Compassion a “concern for the wellbeing of others.” (Cosley, McCoy, & Saslow, 2010).

• Cosley, B., McCoy, S., & Saslow, S. (2010). Is compassion for others stress buffering? Consequences of compassion and social support for physiological reactivity to stress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (5), 816-823.

Compassion “Is compassion a moral force? The answer, according to many spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama, is a resounding yes. The experience of compassion, they assert, has a radiating effect, extending kindness and forgiveness toward others, even those who have intentionally transgressed.” (DeSteno, & Valdesolo, 2012)

• DeSteno,D. & Valdesolo, P. (2012). The surprising truths about the liar, cheat, sinner (and saint) lurking in all of us. Psychology Today.

Compassion “In the classical teachings of the Buddhist tradition compassion is defined as the heart that trembles in the face of suffering. At times, compassion is translated as the heart that can tremble in the face of suffering. It is aspired to as the noblest quality of the human heart, the motivation underlying all meditative paths of healing and liberation.

Compassion is a response to suffering, the inevitable adversity all human beings will meet in their lives, whether it is the pain embedded in the fabric of ageing, sickness and death or the psychological and emotional afflictions that debilitate the mind. Compassion is the acknowledgment that not all pain can be ‘fixed’ or ‘solved’ but all suffering is made more approachable in a landscape of compassion.

Compassion is a multi-textured response to pain, sorrow and anguish. It includes kindness, empathy, generosity and acceptance. The strands of courage, tolerance, equanimity are equally woven into the cloth of compassion. Above all compassion is the capacity to open to the reality of suffering and to aspire to its healing. The Dalai Lama once said, ‘If you want to know what compassion is, look into the eyes of a mother or father as they cradle their sick and fevered child'” (Feldman &Kuyken, 2011)

• Feldman, C., & Kuyken, W. (2011). Compassion in the landscape of suffering. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 143-155. doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564831.

Compassion “is the feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help (for similar definitions, see Lazarus, 1991; Nussbaum, 1996, 2001; see Table 1). This definition conceptualizes compassion as an affective state defined by a specific subjective feeling, and it differs from treatments of compassion as an attitude (Blum, 1980; Sprecher & Fehr, 2005) or as a general benevolent response to others, regardless of suffering or blame (Post, 2002; Wispe´, 1986). This definition also clearly differentiates compassion from empathy, which refers to the vicarious experience of another’s emotions (Lazarus, 1991).” (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010).

• Goetz, J., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: an Evol

Compassion “has been described as a path leading to greater awareness. For example, Feldman (2005) wrote:

One is to see compassion as the outcome of a path that can be cultivated and developed. You do not in reality cultivate compassion, but you can cultivate, through investigation, the qualities that incline your heart toward compassion. You can learn to attend to the moments when you close and contract in the face of suffering, anger, fear, or alienation. In those moments you are asked to question what difference empathy, forgiveness, patience, and tolerance would make. You cultivate your commitment to turn toward your responses of aversion, anger, or intolerance. With mindfulness and investigation, you find in your heart the generosity and understanding that allow you to open rather than close. (pp. 141-142)” (Hoffman, Grossman, & Hinton, 2011).

• Hoffman, S., Grossman, P., & Hinton, D. (2011). Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review, 31 (7), 1126-37.

Compassion is “…a multidimensional process comprised of four key components: (1) an awareness of suffering (cognitive/empathic awareness), 2) sympathetic concern related to being emotionally moved by suffering (affective component), (3) a wish to see the relief of that suffering (intention), and (4) a responsiveness or readiness to help relieve that suffering (motivational)”(Jazaieri, et al., 2012)

• Jazaieri, H., Jinpa, G. T., McGonigal, K., Rosenberg, E. L., Finkelstein, J. Simon-Thomas, E., Cullen, M., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. (2012). Enhancing compassion: A randomized controlled trial of a compassion cultivation training program. J Happiness Stud. doi: 10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z

“Compassion is a relational process that involves noticing another person’s pain, experiencing an emotional reaction to his or her pain, and acting in some way to help ease or alleviate the pain” (Kanov, Maitlis, Worline, Dutton, Frost & Lilius, 2004).

