Gender differences in empathy measurement by different methodologies

Abstract

This article reviewed the literature on gender differences in empathy(defined as someone’s emotional state causes one to experience what one perceive as a similar emotion). A total of five representative studies are examined according to the method they used to assess empathy, in which some studies used self-report questionnaires, others measured brain activities. All of the researches utilizing self-report questionnaires have consistent results favoring women in terms of empathetic abilities, while studies that measured brain activities concluded no discrepancies in initial empathetic abilities. It is suggested that the self-reports are influenced by social expectations, and discrepancy in results of researches in brain activities were impacted by the number of samples and the ongoing debate concerning the responsibility of particular brain areas for empathetic responses. To conclude, there is little discrepancy in the initial empathetic abilities between males and females. However, due to cultural and social factors, females may be more inclined to show more empathetic behavior.