Basic Empathy Scale – Chinese Version

Description

The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) is developed based on Cohen and Strayer’s definition of empathy as the “understanding and sharing of the emotional states and emotional content of others.” This scale addresses the shortcomings of previous empathy measures by avoiding confusion with variables such as sympathy, social approval, and interpersonal skills. It has shown good reliability and validity indicators and has demonstrated cross-cultural consistency in regions such as France and Italy.

Authors and Contact Email

Information not available.

Purpose

The aim is to assess empathy in order to enhance understanding of emotional responses and interactions among individuals, particularly among adolescents.

Test Year

Information not available.

Administration Method and Scoring

The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) comprises a total of 20 items, each rated on a 5-point scale. Higher scores indicate greater agreement with the item descriptions, where 1 means “strongly disagree” and 5 means “strongly agree.”

Reliability and Validity

The reliability of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES) meets relevant psychometric standards. It shows significant correlation with interpersonal response indicators and the emotion regulation scale, while it does not correlate significantly with social approval. This suggests good reliability and validity for the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a two-factor model did not fit the data well, but a two-factor model with method effects was accepted, indicating a strong method effect within the Chinese adolescent population, necessitating further in-depth research.

Factors and Subscales

The scale includes dimensions of empathy:
– 认知移情 CE (Cognitive Empathy)
– 情感移情 AE (Affective Empathy)

Keywords

Empathy, Scale, Reliability, Validity, Adolescents

Items in Chinese

1. 朋友的情绪对我影响不大＊
2. 和情绪忧伤的朋友相处时，我也会觉得忧伤
3. 当朋友取得优异的成绩时，我能体会到他的喜悦
4. 看到恐怖片里的镜头时，我会感到害怕
5. 我很容易受到他人情绪的感染
6. 当朋友受到惊吓时，我很容易觉察到
7. 看到别人哭泣时，我并不会感到难过＊
8. 他人的情绪对我不会造成任何干扰＊
9. 当朋友情绪低落时，我一般都能觉察到
10. 当朋友受到惊吓时，我一般都能觉察到
11. 看到电视中的悲伤情景时，我也会随之感伤
12. 在别人诉说情之前，我就能对他们的情绪有所觉察
13. 看到别人被激怒时，我的情绪不会受到影响＊
14. 当他人高兴时，我一般都能觉察到
15. 当同伴感到害怕时，我也会觉得害怕
16. 我能很快感受到他人的怒气
17. 我常常会卷入朋友的情绪中
18. 朋友低落的情绪对我没什么影响＊
19. 我常常觉察不到朋友的情绪感受＊
20. 当朋友高兴时，我很难觉察到＊

Items in English

1. The emotions of my friends do not have much effect on me.*
2. When I interact with friends who are emotionally sad, I also often feel sad.
3. When my friend performs well and achieves results, I can feel his/her joy.
4. I feel scared when I see certain scenes in horror movies.
5. I am easily affected by others’ emotions.
6. When my friend is shocked, I can easily notice it.
7. I do not feel sad when I see someone cry.*
8. Other people’s emotions do not interfere with me at all.*
9. When someone is feeling down, I can generally notice it.
10. I can generally notice when my friend is scared.
11. I often feel sad when I see sad scenes on TV or in movies.
12. I can usually sense people’s emotions before they express them.
13. My emotions are not affected when I see others get angry.*
14. I can generally notice when others are happy.
15. I also feel scared when my friends feel scared.
16. I can quickly sense when my friend is angry.
17. I often get involved in my friends’ emotions.
18. My friend’s depressed emotions have no effect on me.*
19. I often fail to notice my friends’ emotional feelings.*
20. I find it hard to notice when my friend is happy.*

References

李晨枫, 吕锐, 刘洁,等. 基本共情量表在中国青少年群体中的初步修订[J]. 中国临床心理学杂志, 2011, 19(002):163-166.
张田. “得寸进尺”还是”适可而止”[D]. 2015.
基本移情量表中文版（BES-C）
夏丹. 基本移情量表(BES)中文版的信效度及初步应用研究[D]. 郑州大学, 2011.