Animal empathy reconsidered: a multidimensional profile account
5 affiliations
- 1Institut für Philosophie II Ruhr‐Universität Bochum Universitätsstr. 150 Bochum 44801 Germany
- 2Messerli Forschungsinstitut Veterinärmedizische Universität Wien Veterinärplatz 1 Vienna 1210 Austria
- 3Department für Verhaltens‐ und Kognitionsbiologie Universität Wien Althanstraße 14 Vienna 1090 Austria
- 4Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles CA 90095 USA
- 5Institut für Kognitionswissenschaft Universität Osnabrück Artilleriestrasse 34 Osnabrück 49076 Germany
Abstract
Empathy is the glue that holds societies together and yet several fundamental questions about empathy persist. What is empathy (the definitional question)? Is it uniquely human and, if not, which nonhuman animals possess empathy (the distribution question)? Which type or quality of empathy is realized in different species (the quality question)? To tackle these three questions, we developed a species‐sensitive, multidimensional profile account of empathy. The main function of this account is to enable cross‐species comparisons and to capture the rich variety of typical empathetic phenomena. Therefore, we aim to characterize behaviour‐based cognitive profiles of empathy which are built on multifactorial characterizations of the dimensions of empathy and of the features realizing these dimensions. The distribution question can be answered by assessing family resemblances of profiles of empathy to paradigmatic cases of empathy. Answers to the quality question can be provided with reference to the relevant empathy profile, which allows us to describe and predict associated behaviours. To gain an initial understanding of the feasibility of this framework for interspecies comparisons, we applied it to four groups of animals: rodents, apes, canids and corvids. Comparing these groups, we demonstrate that each species has a specific empathy profile which has a predictive power: in complex situations requiring empathy, distinct profiles will result in more distinct behavioural responses whereas similar profiles will result in more similar responses, even among phylogenetically distinct groups. This new multidimensional profile account enables fine‐grained comparisons within and between species instead of the prevailing all or nothing perspectives of empathy. Furthermore, it offers the integration of phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives thereby providing a crucial tool to explicate the notion of empathy to humans and other animals in a species‐sensitive way. We demonstrate this framework by applying it specifically to empathy, and the framework's advantages invite it to be generalized to all rich and flexible cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals.
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BibTeX
@article{newen2026animal,
title = {{Animal empathy reconsidered: a multidimensional profile account}},
author = {Albert Newen and Maja Griem and Ludwig Huber and Thomas Bugnyar and Aaron Blaisdell and Simone Pika},
journal = {Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1002/brv.70196},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/brv.70196},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Animal empathy reconsidered: a multidimensional profile account
AU - Albert Newen
AU - Maja Griem
AU - Ludwig Huber
AU - Thomas Bugnyar
AU - Aaron Blaisdell
AU - Simone Pika
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/28
JO - Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
DO - 10.1002/brv.70196
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/brv.70196
AB - Empathy is the glue that holds societies together and yet several fundamental questions about empathy persist. What is empathy (the definitional question)? Is it uniquely human and, if not, which nonhuman animals possess empathy (the distribution question)? Which type or quality of empathy is realized in different species (the quality question)? To tackle these three questions, we developed a species‐sensitive, multidimensional profile account of empathy. The main function of this account is to enable cross‐species comparisons and to capture the rich variety of typical empathetic phenomena. Therefore, we aim to characterize behaviour‐based cognitive profiles of empathy which are built on multifactorial characterizations of the dimensions of empathy and of the features realizing these dimensions. The distribution question can be answered by assessing family resemblances of profiles of empathy to paradigmatic cases of empathy. Answers to the quality question can be provided with reference to the relevant empathy profile, which allows us to describe and predict associated behaviours. To gain an initial understanding of the feasibility of this framework for interspecies comparisons, we applied it to four groups of animals: rodents, apes, canids and corvids. Comparing these groups, we demonstrate that each species has a specific empathy profile which has a predictive power: in complex situations requiring empathy, distinct profiles will result in more distinct behavioural responses whereas similar profiles will result in more similar responses, even among phylogenetically distinct groups. This new multidimensional profile account enables fine‐grained comparisons within and between species instead of the prevailing all or nothing perspectives of empathy. Furthermore, it offers the integration of phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives thereby providing a crucial tool to explicate the notion of empathy to humans and other animals in a species‐sensitive way. We demonstrate this framework by applying it specifically to empathy, and the framework's advantages invite it to be generalized to all rich and flexible cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals.
SN - 1464-7931
SN - 1469-185X
ER -