Do you feel what I feel? The relation between congruence of perceived affect and self-reported empathy in daily life social situations.

= 38 interactions per person). Data were collected in spring 2023. We found that while self-reported empathy is generally higher when there is congruence of perceived affect, empathy is highest when there is congruence in high positive affect. Further, people are least empathetic when they feel emotionally worse than they perceive the other person is feeling. These findings provide novel insights into the empathic processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).