The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically

by Peter Singer

A test used by psychologists to assess empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Inventory, measures four distinct components: 1.Empathic concern is the tendency to experience feelings of warmth, compassion, and concern for other peope; 2.Personal distress is one’s own feelings of personal unease and discomfort in reaction to the emotions of others; 3.Perspective taking is the tendency to adopt the point of view of other people; and 4.Fantasy is the tendency to imagine oneself experiencing the feelings and performing the actions of fictitious characters. The first two refer to what one feels about others and are therefore aspects of emotional empathy. The other two are cognitive aspects of empathy. They involve knowing what something is like for another being.8