Theoretical approach to gender differences of empathy

Empathy in the sense of understanding the feelings, thoughts and behavior of another person is considered to be fundamental to the therapeutic relationship in the health care environment. Research on empathy to date has shown differences between health professionals, with gender differences being the most important. The purpose of this article is to study the differences of gender through the theoretical, philosophical side and the explanation of this phenomenon through various theories and assumptions that give their own distinct interpretation. The study was based on stereotypes of roles between the two sexes, evolutionary theory of parental investment, gender differences from a sociological and psychodynamic point of view, moral and ethical dimension of the subject, emotional empathy and the Neuro-biological basis of empathy. The results have shown that societal expectations greatly regulate gender behavior and roles with women being expected and potentially expressing higher levels of empathy than men. According to other theories, the difference is supported on the basis of the parent instinct and the fact that mothers are expected to develop emotional perceptual skills to be able to sense the feelings and needs of their offspring to ensure their survival. The woman's traditional role in caring and the moral around him, as well as the view that women have a greater sense of emotion and are more likely to feel emotional messages helps them to provide more emotional support from men, have more human behavior and greater social sensitivity. More recent studies attribute gender differences to neurobiological factors and show signs that gender diversity in empathy has a phylogenetic and ontological biological basis and is not an absolute product of cultural components determined by socialization. In conclusion, it should be stressed that the study of the subject needs to be reinforced with more and perhaps more sophisticated ways of exploring so that the scientific community can safely draw conclusions on gender differences and whether these differences will continue to exist or disappear In the time.

Keywords: Empathy, nursing students, health professional students, empathy, gender