• Kanov, J. M., Maitlis, S., Worline, M. C., Dutton, J. E., Frost, P. & Lilius, J. M. (2004). Compassion in organizational life. American Behavior Scientist, 47 (6), 808-827.

“Compassionin organizations makes people feel seen and known; it also helps them feel less alone (Frost et al. 2000; Kahn, 1993). Moreover, compassion alters the “felt connection” between people at work (Frost et al., 2000), and is associated with a range of positive attitudes, behaviors, and feelings in organizations (Dutton, Frost, Worline, Lilius, & Kanov, 2002; Lilius et al., 2003). Research and writing on compassion in organizations reveals it as a positive and very powerful force.

We regard compassion in organizations as processual and relational. It is common to think of it as an individual characteristic, and a given individual as being either “compassionate” or “uncompassionate”. Compassion is also seen as a state induced by another person’s suffering, a “painful emotion” that one person experiences for another (Nussbaum, 1996). In contrast, we conceptualize compassion as a dynamic process, or a set of sub-processes, that may be found both in individuals and collectivities. Building on Clark (1997), we identify these sub-processes as “noticing”, “feeling”, and “responding”, each contributing uniquely to the process of compassion.” (Kanov, Maitlis, Worline, Dutton, Frost & Lilius, 2004).

• Kanov, J. M., Maitlis, S., Worline, M. C., Dutton, J. E., Frost, P. & Lilius, J. M. (2004). Compassion in organizational life. American Behavior Scientist, 47 (6), 808-827.

“Compassion comes into the English language by way of the Latin root “passio”, which means to suffer, paired with the Latin prefix “com”, meaning together – to suffer together. The concept of compassion and its link to suffering has deep philosophical and religious roots. For instance, Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas noted the interdependence of suffering and compassion when he wrote: “No one becomes compassionate unless he suffers” (cited in Barasch, 2005, p. 13). Ancient Chinese traditions acknowledge the interrelationship of suffering and human concern in the figure of Kwan Yin, often referred to as the goddess of compassion. Hindu imagery depicts compassion through a half-ape half-human deity, Hanuman, whose chest is cleaved open to reveal his heart to others undefended. Some Buddhist traditions induct individuals seeking to cultivate their compassion into the vow of the Boddhisattva, whose life is dedicated to being present with and relieving the suffering of all beings (Barasch, 2005; Chodron, 1997). A recurring theme is thus the relationship between one’s own suffering and self-oriented compassion, and compassion for others (Neff, 2003, 2009)” (Lilius, Kanov, Dutton, Worline, & Maitlis, 2011) .

• Lilius, J., Kanov, J., Dutton, J., Worline, M., & Maitlis, S. (2011). Compassion revealed: What we know about compassion at work (and where we need to know more). Oxford University Press.

Compassion “is an empathetic emotional response to another person’s pain or suffering that moves people to act in a way that will either ease the person’s condition or make it more bearable (Kanov, Maitlis, Worline, Dutton, Frost, & Lilius, 2003). The action component of compassion distinguishes it from empathy (von Deitze & Orb, 2000), which is a passive, feeling state (Davis, 1994).” (Lilius, Worline, Dutton, Kanov, Frost, & Maitlis, 2003).

• Lilius, J. M., Worline, M. C., Dutton, J. E., Kanov, J., Frost, P. J., & Maitlis, S. (2003). What good is compassion at work? National Academy of Management.

“Compassion is a multi-dimensional process in which three elements of compassion form a tri-partite concept: noticing another person’s suffering,empathically feeling that person’s pain, and acting in a manner intended to ease the suffering (Dutton et al., 2006; Kanov et al., 2004; Miller, 2007). All of these elements are necessary, in this view, to understand compassion. Importantly, compassion goes beyond felt empathy to entail action, which is regarded as a compassionate response regardless of whether or not it successfully alleviates suffering (Kanov et al., 2004; Reich, 1989; Soygal Rinpoche, 1992).” (Lilius, Worline, Maitlis, Kanov, Dutton, & Frost, 2008).

