DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE EMOTIONAL EMPATHY SCALE (EES) AND THE DISPOSITIONAL PREDICTOR AND POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF EMOTIONAL EMPATHY

Abstract

The primary purpose of the present study was to develop an indigenous self-report measure of emotional empathy, named as Emotional Empathy Scale (EES) . It was based on the model of emotional empathy as proposed by Mehrabian (1996). The factorial validity of the scale was determined on a sample of 331 postgraduate students (166 men and 165 women) belonging to various educational institutes of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The 30 items of the EES were subjected to principal components analysis. The eigenvalues and associated scree plot provided evidence for a three factor solution. The three factors were examined using varimax rotation. A total of 26 items loaded at .30 and above on the first three factors, which collectively accounted for 42% of the items variance. The three factors were labeled (a) Tendency to be moved by others' positive and negative emotional experiences, (b) Emotional responsiveness, and (c) Susceptibility to emotional contagion. The reliability estimate of alpha coefficient (a = .85), item-total correlation (7'anging from r = .31 to .60, p< .000), and split half-reliability (83) supported the high internal consistency of the 26-item EES The present study also assessed gender differences in emotional empathy. Results j-om t-test analyses yielded a significant difference bet'vveen men and women on the trait of emotional empathy, t (279) = 3. 94, p< .000. A sample of 331 university students provided the following norms for the EES: Mean = 143,' Standard deviation = 20.1 . The p ercentile scores were also computed, which might be used as group norms. The construct validity of the Emotional Empathy Scale (EES) was determined by examining the convergent and discriminant validities. In this regard, four studies were III conducted. Using a sample of 101 postgraduate students (57 men and 44 'women), the convergent validity of the EES was assessed by correlating it 'v\lith the affective measure of emotional empathy-the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) (JvJehrabian, 1996). A high correlation of. 65 (p< .000) was obtained between the two scales. As a discriminant validity check, the second study examined the relation of the EES with Urdu translated version of Ajjiliative Tendency Scale (MAFF), originally developed by Mehrabian (1994). This study was conducted on a sample of 150 postgraduate students (75 men and 75 women). Hypotheses tested were: (a) Emotional Empathy Scale (EES) will be positively correlated with Ajjiliative Tendency Scale (MAFF), and (b) individuals higher in emotional empathy will be more ajjiliative, as compared to individuals lower in emotional empathy. As expected, the EES yielded a significant and positive correlation coefficient of. 48 (p< .000) with affiliative tendency. Moreover, t-test analyses exhibited that the low scorers and the high scorers on the EES significantly differed on the variable of affiliative tendency, t (1 48) = 5.48, P < .000. The third study assessed the relation of EES with translated version of Self-Reported Delinquency Scale (SRDSG), which was originally developed by Gibson (19 71). The study was conducted on a sample of 125 adolescent boys, with an average age of 16.9 years, SD.= 1.8. Following hypotheses were tested: (a) Emotional empathy will be negatively correlated with delinquency, and (b) individuals higher in emotional empathy will score lower on the measure of delinquency as compared to individuals lower in emotional empathy. A Significant negative correlation coefficient of -.28 (p< .001) was obtained between the scales of EES and SRDSG.