadic empathic behaviour and observer perceptions of social status dynamics. Study 4 explores whether there is a linear relationship between the degree to which people behave empathically towards their interaction partners, and the degree to which they are held in high regard and perceived to have high social status. Study 5 finally explores whether there is a relationship between how empathically people behave and how attractive they are perceived to be by observers. Before empirically addressing the social fitness hypothesis, the thesis critically evaluates a wide range of techniques and approaches which have been traditionally used to assess empathy. Making no assumptions about empathy’s behavioural form in “everyday contexts”, the thesis defers to the expertise of laypeople in Study 1, asking them to rate the empathic behaviour of people taking part in videotaped conversations. Study 2 and 3 explore whether the observers’ perception of empathy has been guided by specific nonverbal cues or by the holistic action of multiple signals, termed here as “expressivity”. Together these studies raise questions about whether there are spe…
author: Spencer, Christine
language: eng
keywords: empathy, social interactions, nonverbal behaviour, social status, social fitness, evolutionary, attractiveness
date published: 2020-12
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:55:25Z
provider: Queen's University Belfast
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Queen's University Belfast