• Lilius, J., Worline, M., Maitlis, Kanov, J., Dutton, J., & Frost, P. (2008). The contours and consequences of compassion at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 193-218.

“Compassion is conceptualized as one form of emotional work and is theoretically developed through a model that highlights the subprocesses of noticing, feeling, and responding.” (Miller, 2007).

• Miller, K. (2007). Compassionate communication in the workplace: Exploring processes of noticing, connecting, and responding. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35 (3), 223-245.

Compassion “Although there is no single definition of compassion that will suffice in all situations, both scholars and laypeople would widely agree that compassion involves “connection” to others (either cognitively through perspective taking or affectively through empathy) and “caring” for those others (often in communicative or behavioral ways). Compassion involves a focus on the other (Solomon, 1998) and a desire for the other to have good things happen or to overcome adversity.” (Miller, 2007).

• Miller, K. (2007). Compassionate communication in the workplace: Exploring processes of noticing, connecting, and responding. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35 (3), 223-245.

“Compassion is often considered an important human strength, requiring a sense of caring, empathy, and sympathy, each of which enable one to connect with and care for another. Of notable relevance to mental health, compassion is not only a process that builds positive relationships with others; it is also a vital path to releasing the human mind from the effects of harmful negative emotions (Wang 2005)” (Mongrain, Chin, &Shapira, 2010).

• Mongrain, M., Chin, J. M., & Shapira, L. M. (2010). Practicing compassion increases happiness and self-esteem. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12 (6), 963-981.

Compassion “In Western culture, compassion has mainly been understood in terms of concern for the suffering of others (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010). As defined by Webster’s online dictionary, compassion is “the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it.” In many Buddhist traditions, however, it is considered equally important to offer compassion to the self (Brach, 2003; Feldman, 2005; Salzberg, 2005). To give compassion to others but not the self, in fact, is seen drawing artificial distinctions between self and others that misrepresent our essential interconnectedness (Hahn, 1997). From this point of view self-compassion is simply compassion directed inward” (Neff &Pommier, 2012).

• Neff, K. D., &Pommier, E. (2012, April). The relationship between self-compassion and other-focused concern among college undergraduates, community adults, and practicing meditators. Self and Identity, 1-17. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2011.649546.

“Compassion is one of the key values of humanities perspective, which addresses the nonphysical aspects of palliative care. The word “compassion” comes from Latin and means a willingness “to suffer with.” Compassion refers to a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. Many of the world’s major religions hold compassion as one of the highest spiritual virtues. Compassion is also one of the chief virtues in the Buddhist tradition. In Asian countries, where Buddhism is much more prevalent, compassion is deeply embedded in the culture”

• Shih, C., Hu, W., Lee, L., Yao, C., Chen, C. & Chiu, T. (2012). Effect of a compassion-focused training program in palliative care education for medical students. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 1-7.doi: 10.1177/1049909112445463

“Compassion has been understood in terms of concern for the suffering of others (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010). With self-compassion, however, one is emotionally supportive toward both the self and others when hardship or human imperfection is confronted.” (Yarnell & Neff, 2012).

• Yarnell, L. M., & Neff, K. D. (2012). Self-Compassion, Interpersonal Conflict Resolutions, and Well-being. Self and Identity.

Caregiving/Nurturance is the belief in one’s own personal responsibility towards the support of others’ well-being.

(a) adj. characterized by attention to the needs of others, esp. those unable to look after themselves adequately; professionally involved in the provision of health or social care; (b) n. attention to the needs of a child, elderly person, invalid, etc. (source: Oxford English Dictionary) Emotional and physical nourishment and care; =nurturing n. Also: the capacity or tendency to provide nurture. (source: Oxford English Dictionary)

Compassion is a feeling of sorrow or concern for another person’s suffering or need accompanied by a subsequent desire to alleviate the suffering – has both automatic component and deliberative influences. Suffering together with another, participation in suffering; fellow-feeling, sympathy,  The feeling or emotion, when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve it; pity that inclines one to spare or to succour.(source: Oxford English Dictionary)

Altruism Devotion to the welfare of others, regard for others, as a principle of action; opposed to egoism or selfishness (source: Oxford English Dictionary).

