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Agreeableness, empathy, and helping: a person x situation perspective
William G Graziano1, Meara M Habashi, Brad E Sheese
1Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, IN 47907-2081, USA. graziano@purdue.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|September 26, 2007
Summary
Prosocial motivation connects to personality, empathy, and helping behavior across diverse situations. However, high costs can hinder helping, even when empathy is induced in less motivated individuals.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Prosocial behavior is influenced by underlying motives and empathy.
- Understanding the interplay between personality, empathy, and helping is crucial.
- Previous research suggests links between empathy components and personality traits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the links among prosocial motives, empathy, and helping behavior.
- To examine the generality of prosocial behavior across different situations and victim groups.
- To investigate the impact of empathic focus and helping costs on prosocial actions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized correlational and experimental designs across four studies.
- Involved self-report measures of empathy and personality.
- Manipulated variables such as empathic focus, victim's outgroup status, and cost of helping.
Main Results:
- Prosocial motivation is significantly linked to Agreeableness, prosocial cognition, and helping behavior.
- Helping behavior was observed across various situations and victim types.
- Situational empathy induction can undermine helping behavior when costs are high for those low in prosocial motivation.
Conclusions:
- Prosocial motivation is a key predictor of helping behavior, influenced by personality and cognitive factors.
- The effectiveness of empathy induction in promoting helping is context-dependent, particularly concerning the cost of helping.
- Future research should consider the moderating role of situational costs in prosocial behavior interventions.
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