Dispositional / Trait Empathy

Dispositional empathy is a general tendency or personality trait to imagine and experience others’ feelings and experiences. It’s a stable characteristic, distinct from situational (temporary response to a specific context) orstate empathy—both responses to specific situations. In contrast, dispositional empathy reflects our overall tendency to empathize. Understanding dispositional empathy is crucial for understanding human development, behavior, and interpersonal relationships, since it’s linked to personality traits: It’s divided into two components: 

• Cognitive: Perspective-taking, which involves understanding another’s viewpoint. 
• Affective: Empathic concern (feeling sympathy/compassion) relates to agreeableness. And personal distress (experiencing discomfort/anxiety witnessing another’s distress) relates to neuroticism.