Benevolence is concerned with the preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent and personal contact – is a trait sensitive to target properties and situational/contextual factors. Disposition to do good, desire to promote the happiness of others, kindness, generosity, charitable feeling (as a general state or disposition towards mankind at large). (source: Oxford English Dictionary)

Affiliative is seeking to associate with another or others, sociable, friendly, sympathetic (source: Oxford English Dictionary)

There are many definitions and terms for compassion and compassion-related words. This is a wiki that aims to provide clarity in the definitions. We invite you to contribute!

In today’s world, compassion and empathy embrace 3 key dimensions: peace, green-living, and health.  Such “3D Compassion” is of paramount importance to our future well-being and existence as a global society.  The 3 dimensions are synergistic and interdependent.  “3D Compassion” is an expression of empathy for other people, empathy for other living things (animals, plants), empathy for our Earth, and empathy for ourselves.

source: Walker, L.R. (2013, June 4). Linking Empathy to Health, Green-Living, and Peace. http://startempathy.org/blog/2013/06/linking-empathy-health-green-living-and-peace

Physiological Assessment of Resting RSA is a measure of the neural regulation of the heart’s pacemaker via the myelinated fibers of the “smart” vagus (Oveis et al., 2009). This approach is ideally suited to representing the dyadic context of interpersonal empathy, and makes it possible to simultaneously analyze both empathic sensitivity (the degree to which Partner A’s moment-by-moment estimates of B’s affect are associated with corresponding fluctuations in B’s moment-by-moment self-reports) and perceived concordance (the degree to which Partner A’s moment by-moment estimates of B’s affect are associated with corresponding fluctuations in A’s own moment-by-moment self-reports).

• Diamond, L. M., Fagundes, C. P., & Butterworth, M. R. (2012). Attachment style, vagal tone, and empathy during mother-adolescent interactions. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 165-184.

• Oveis, C., Cohen, A. B., Gruber, J., Shiota, M. N., Haidt, J., & Keltner, D. (2009). Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia is associated with tonic positive emotionality. Emotion, 9(2), 265-270. doi:10.1037/a0015383.

Heart Rate Variability is the measure of the time interval between heartbeats. It is associated with emotion arousal.

• Oveis, C., Cohen, A. B., Gruber, J., Shiota, M. N., Haidt, J., & Keltner, D. (2009). Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia is associated with tonic positive emotionality. Emotion, 9(2), 265-270. doi:10.1037/a0015383.

Stress and Immune Function are a measure of emotional and physical health. It can be measured through the hormone cortisol.

• Pace, T. W., Negi, L., Adame, D. D., Cole, S. P., Sivilli, T. I., Brown, T. D., & … Raison, C. L. (2009). Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34(1), 87-98. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.08.011.

Autonomic Nervous System function can be used as a measure of nonverbal communication of compassion. E.g. arterial blood pressure and skin temperature.

• Shaltout, H., Tooze, J., Rosenberger, E., & Kemper, K. (2012). Time, touch, and compassion: effects on autonomic nervous system and well-being. Explore: The Journal Of Science & Healing, 8(3), 177-184.

This section is categorized by name of scale.

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) has been shown to positively correlate with the magnitude of neural activity related to empathy Multidimensional Individual Difference measure of Empathy. These studies also looked at neuroimaging to see what part(s) of the brain were used for empathy.

• Hooker, C. I., Verosky, S. C., Germine, L. T., Knight, R. T., & D’Esposito, M. (2010) Neural activity during social signal perception correlates with self-reported empathy. Brain Research, 1308, 100-113.

• Lamm, C., Decety, J., & Singer, T. (2011). Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. NeuroImage, 54, 2492-502.

• Mathur, V., Harada, T., Lipke, T., & Chiao, J. Y. (2010). Neural basis of extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation. NeuroImage, 51, 1468-75.

• Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Aharon-Peretz, J., & Perry, D. (2009). Two systems for empathy: A double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 132, 617-627.

MKDA — a whole-brain based quantitative meta-analysis of recent fMRI studies of empathy was performed to see if there is a core neural network for empathy.

• Fan, Y., Duncan, N., de Greck, M., & Northoff, G. (2011) Is there a core neural network in empathy? An fMRI based quantitative meta-analysis. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 35(3), 903-11.

Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) is used to 1) identify areas in the brain that exhibit significant co-variation with the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) during pain empathy across the three perspectives; and 2) to elucidate the role of these regions in perspective taking and empathy.

• Cheng, Y., Chen, C., Lin, C., Chou, K., & Decety, J. (2010). Love hurts: an fMRI study. NeuroImage, 51, 923-929.

Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task assesses individual differences in the ability to infer the affective mental states of strangers.

• Rodrigues, S. M., Saslow, L. R., Garcia, N., John, O. P., & Keltner, D. (2009)Oxytocin receptor genetic variation relates to empathy and stress reactivity in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(50), 21437-41.

Mesolimbic reward system is engaged by donations in the same way as when monetary rewards are obtained.

• Moll, J., Krueger, F., Zahn, R., Pardini, M., Oliveira-Souza, R., & Grafman, J. (2006). Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(42), 15623-8.

Self-report experience in response to evocative stimuli (video/audio) task measure compassionate reactions to different kinds of stimuli.

• Simon-Thomas, E., Godzik, J., Castle, E., Antonenko, O., Ponz, A., Kogan, A., & Keltner. D. (2011). An fMRI study of caring vs self-focus during induced compassion and pride. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. In Press.

fMRI:

fMRI to measure psycho-physiological expression of compassion in the brain.

• Boyatzis, R., Jack, A., Cesaro, R., Khawaja, M., & Passarelli, A. (2010). Coaching with compassion: An fMRI study of coaching to the positive or negative emotional attractor. Organizational Behavior, Cognitive Science, 1-39.

fMRI to view the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) activity when the participants are given to option to donate or invest money.

• Cooper, J. C., Kreps, Tamar A., Wiebe, T., Pirkl, T., & Knutson, B. (2010). When giving is good: ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation for others’ intentions. Neuron, 67, 511-521.

fMRI to explore differences in neural response to empathy-eliciting stimuli in adolescents with and without aggressive CD. Areas of the pain matrix, dmPFC, OFC and temporo-parietal junction all have been associated with empathy for pain and mentalizing in previous studies,

• Decety, J., Michalska, K. J., Akitsuki, Y., & Lahey, B. B. (2009) Atypical empathic responses in adolescents with aggressive conduct disorder: a functional MRI investigation.Biological psychology, 80(2), 203-11.

fMRI — and measured the sequential interaction between interoception and empathy.

• Ernst, J., Northoff, G., Boker, H., Seifritz, E., & Grimm, S. (2012). Interoceptive awareness enhances neural activity during empathy. Hum Brain Mapp. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22014.

fMRI — Participants assumed neutral or compassionate attitude to sad/neutral face during fMRI. The main effect of a compassionate attitude was observed in the medial frontal cortex, the subgenual frontal cortex, the inferior frontal cortex and the midbrain regions.The results of this study suggest that taking a compassionate attitude towards other people’s sad expressions modulate the activities of the midbrain-ventral striatum/septal region network, which is known to play a role in the prosocial/social approach motivation and its accompanied rewarding feeling.

• Kim, J., Kim, S., Kim, J., Jeong, B., Park, C., Son, A. R., Song, J. E, & Ki, S. W., (2009). Compassionate attitude towards others’ suffering activates the mesolimbic neural system.Neuropsychologia, 47(10), 2073-81.

fMRI to see the effects of focused-attention meditation (FAM) and metta loving- kindness meditation (LKM).

• Lee, T., Leung, M., Hou, W., Tang, J., Yin, J., So, K., .. Chan, C. (2012). Distinct neural activity associated with focused- attention meditation and loving-kindness meditation. PLOS ONE, 7, e40054.

fMRI to measure empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior (self report as well, in first section).

