Social Psychology Commons^™

A Study Of The Relationship Between Life Events And Empathy, Catherine Ferme

Masters Theses

The study investigated the relationship between the occurrence of stressful events in people's lives and their empathy for other people. Subjects were 74 graduate and undergraduate psychology students at Eastern Illinois University. The subects viewed videotapes of persons describing stressful events such as academic problems, death of a relative or friend, divorce, et cetera. The subjects rated themselves on their empathy for each person. They then completed a questionnaire based on Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Subjects' empathy scores and life event scores were analyzed using Pearson r correlations. Results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that experienced …