Empathy and Theory of the Mind

The theoretical developments within social cognition help us to understand how social interactions occur and which variables contribute to a good social adaptation. Within this field Theory of the mind and empathy are constructs that account for these processes of social adaptation but generate confusion within academic literature. This article delimitates the theory of the mind as a global comprehension of the social world that allows us to operate in it, whereas empathy refers to processes triggered at specific times destined to understand the emotional situations of other people. This work also presents a review describing, although not exhaustively, the different measurement instruments for both constructs.