• Masten, C. L., Morelli, S. A., & Eisenberger N. I. (2011). An fMRI investigation of empathy for ‘social pain’ and subsequent prosocial behavior. Neuroimage, 55(1): 381-388. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.060.

fMRI study found that empathy for friends vs strangers activated different regions in the brain.

• Meyer, M., Masten, C., Ma, Y., Wang, C., Shi, Z., Eisenberger, N., & Han, S. (2012). Empathy for the social suffering of friends and strangers recruits distinct patterns of brain activation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

This section is categorized by the types of measures.

Prosocial and Intrinsic motivations with items adapted from self-regulation scales developed by Ryan and Connell (1989).

• Cronbach’s alpha for prosocial motivations = .90
• Cronbach’s alpha for intrinsic motivations = .71
• Grant, A. M. (2008). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 48-58. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.48.

The Brief Implicit Association Test (Brief IAT) and the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) both measures look at how one judges others due to race/ethnicity.

• Greenwald, A. G., Smith, C., Sriram, N. N., Bar-Anan, Y., & Nosek, B. A. (2009). Implicit race attitudes predicted vote in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Analyses Of Social Issues And Public Policy (ASAP), 9(1), 241-253. doi:10.1111/j.1530-2415.2009.01195.x.

Implicit Evaluative Responses assess implicit responses to each picture, using an affective priming task developed by Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, and Kardes (1986).

• Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., & Gross, J. J. (2008). Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. Emotion, 8(5), 720-724. doi:10.1037/a0013237.

The participants were primed with either negative or positive words regarding an individual after a loving-kindness meditation (LKM) or neutral imagery induction practice.

This section is organized by the name of the games.

Dictator Game is a measure of prosociality through behavior. The dictator game is composed of two players, the “Dictator” (referred to in the study as the “Decider”) and “Receiver.” The Dictator is given a pool of resources (e.g., $8). His or her task is to decide how much, if any, of this pool of resources to pass on to the Receiver used the same game.

• Modified versions of the game are available for the study of e.g., gender
• Simpson, B. & Willer, R. (2008). Altruism and indirect reciprocity: The interaction of person and situation in prosocial behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71S, 37-52. doi:10.1177/019027250807100106.

The Redistribution Game is an altruism behavior task. This economic decision-making task models both unfair treatment of a victim and costly redistribution of funds to the victim.

• Weng, H., Fox, A., Shackman, A., Stodola, D., Caldwell, J., Olson, M., Rogers, G., & Davidson, R. (2013). Compassion training alters altruism and neural responses to suffering. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1171-1180. 

The Zurich Prosocial Game (ZPG) allows for repeated, ecologically valid assessment of prosocial behavior and is sensitive to the influence of reciprocity, helping cost, and distress cues on helping behavior.

• Leiberg, S., Klimecki, O., & Singer, T. (2011). Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game. PloS one, 6(3), e17798.

This section is organized by the name of the measures.

Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) is a 36-item used to measure adult romantic attachment.

• Mongrain, M., Chin, J. M., & Shapira, L.B. (2010). Practicing Compassion Increases Happiness and Self-Esteem. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 963-981.

• Shapira, L. B., & Mongrain, M. (2010). The benefits of self-compassion and optimism exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 377-389.

The Interpersonal Orientation Scale was developed to focus on four dimensions assumed to underlie affiliation motivation: social comparison, emotional support, positive stimulation, and attention.

• Hill, C. A. (1987). Affiliation motivation: People who need people.. but in different ways. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(5), 1008-1018. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.5.100

Interview protocol was developed to explore issues of compassion and communication in the workplace. The areas of discussion included: (1) background on the individual’s job, career, and education; (2) typical activities on the job and feelings about those activities; (3) definitions of compassion and a discussion of how compassion is “done” in the job; and (4) a consideration of the influence of compassionate communication on the research participant, clients, coworkers, and others.

