Empathy
Empathy has been considered a factor that can inhibit antisocial behavior. It
is usually defined as the capability to share another person’s emotional state
(Eisenberg & Strayer, 1987), which is clearly a definition that stresses its
affective/emotional dimension. Nevertheless, a cognitive dimension of
empathy, as the ability to understand (not necessarily share) another’s
emotional state, has also been identified (Davis, 1994). Although somewhat
controversial (e.g., Mehrabian, 1997), empathy is generally considered to be
a two-dimensional construct with an affective/emotional dimension and a
cognitive dimension.