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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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Empathy promotes altruistic behavior in economic interactions.

Olga M Klimecki1, Sarah V Mayer2, Aiste Jusyte3

  • 1Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

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Empathy significantly boosts altruistic behavior in economic games, challenging purely fairness-based models. This research highlights the crucial role of empathic feelings in motivating sharing and prosocial actions.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Social Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Traditional economic models often attribute altruism to fairness norms.
  • Social psychology emphasizes empathy as a primary driver of altruistic behavior.
  • A unified understanding of altruism's determinants is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of empathy in altruistic behavior within economic interactions.
  • To reconcile economic and social psychological theories of altruism.
  • To quantify the impact of empathy induction on sharing behavior.

Main Methods:

  • An experiment using the Dictator Game, a standard economic tool for assessing altruism.
  • Within-subject manipulation comparing empathy induction with a control condition.
  • Measurement of behavioral choices and experienced empathy.

Main Results:

  • Empathy induction significantly increased altruistic behavior in the Dictator Game.
  • Experienced empathy predicted over 40% of the increase in sharing behavior.
  • The findings support empathy as a key motivator beyond fairness.

Conclusions:

  • Empathic feelings are a substantial motivator for altruistic behavior in economic contexts.
  • This study extends economic theories by incorporating the psychological construct of empathy.
  • Findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing empathy could promote prosocial behavior.