Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2007 · 671 citations · 53 references
Social PsychologyEmpathyEducationSocial SciencesPsychologyProsocial MotivesHelping RelationshipSocial IdentityBehavioral SciencesManipulation (Psychology)Empathic FocusAltruismApplied Social PsychologyEmotional IntelligencePsychosocial IssueMoral PsychologyProsocial MotivationProsocial BehaviorSocial BehaviorInterpersonal Relationships
The study examined how prosocial motives, empathy, and helping behavior are interrelated. Four studies (N = 622, 87, 245, 244) manipulated empathic focus, victim outgroup status, cost of helping, and measured prosocial emotions to test the generality of prosocial behavior across situations and victim groups. Results showed that prosocial motivation correlates with Agreeableness, proximal prosocial cognition, and helping across diverse contexts, but for individuals low in prosocial motivation, high costs and situational empathy induction can actually reduce helping.
This research program explored links among prosocial motives, empathy, and helping behavior. Preliminary work found significant relations among components of self-reported empathy and personality (N = 223). In Study 1, the authors examined the generality of prosocial behavior across situations and group memberships of victims (N = 622). In Study 2, empathic focus and the victim's outgroup status were experimentally manipulated (N = 87). Study 3 (N = 245) replicated and extended Study 2 by collecting measures of prosocial emotions before helping. In Study 4 (N = 244), empathic focus and cost of helping as predictors of helping behavior were experimentally manipulated. Overall, prosocial motivation is linked to (a) Agreeableness as a dimension of personality, (b) proximal prosocial cognition and motives, and (c) helping behavior across a range of situations and victims. In persons low in prosocial motivation, when costs of helping are high, efforts to induce empathy situationally can undermine prosocial behavior.
53