Pictorial Empathy Test (PET)

The Pictorial Empathy Test (PET) is a brief instrument capturing the respondent’s situational affective empathy. It consists of 7 photographs depicting individuals (men, women and children) in distress. Respondents answer on a scale how emotionally moving they find the photograph. The use of photographs is a valid way to examine affective empathy because facial expressions of emotion are central to empathic responses and create a mechanism of emotional resonance in the observer.

Length of completion

The PET takes approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

The subject will find out about themselves in terms of empathy.

Keywords

Pictorial Empathy Test, PET, empathy, affective empathy, photography

Scoring and interpretation

To obtain a total score, the average score of the responses needs to be calculated. A higher score indicates a higher level of affective empathy.

Response Scale

Respondents answer on a five-point scale: 1=not at all, 2=slightly, 3=arouses some feelings, 4=somewhat, 5=very much

References

Alcorta-Garza, A., San-Martín, M., Delgado-Bolton, R., Soler-González, J., Roig, H., & Vivanco, L. (2016). Cross-validation of the Spanish HP-version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy confirmed with some cross-cultural differences. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 1002. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01002

Koirikivi, I. (2014). Measurement of affective empathy with Pictorial Empathy Test (PET) [Master’s thesis, University of Helsinki]. https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/135570/measurem.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Lindeman, M., Koirikivi, I., & Lipsanen, J. (2018). Pictorial Empathy Test (PET): An easy-to-use method for assessing affective empathic reactions. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 34(6), 421–431. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000353