Due to the vital role of empathy in promoting prosocial behaviors and nurturing social bonds, there is a growing interest in cultivating empathy. Yet, the effectiveness of existing training methods on empathy, especially on different dimensions of empathy (i.e., affective, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral empathy), varies tremendously, and the underlying causes for this heterogeneity remain insufficiently explored. To address this issue, we categorized various training methods into three distinct approaches based on the premise that empathy can be influenced by factors associated with the subject, the object, and their relationship. Respectively, these are Subject-Oriented, Object-Oriented, and Socially Oriented approaches. To examine the effects of training and sustainability of these approaches on different dimensions of empathy, we conducted a meta-analysis encompassing 110 eligible studies with 32, 44, 39, 39, and 91 samples for affective, cognitive, motivational, behavioral, and composite empathy, respectively. Results showed that trainings produced small and unsustainable effects on affective empathy, moderate and unsustainable effects on cognitive empathy, small and sustainable effects on motivational empathy, and moderate and sustainable effects on behavioral empathy. The effects of training on composite empathy were robust but decreased over time. Among the three training approaches, Socially Oriented approaches were the most effective in improving all dimensions of empathy. Subject-Oriented and Object-Oriented approaches were effective only in improving cognitive and composite empathy. Altogether, our study offers practical guidance for selecting appropriate training approaches and proposes theoretical principles for developing optimal training strategies in both basic research and clinical applications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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提高同理心的培训类别：系统评价和荟萃分析。


由于同理心在促进亲社会行为和培养社会纽带方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因此人们对培养同理心的兴趣越来越大。然而，现有的同理心训练方法的有效性，特别是在同理心的不同维度（即情感、认知、动机和行为同理心）上的有效性差异很大，并且这种异质性的根本原因仍未得到充分探索。为了解决这个问题，我们将各种训练方法分为三种不同的方法，前提是同理心会受到与主体、客体及其关系相关的因素的影响。这些分别是面向主体、面向对象和社会导向的方法。为了检查这些方法的训练和可持续性对同理心不同维度的影响，我们进行了一项荟萃分析，包括 110 项符合条件的研究，分别涉及 32、44、39、39 和 91 个样本，分别用于情感、认知、动机、行为和复合同理心。结果表明，训练对情感同理心产生微小且不可持续的影响，对认知同理心产生中等和不可持续的影响，对动机同理心产生微小且可持续的影响，以及对行为同理心产生中等和可持续的影响。训练对复合同理心的影响是强大的，但随着时间的推移而减弱。在三种培训方法中，面向社会的方法在改善同理心的所有方面最有效。面向主体和面向对象的方法仅在提高认知和复合同理心方面有效。 总而言之，我们的研究为选择合适的培训方法提供了实践指导，并提出了在基础研究和临床应用中制定最佳培训策略的理论原则。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。