关键词: 关键词：群体共情, 群际关系, 共情动机, 文化框架转换

Abstract: Abstract:Group empathy refers to the process that a group membership internalizes and indirectly experiences another group member’s cognition and emotion. Group identity or label is the basis of group empathy. The empathy subjects' state of self-perception determines group identity, while the number of people involved in empathy is not important. This article proposes that group empathy is another form of empathy that differs from individual empathy, and analyzes the differences. Group empathy and individual empathy differs in sense of identity, empathy preference and cultural influence. First, group empathy and individual empathy?are born?of?different background: The former is produced in group level, activating group identity, while the latter is produced in individual level, activating individual identity. Second, empathy preference between individuals is influenced by interpersonal distance, while the group empathy level mainly lies in whether the empathy object belongs to a group, whether the empathy subject has common experience with the empathy object, etc. Third, the expression of group empathy and individual empathy influenced by culture is different. Group empathy can promote intergroup relations. In reducing negative factors, group empathy contributes to the emergence of unfairness feeling, and reduces intergroup bias through unfairness feeling. It helps to reduce intergroup aversion, and reduces intergroup aggressive behavior and intergroup conflict. In increasing positive factors, group empathy makes the subjects show more positive attitude to outgroup members, and increases contact intention with outgroup members. It enhances more intergroup interaction and intergroup prosocial behavior by promoting intergroup attitudes. Empathy motivation and cultural frame switch are 2 perspectives to analyze how group empathy promotes intergroup relationship. Empathy is a motivation account which means individual can choose to approach empathy or avoid empathy according to different circumstances. Individual is prone to have group empathy if group empathy can make him(her) acquire positive emotional experiences, or the target group has a cooperative or congeneric relationship with his (her) own group, or under the influence of social desirability effect. In addition, for bicultural individuals, they can moderate their cognition system to guide their behavior according to cultural clues intergroup or outgroup as they know and have internalized not only intergroup culture, but outgroup culture. Therefore, when they are in the perspective of outgroup culture, they may have more empathy to outgroup members. In the end of this article, we propose the future research direction as follows: Firstly, exploring the differences between group empathy and individual empathy from?perspective of neural mechanism. Secondly, establishing a comprehensive model of how group empathy influences intergroup relationships, combined with intergroup anxiety, meta stereotype, common group identity and other factors; Thirdly, finding out the mechanism of how group empathy promotes intergroup relationships. Because of intergroup preference can be accurated in each group member, so contradictions will be mitigated through empathy intervention, knowledge impartment and other ways on each member’s individual circumstances.

Key words: Keywords: group empathy, intergroup relationships, empathy motivation, cultural frame switch