Self-report measure

Empathic Concern

A 7-item scale measuring other-oriented feelings of sympathy and concern for unfortunate others, from the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983).

At a glance

Items
7
Response scale
5-point (Does Not Describe Me Well … Describes Me Very Well)
Est. time
~2 min
Norms
Percent-of-maximum
Access
Free, self-serve

Detailed write-up pending

A full, citation-backed scientific write-up for this scale — overview, clinical use, and psychometrics in the voice of a dissertation "Measures" section — has not yet been authored. To honor the platform's no-fabricated-sources rule, this page currently shows only the verified registry facts above (item count, structure, scoring, and any published norms). No validity coefficients, reliability figures, or citations are shown here that cannot be traced to a named source; the authored write-up will be added once its sources have been read and recorded in the plan-integrity file.

Example item

“I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.”

Does Not Describe Me WellSlightly Describes MeSomewhat Describes MeMostly Describes MeDescribes Me Very Well

Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.

Scoring & interpretation

Item responses are summed within each scale (reverse-keyed items recoded first) and expressed as a percent of the maximum possible score. No normative percentile is applied — there is no verbatim-matched published norm for this exact item set.

Source & citation

Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113–126. Items hosted at ipip.ori.org.