An investigation of empathy in adults as a function of variables in three clusterings: Dispositional, situational, and biophilial

To determine which variables (Dispositional, Situational, Biophilial) best predict levels of empathy, 448 (M = 144, F = 304) teacher candidates were examined with respect to the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy (QMEE) (Mehrabian and Epstein, 1972). Variables were assigned to "clusters" that have been linked, either logically or empirically, to empathy, and are potentially important predictors. Dispositional variables (anti- and prosocial behaviour, and personality measures) are reportedly linked to the empathic development of children and young adults, as are Situational variables (parental behaviour during childhood, age, and gender). Biophilial variables related to pets (e.g., history with pets, pet ownership, pet attitudes, and pet preference) are also logically linked to empathy and provide a theoretical framework for situating the determinants of empathy. Multiple regression analyses showed that certain personality traits (SONSO Personality Inventory, Kentle, 1994), physical aggression (The Aggression Questionnaire, Buss & Perry, 1992), certain demographics (e.g., sex, age, parents' marital status, etc.), and pet-related aspects of biophilia (Pet Attitude Scale, Templer, Salter, Dickey, Baldwin, & Veleber, 1981; Pet Preference Inventory, Daly & Morton, 2003) were predictors of empathy. Psychological influences, particularly sympathy, were quite strong, as was the demographic variable of Sex, indicating higher empathy in females. A fine-grained analysis of empathy based on factor analyses yielded six Aspects of Empathy from the QMEE revealing that individuals may be high in specific types of empathy as a function of different variables. When "Sex" and "Sympathy" were removed from the analyses, it was apparent that certain biophilic variables (e.g., "Would Love a Dog," "Would Love a Cat") were more prominent. Variables were also configured in terms of model-building. The biophilia cluster was divided into two subclusters: Pet-Relations and anthrozoophilia, which was comprised of the two variables Humanizer of Pets, and Lover of Pets. Specific variables from the three new clusters (Dispositional, Situational, Pet-Relations) correlated with anthrozoophilia. Anthrozoophilia was a predictor of empathy. Implications extend to (1) understanding empathy in terms of both innate and environmental determinants, (2) profiling empathic individuals, (3) building a model to predict empathy based on human-animal relationships, (4) developing ways to promote student and teacher empathy and examine this impact in broader educational settings, and (5) exploring anthrozoophilia as a theoretical component of the biophilia hypothesis.