ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses mimicry and contagion, the differences and similarities between emotional contagion, empathy proper, and sympathy, the likely evolutionary origin of these responses, the importance of altruistic and egoistic motivation to the empathy debate, and what sharing might amount to in empathy. Empathic affect is different from emotional contagion because it involves recognition that the affect felt is for another. The idea might also be applicable to other forms of empathic affect, such as empathic anger, empathic joy, or empathic disgust. One of the most prominent proposals regarding the evolutionary origin of sympathy is that sympathy has descended from an emotional mechanism of care for offspring. In conclusion, empathy and sympathy are two fairly distinct emotional reactions to others, which have likely evolved due to different evolutionary pressures. As Schulz stresses, one type of adaptive pressure comes from the competitive advantage of being a member of a group, and some pressures are purely cooperation oriented.
