Multidimensional Model of Empathy
Also known as: Davis empathy model · IRI framework
Model treating empathy not as a single trait but as a set of separate though related constructs (Davis, 1980, 1983): two cognitive — perspective taking, the tendency to adopt another person's point of view, and fantasy, the tendency to transpose oneself imaginatively into the feelings and actions of fictional characters — and two affective — empathic concern, other-oriented feelings of sympathy for people in difficulty, and personal distress, self-oriented anxiety and unease when witnessing another person's suffering. The dimensions vary independently and correlate unevenly, with personal distress typically running against the others, which is why the model prescribes a profile of separate readings and no composite empathy score.
- Source:
- Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85. Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113-126.
Constructs
Perspective Taking
The cognitive tendency to reconstruct how a situation looks from where another person stands, with their information and their stakes (Davis, 1980). The dimension of the model that behaves most like a skill: it improves with deliberate practice and costs effort a person may skip when tired or certain they are right.
Fantasy
The tendency to transpose oneself imaginatively into the feelings and actions of fictional characters in books, films and plays (Davis, 1980). Cognitive rather than affective in the model, and less trivial than it sounds: the machinery that lets a novel take over an evening is the machinery used to simulate lives one has never lived.
Empathic Concern
Other-oriented feelings of sympathy, tenderness and protectiveness toward people going through difficulty (Davis, 1980). The affective dimension pointed outward, at the other person, and the one closest to what everyday language calls a good heart.
Personal Distress
Self-oriented anxiety and unease when witnessing another person's suffering (Davis, 1980). Read differently from the other three: a high score does not mean more empathy, it means the sight of pain sets off the observer's own alarm, and energy goes to managing that reaction before it can go to the person in trouble. In the reference model this dimension tends to correlate negatively with the others, which is why no composite empathy score exists.
Instruments
- NOESIS Multidimensional Empathy ScaleNOESIS2026