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Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor. 
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Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice
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Aging, empathy, and prosociality.

Janelle N Beadle1, Alexander H Sheehan2, Brian Dahlben2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. janelle-beadle@uiowa.edu.

The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
|October 12, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Older adults demonstrated increased prosocial behavior and empathy compared to younger adults. This suggests that emotional empathy may drive helping behaviors in older individuals, particularly when social-emotional goals are relevant.

Keywords:
AgingEconomic decision makingEmpathyProsocial.

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Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

  • Empathy motivates prosocial behavior in younger adults.
  • The role of empathy in prosocial behavior among older adults remains under-investigated.
  • Aging is associated with a shift towards socioemotional goals and potential declines in cognitive empathy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate age-related differences in empathy and prosocial behavior.
  • To examine the relationship between empathy (cognitive and emotional) and prosocial behavior in younger and older adults.
  • To explore whether empathy influences prosocial behavior differently across the adult lifespan.

Main Methods:

  • A study involving 24 younger (mean age 19.8) and 24 older (mean age 77.9) healthy adults.
  • Implicit induction of state emotional empathy using a note describing an opponent's cancer experience.
  • Measurement of prosocial behavior via monetary offers in a modified dictator game.

Main Results:

  • Older adults exhibited significantly greater prosocial behavior following empathy induction compared to younger adults.
  • A positive correlation between state emotional empathy and prosocial behavior was observed in older adults, but not younger adults.
  • Preliminary findings indicated higher state emotional empathy in older adults with greater trait cognitive empathy.

Conclusions:

  • Older adults may be more motivated to engage in prosocial behavior than younger adults in socioemotionally relevant contexts.
  • State emotional empathy appears to be a key mechanism driving increased prosociality in aging.
  • Findings suggest empathy's crucial role in understanding and promoting altruism in later life.