Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39863716›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Empathy and helping: the role of affect in response to others' suffering.

Yoona Kang, Steven Mesquiti, Elizabeth S Baik, Emily B Falk

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Yoona KangDepartment of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA. yoona.kang@rutgers.edu.
Steven MesquitiDepartment of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA.
Elizabeth S BaikDepartment of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA.
Emily B FalkAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. emily.falk@asc.upenn.edu.

Funding

Army Research Office W911NF1810244
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Decades of research hold that empathy is a multifaceted construct. A related challenge in empathy research is to describe how each subcomponent of empathy uniquely contributes to social outcomes. Here, we examined distinct mechanisms through which different components of empathy-Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, and Personal Distress-may relate to prosociality. Participants (N = 77) watched a prerecorded video of a person sharing an emotional real-life story and provided verbal support in response. The listeners then reported how positive and negative they felt while listening to the story. We found that individuals with greater tendencies to experience Empathic Concern and Perspective Taking felt more positive (e.g., connected, compassionate), whereas those with higher Personal Distress felt more negative (e.g., nervous, anxious) in response to another's suffering. We also observed indirect relationships between Empathic Concern / Perspective Taking and the tendency to help others through positive affective responses to the other's suffering. These findings build upon the growing literature that distinguishes different components of empathy and their mechanisms that relate to divergent behavioral consequences. Results also highlight the role of positive affect that may motivate prosociality in the face of others' suffering.

Indexed as

AffectEmpathyHelping BehaviorStress, PsychologicalAdolescentAdultEmotionsFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultCompassionEmpathyHelpingNarrativesPositive affectProsocialSocial support

Identifiers

PMID39863716
PMCPMC11763029

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.