Kann Empathie trainiert werden? Ein Review empirischer Studien zur Wirksamkeit von Empathietraining

Abstract

Can Empathy be Trained? A Review of Empirical Studies of the Effectiveness of Empathy Training. The concept of empathy has
witnessed its breakthrough in psychotherapy with Carl Rogers. However, the possibility to develop empathic abilities in training programs is also highly relevant outside therapy and has led to a substantial numbers of scientific evaluation studies. Our article gives an overview of 63 studies on the effectiveness of empathy training programs conducted with students, professionals, school and preschool children, couples, parents, older persons, and persons in the forensic field. These studies, with few exceptions, show that training leads to an increase of empathy. The present article presents possible influences on the effectiveness of empathy trainings and discusses limitations of these trainings which future effectiveness research of empathy training should consider.