• Miller, K. I. (2007). Compassionate communication in the workplace: Exploring processes of noticing, connecting, and responding. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35(3), 223-245.

“Memory” Task is a novel non-verbal and implicit measure of emotional empathy specially developed for the study by Rabinowitch et al. Children were shown a short movie clip, in which a protagonist undergoes an emotional experience. The movie clips lasted between 61 and 97 seconds. After viewing the clip the children were presented with a “Memory” Task, where they were asked to select the facial expression that they remember having seen among the faces presented prior to the clip presentation.

• Rabinowitch, T. C., Cross, I., & Burnard, P. (2012). Long-term musical group interaction has a positive influence on empathy in children. Psychology of Music. doi: 10.1177/0305735612440609) 1-15.

Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) consists of a series of photographs, most of which depict people in emotionally charged situations. To assess cognitive empathy, subjects are required to infer the mental states of the individuals shown in the photographs. After giving their response, participants receive feedback about the correct answer. Then, to assess emotional empathy, subjects rate their emotional reactions in response to the pictures (emotional empathy).

• Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H. R., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2008). Dissociation of cognitive and emotional empathy in adults with Asperger syndrome using the multifaceted empathy test (MET). J Autism Dev Disord, 38(3): 464-473.doi: 10.1007/s10803-007-0486-x’.

The Multimotive Grid was developed to measure motives with respect to their hope and fear components. It was based on the grid technique, originally developed to combine the advantages of Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and questionnaire methods. It measures specifically the ‘big three’ motives: achievement, affiliation and power.

• Sokolowski, K., Schmalt, H. D., Langens, T. A., & Puca, R. M. (2000). Assessing achievement, affiliation, and power motives all at once: the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG). J Pers Assess. 74, 126-45. doi:10.1037/t08319-000

Need to Belong Scale measures the strong desire to form and maintain enduring interpersonal attachments.

• Leary, M. R., Kelly, K. M., Cottrell, C. A., & Schreindorfer, L. S. (2007). Individual differences in the need to belong: Mapping the nomological network. Unpublished manuscript, Duke University.

Online questionnaire and a short passage of information about a person who had been in a car accident and who consequently could not go to work (adapted from Batson et al., 1997). Empathy was measured by participants rating how sympathetic, warm, compassionate, softhearted, and tender they felt toward the person on a 7-point scale (1 = not at all like this; 7 = a lot like this), a = .94. Willingness to help: Participants were then asked to respond to two questions using a 5-point scale (1 =not at all; 5 = very much): “To what extent would you be willing to offer financial help to the person in this situation?” and “To what extent would you be willing to offer your time to help the person in this situation?”

• Pavey, L., Greitemeyer, T., & Sparks, P. (2012). I help because I want to, not because you tell me to: Empathy increases autonomously motivated helping. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 681-689. doi:10.1177/0146167211435940.

Preference for Solitude Scale measure individual differences in preference for solitude.

• Burger, J. M. (1995). Individual differences in preference for solitude. Journal Of Research In Personality, 29(1), 85-108. doi:10.1006/jrpe.1995.1005

Recall – to provide detailed account of a specific experience of compassionate (or altruistic) love for either close others, strangers or non-close others before they responded to follow-up questions that asked how they were affected by the experience. Then, the participants are asked to rate the experience on intensity (“…please rate the intensity of the compassionate love you experienced during the particular episode you described”) and typicality (“To what degree do you believe that your compassionate love experience described above is typical of compassionate love experiences?”). Each of these two items is followed by a 9-point response scale that ranged from 1 = not at all (intense/typical) to 9 = extremely (intense/typical). Then, they assess the degree to which they had been affected or changed on several dimensions because of their compassionate love experience.

• Sprecher, S. & Fehr, B. (2005). Enhancement of mood and self-esteem as a result of giving and receiving compassionate love. Current Research in Social Psychology, 11(16), 227-242.

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) is a 10 question self-report unidimensional measure of global self-esteem — Mongrain, Chin, and Shapira (2010). Shapira and Mongrain (2010).

