ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the two broad classes of affective outcomes: parallel and reactive. It considers the nature of emotional responses falling within each class, and discusses possible relations between these outcomes and empathy-related processes. The chapter examines the empirical evidence bearing on these relations. It evaluates the degree to which this empirical evidence supports the hypothesized relations. The evidence regarding personal distress will be placed, along with empathic concern, under the reactive outcome category. According to the organizational model, affective responses are the result of personal factors, situational factors, and more proximally, a variety of empathy-related processes varying in their level of cognitive sophistication. The chapter considers the evidence regarding causal antecedents of parallel and reactive outcomes, with an eye toward noting how well the evidence supports these theoretical propositions. Most of the investigations examining empathic concern's antecedents have focused on role taking, and have used instructions to induce a role-taking set toward the target.
