The Relationship Between Gender and Empathy on a Telephone Hotline

The impact of gender upon levels of empathy within the context of a volunteer telephone hotline was examined. Male and female confederates placed fictitious telephone calls to the hotline which were recorded and evaluated for state empathy. Trait empathy of the hotline volunteers was also assessed and results revealed no gender differences. A gender of caller by gender of telephone worker analysis of variance on state empathy ratings revealed no significant main effects or interactions. A significant negative correlation between age of the telephone worker and the empathy levels was found. The lack of expected findings is discussed in terms of methodological problems in this area of research. Directions for future research are also presented.