We examine recent empathy literature that establishes when, how much, and what aspects of empathy promote specific outcomes. After reviewing a theoretical framework which characterizes empathy as a suite of separable components, we then examine evidence showing how dissociations of these components affect important socio-emotional outcomes and describe emerging evidence suggesting that these components can be independently and deliberately modulated through intervention. Finally, we advocate for a new approach to a multi-component view of empathy which accounts for the interrelations among components.