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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 5, 474-482 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167296225005
© 1996 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

"I've Been there, Too": Effect on Empathy of Prior Experience with a Need

C. Daniel Batson

University of Kansas

Susie C. Sympson

University of Kansas

Jennifer L. Hindman

University of Kansas

Peter Decruz

University of Kansas

R. Matthew Todd

University of Kansas

Joy L. Weeks

University of Kansas

Geoffrey Jennings

University of Kansas

Christopher T. Burns

University of Kansas

Two studies tested the prediction that having had prior experience with a need increases empathy for another person currently experiencing that need. In Study 1, subjects reported their feelings of empathy after observing a same-sex peer endure mild but uncomfortable electric shocks. Compared with those given no prior experience with the shocks, women who had prepared to receive the shocks themselves reported more empathy, whereas men who had prepared reported less. In Study 2, subjects reported their feelings of empathy after reading a transcript in which a same-sex adolescent described an upsetting life experience. Women who had had a similar experience during adolescence reported more empathy than women who had not; men who had had a similar experience reported no more empathy than men who had not. Across both studies, then, prior experience with the need increased empathy among women but not among men.


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 Pers Soc Psychol BullHome page
K. J. K. Klein and S. D. Hodges
Gender Differences, Motivation, and Empathic Accuracy: When it Pays to Understand
Pers Soc Psychol Bull, June 1, 2001; 27(6): 720 - 730.
[Abstract] [PDF]