The authors' investigations of the antecedents and consequences of the empathy response have been guided by a three-component model of empathy. Two of these components are cognitive: the ability to discriminate and label affective states in others, and the ability to assume the perspective and role of another person. Emotional capacity and responsiveness constitute the third component. One implication of this model is that social understanding is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the occurence of the empathy response. While the authors review several studies on empathy they stress results accruing from the investigation of the relationship between social comprehension and empathy (Kuchenbecker, Feshbach, and Pletcher, 1974). As the child grown older, the ability to comprehend social situations increases, as does the tendency to share the affective state of individuals in these social situations. The social comprehension factor becomes associated with the remedial progress in achievement of the child, while empathy becomes more strongly associated with social behavior. The authors predict that those programs which attend to the affective as well as the cognitive aspects of social interaction will prove to be the most successful in enhancing pro-social behaviors. (Author/PC)