(PS1-81) I know how you feel: Exploring the costs and benefits of cognitive and affective empathy

Empathy has many benefits, particularly for relationships, but high levels—especially of affective (emotional) empathy—may be linked to internalizing symptoms. Meta-analyses show affective empathy correlates with depression and anxiety, whereas cognitive empathy (e.g., perspective-taking) has weak or no associations with these symptoms. However, most research has been cross-sectional, leaving uncertainty about whether affective empathy is a risk factor for future internalizing symptoms. Additionally, it remains unclear whether different aspects of affective empathy (e.g., empathic concern, emotional contagion) have distinct effects on internalizing symptoms as well as positive aspects of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, flourishing).

This study examined empathy’s relationship with internalizing symptoms and positive well-being in 162 adults (ages 18-68) from a liberal arts college (n=112) and Mechanical Turk (n=50). Participants completed online questionnaires at two time points (6 weeks apart) measuring cognitive empathy (perspective taking) and affective empathy (i.e., empathic concern, emotional contagion), depression and anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction and flourishing. Correlation and regression analyses examined concurrent and prospective relationships. 

Cognitive empathy was unrelated to internalizing symptoms but correlated with concurrent flourishing (r = .19, p < .01). Emotional contagion was most consistently associated with internalizing symptoms, correlating with concurrent depression (r = .20, p < .01) and anxiety (r = .40, p < .001) and predicting future depression (β = 0.42, p < .05), but not anxiety or well-being. Empathic concern correlated with (r = .24, p < .01) and predicted flourishing (β = 0.12, p < .05), but was not related to internalizing symptoms. 

Findings suggest distinct roles of empathy in mental health. Cognitive empathy and empathic concern were positively associated with flourishing but not internalizing symptoms, suggesting adaptive functions. In contrast, emotional contagion was linked to internalizing symptoms but not well-being. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between cognitive and affective empathy to better understand their differential impact on mental health. Future research should identify which aspects of empathy are protective and which may increase vulnerability. This can help to identify individuals at higher risk for mental health problems and to better inform intervention development.