Measuring Intergroup Empathy Bias: Systematic Narrative Review

Čolić, Marija and Žeželj, iris (2026) Measuring Intergroup Empathy Bias: Systematic Narrative Review. Psihologija. ISSN 1451-9283

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Abstract

Although empathy is generally treated as a prosocial force, research on intergroup empathy bias (IEB) shows that empathic responses are often stronger toward ingroup than outgroup members, and that such selectively distributed empathy can produce negative outcomes. To clarify how this arises, we conducted a systematic review of IEB studies focusing on how empathy is elicited and measured. Following PRISMA guidelines, we identified 120 studies across 85 articles. Neuroscientific studies were the most numerous (58% of the articles) and typically used physical pain stimuli to elicit empathy, consistently detecting IEB in neural responses but rarely in explicit ratings. Whether bias was observed in behavioral studies depended on the task. The literature is characterized by problematic assumptions of equivalence across task types, unexplored connections to related fields, and underdeveloped explanations of neural-behavioral discrepancies. We recommend critically evaluating operational definitions before discussing practical applications.

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