Abstract: Social empathy, the ability to understand people from different socioeconomic
classes and racial/ethnic backgrounds, with insight into the context of institutionalized
inequalities and disparities, can inspire positive societal change and promote social wellbeing.
The value of teaching social empathy and creating interventions that promote
social empathy is enhanced by the ability to measure and assess it. This article provides a
validation of the Social Empathy Index, a tool that practitioners can easily use to assess
individuals’ levels of interpersonal and social empathy. An exploratory factor analysis
was used to validate the instrument and confirm the conceptual model for social empathy.
Keywords: Social empathy, individual empathy, social change, instrument validation