Relationship between empathy and big-five personality factors in a college student sample

Empathy has been associated with many psychological variables such as prosocial behavior, aggression, and intergroup relations. In our study the relationship between empathy and the big five personality model was evaluated. The general hypothesis in our study is that empathy is positively associated...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Iacovella, Jorge Daniel, Díaz-Lázaro, Carlos Miguel, Richard´s, María Marta
Format: Online
Language:spa
Published: Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas 2015
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Online Access:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/racc/article/view/9038
Description
Summary:Empathy has been associated with many psychological variables such as prosocial behavior, aggression, and intergroup relations. In our study the relationship between empathy and the big five personality model was evaluated. The general hypothesis in our study is that empathy is positively associated with agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness; while negatively associated with extraversion and not associated with neuroticism.  The sample consisted of 117 male and female university students between 21 and 60 years old, assessed with regionally validated measures. Bivariate correlations and a hierarchical multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses. The effects of gender were controlled in the first step of the regression analysis. Consistent with the hypotheses, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness were positively correlated with empathy. In the multiple regression analysis, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion also made statistically significant contributions in the prediction of empathy.