2025/12/03 by Alicia González Romero, Àngel Blanch, William J. Chopik · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · Neuroscience · #Empathy and Medical Education #Media Influence and Health #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
paper · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113596
openalex created_date 2025/12/03 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Females tend to score higher than males in the cognitive and emotional components of empathy. Similar to how temperature correlates positively with aggression, national sex differences in self-reported empathy could vary with latitude (i.e., distance from the Equator). Leveraging data from 24 primarily global-north countries ( n = 101,137; 39,906 females), we examined whether perspective taking and empathic concern were associated with the distance from the Equator beyond individualism/collectivism and power distance. Across countries, sex differences in perspective taking (mean d = 0.28) were smaller than in empathic concern (mean d = 0.65). Sex differences in both measures of empathy were positively associated with the distance from the Equator, such that sex differences were smaller at lower latitudes and larger at higher latitudes. This association was larger for perspective taking ( R 2 = 0.48) than for empathic concern ( R 2 = 0.28). Moreover, individualism/collectivism associated positively with sex differences in empathic concern ( R 2 = 0.35). Apart from social and biological factors, geographical location may play a role in shaping national variation in sex differences in empathy.