Psychology Atlas

How The Mind Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Psychological Phenomena

Empathy Gap

Clinical and Motivational Phenomena

An empathy gap, sometimes called an empathy bias, is a breakdown or reduction in empathy where it might otherwise be expected to occur. Empathy gaps can arise from a failure in the process of empathizing itself or from stable personality characteristics, and can reflect either a lack of ability to empathize or a lack of motivation to do so.

Facts
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Social or Interpersonal Phenomenon 1
Core Claim
A breakdown or reduction in empathy where it might otherwise be expected to occur. 1
Sources
1. Empathy gap, Wikipedia
  • Lead paragraph
    Empathy gaps may occur due to a failure in the process of empathizing or as a consequence of stable personality characteristics, and may reflect either a lack of ability or motivation to empathize.
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    A great deal of social psychological research has focused on intergroup empathy gaps, their underlying psychological and neural mechanisms, and their implications for downstream behavior (e.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.