ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the interpersonal outcomes: aggressive or antisocial behavior directed toward another person. It considers empathy's contribution to preventing or diminishing harmful ones. The chapter examines the evidence bearing on the hypothesized connections between cognitive and affective facets of empathy and aggressive/antisocial behavior. It discusses the research, and separately presents the evidence regarding individual differences in role taking capacity/tendency and that regarding individual differences in affective responding. Traditional treatments of the link between affective responses and aggressive behavior have not typically considered the possible inhibitory role of empathy. Dispositional perspective taking and empathic concern generally displayed the negative associations with antagonism measures expected on the basis of theoretical analyses of the empathy-aggression relationship. Investigations of aggression which have attempted to manipulate empathy-related processes through instructional sets or perceived similarity have been quite few, and attempts to link such processes with intrapersonal outcomes such as affective reactions and attributions are equally rare.
