Cultural Psychology

Cultural Psychology

Critical reading of Martin Hoffman's theory of empathy

Document Type : Theoretical/Review (the field of Cultural Psychology)

Author
Assistant Professor of the Institute of Islamic Sciences and Culture
Abstract
Martin Hoffman's theory of empathy is one of the emotion-oriented theories in moral psychology. He defines empathy as an emotion that fits the other person's situation more than it fits the person's own situation. This vicarious emotional state grows in the cognitive context of "distinguishing oneself from others" and starts from the Newborn Reactive Cry and goes through the five stages to empathy beyond the situation. Hoffman believes that empathic distress can be the source of moral motivation through the mediation of "guilt". Hoffman proposes a comprehensive moral development theory based on empathy. He describes empathy as an automatic emotion that is triggered by various factors. But the evidence obtained with subsequent experimental studies showed that empathy is not an emotion that is always automatic and out of a person's control, but is stimulated or inhibited by the influence of cognitive processes, mental preparation, and a person's life and professional background. Such studies indicate that the accuracy of human empathy is lower than what he imagine. In other words, people sometimes project their emotional states instead of real empathy. As a result, it can be said that Hoffman's empathy theory needs to be supplemented with modulating variables in order to better describe and explain reality.
Keywords

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  • Receive Date 22 December 2022
  • Revise Date 20 March 2023
  • Accept Date 06 January 2024