Assessing dispositional empathy in adults: A French validation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).

Abstract

The goal of this study was to validate a French version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a self-report questionnaire comprised of four subscales assessing affective (empathic concern and personal distress) and cognitive (fantasy and perspective taking) components of empathy. To accomplish this, 322 adults (18 to 89 years) completed the French version of the IRI (F-IRI). A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four-factor structure of the original IRI. The F-IRI showed good scale score reliability, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity, tested with the French version of the Empathy Quotient. These findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the F-IRI and suggest that the F-IRI is a useful instrument to measure self-reported empathy. In addition, we observed sex and age differences consistent with findings in the literature. Women reported higher scores in empathic concern and fantasy than men. Older adults reported less personal distress and less fantasy.

Identifying affective personality profiles: A latent profile analysis of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales

“…Global positive and negative emotion scores are calculated (α = 0.84 and 0.92 respectively). Positive and negative emotion scores range from 10 to 70 and from 18 to 126 respectively, with high scores corresponding to high emotions 45 .Measures of interpersonal constructs:The Interpersonal Reactivity Index 46, 47 assessing affective (Empathic Concern, IRI-EC, α = 0.34; Personal Distress, IRI-PD, α = 0.62) and cognitive (Fantasy, IRI-F, α = 0.52, Perspective Taking, IRI-PT, α = 0.36) components of empathy. Each scale ranges from 0 to 28, with high scores representing high values of the measured construct.…”

Theory of Mind Difficulties in Patients with Alcohol Dependence: Beyond the Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction Hypothesis

“…The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a 28-item self-administered questionnaire (Davis, 1983; French validation by Gilet et al, 2013). The IRI assesses different aspects of social cognition on the basis of 4 subscales: (i) "Empathic Concern," that is, the ability to be emotionally concerned by others' feelings, (ii) "Personal Distress," that is, the tendency to have self-oriented negative feelings in response to others' distress, (iii) "Perspective Taking," that is, the ability to adopt other's point of view at a cognitive level, and (iv) "Fantasy," that is, the ability to project oneself into fictional characters.…”

Are emotional intelligent workers also more empathic?

“…On the other hand, empathy is considered a fundamental aspect of social interaction that promotes prosocial behavior and inhibits aggressive behavior towards others (Gilet, Mella, Studer, Gr€ uhn & Labouvie-Vief, 2013). Specifically, Davis (1983Davis ( , 1994 defines empathy as the set of cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioral responses of an individual observing experiences of others.…”