The perceived cost of empathy reduces empathic reactions to a friend (Study 1-3)
Description
This dataset is from "The perceived cost of empathy reduces empathic reactions to a friend" (Study 1-3). People may find it difficult to empathize with an intimate other and use the strategy of avoiding the costs of empathizing. In this study, we found that in two of the three vignettes (vignettes 1 and 3), participants in the cost condition showed lower empathy for the target person and higher personal distress than those in the control condition. In Study 2, we used only vignettes 1 and 3 and replicated the main findings of Study 1. In vignette 1, perceived closeness and self-other distinction did not differ significantly between the cost and control conditions. In vignette 3, perceived closeness was greater in the control condition than in the cost condition. One interpretation of this inconsistent finding is that perceived closeness is not associated with empathy when the target person (e.g., a friend) is already a close person. In Study 3, we used a within-participant design and only Vignette 1. Results showed that the perceived cost of empathy reduced both positive and negative empathy.