Instruments
Basic Empathy Scale (BES)
The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) was based specifically on the definition of empathy put forth by Cohen and Strayer (1996) ‘‘as the understanding and sharing in another’s emotional state or context’’. Items within the Basic Empathy Scale were created based on the conceptualization of affective and cognitive empathy. Items for the BES were also based on four of the five ‘basic emotions’ (fear, sadness, anger, happiness). Each scale item asks participants to respond on a Likert scale from 1 representing ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 representing ‘strongly agree’, depending on the degree to which the item described them.
Category: Student Well-Being
Sub-Category: Social-Emotional Competence
Grades: 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, Post secondary