Empathic people have more friends: Empathic abilities predict social network size and position in social network predicts empathic efforts

- People's empathic abilities predict their social network size.
- Empathic concern is the strongest predictor how many close relationships people maintain.
- Empathy is strategically used in the social network.
- People empathize more with their relationships in the central network layers.

Living in large groups and maintaining extensive social relationships, as humans do, requires special social capabilities. Past research has shown that social cognitive abilities predict people's social network size. To extend these findings we explored the role of a social emotional ability, and investigated how empathic abilities shape people's social network. In line with the social brain hypothesis the findings show that dispositional empathic abilities (IRI), and empathic concern specifically, predict how many close relationships people maintain. The study also found that emphatic abilities are strategically used in people's social network, with more empathy exercised in the support group with closer relationships. The findings further demonstrate the social function of empathy and highlight the importance of understanding empathy in terms of its strategic exercise among various social relationships.