• Mongrain, M., Chin, J. M., & Shapira, L.B. (2010). Practicing Compassion Increases Happiness and Self-Esteem. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 963-981.
• Shapira, L. B., & Mongrain, M. (2010). The benefits of self-compassion and optimism exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 377-389.

Social Comparison through Physical Appearance Scale (SCPAS) assesses the social ranking based on one’s physical appearance, and not the tendency to make comparisons of the general physical appearance or specific body parts.

• Ferreira, C., Pinto-Gouveia, J., & Duarte, C. (2013). Physical appearance as a measure of social ranking: The role of a new scale to understand the relationship between weight and dieting. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 20(1), 55-66. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.769

Steen Happiness Index (SHI) is a 20 item index that asks levels of happiness over the previous week.

• Seligman, M., Steen, T., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.

Toronto Alexithymia Scale as part of the Zurich Prosocial Game which was developed that allows for repeated assessment of prosocial behavior and for parsing the influence of reciprocity, cost, and distress on prosocial behavior.

• Leiberg, S., Klimecki, O., & Singer, T. (2011). Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game. PloS one, 6(3), e17798.

“Triple Dominance” is a measure of prosocial value orientation to assess altruism.

• Van Lange, P. A. M. (1999). The pursuit of joint outcomes and equality in outcomes: An integrative model of social value orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 337-49.

This section is categorized by the type of measure.

Dan Batson paradigm – Empathic response to Kathy’s plight, perception of similarity and perception of need all measure how much compassion and sympathy we feel for others, particularly strangers.

• Batson, D. C., Lishner, D. A., Cook, J., & Sawyer, S. (2010). Similarity and nurturance : Two possible sources of empathy for strangers. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27(1), 37-41.

Recording time taken to offer assistance after to exposure to violence.

• Bushman, B. J. & Anderson C. (2009). Comfortably numb: desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others. Psychological Science, 20(3), 273-7.

Opportunity to Give/Willingness or Likelihood of Helping – Participants read hypothetical scenarios where they have a chance to help strangers and indicate the likelihood of their helping based on how they would behave in each situation at the present moment.

• On a scale from 1 (not at all likely) to 9 (very likely), responses to the scenarios were averaged to form the dependent measure of helping.

• DeWall, C., Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M. T., & Maner, J. K. (2008). Depletion makes the heart grow less helpful: Helping as a function of self-regulatory energy and genetic relatedness. Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(12), 1653-1662. doi:10.1177/0146167208323981.

Bond and Lader (Visual Analogue) Mood Rating Scale (BLMRS) –  two items of the BLMRS specifically assess subjective prosocial effects:antagonistic/amicable and withdrawn/gregarious.

• Dumont, G. H., Sweep, F. J., van der Steen, R. R., Hermsen, R. R., Donders, A. T., Touw, D. J., & … Verkes, R. J. (2009). Increased oxytocin concentrations and prosocial feelings in humans after ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) administration. Social Neuroscience, 4(4), 359-366. doi:10.1080/17470910802649470.

The number of people approached for a contribution and the average amount of the contributions made can be measured in response to being asked for help.

• Flynn, F. J., & Lake, V. (2008). “If you need help, just ask”: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 128 -143.

Dichotomous measure of whether voluntary help is provided measures prosocial behavior.

• Grant, A. M., & Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 946-955. doi:10.1037/a0017935.

Charitable Giving Behavior by self-reported satisfaction after either voluntary or mandatory giving.

• Harbaugh, W. T., Mayr, U., & Burghart, D. R. (2007). Neural responses to taxation and voluntary giving reveal motives for charitable donations. Science, 316(5831), 1622-1625. doi:10.1126/science.1140738.

Magnitude of donations as a measure of altruism.

• Reuter, M., Frenzel, C., Walter, N., Markett, S., & Montag, C. (2011). Investigating the genetic basis of altruism: The role of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(5), 662-8.

There are many ways to measure compassion and its associated mental and emotional states and behavior. This is a wiki that aims to collect all the different ways in which compassion has been measured with references: self-report, behavior, neural and physiological correlates. We invite you to contribute!