Cross‐Cultural Misunderstandings Reduce Empathic Responding¹

Abstract

An experiment was conducted with American college students to determine whether differences in cultural perspectives might act as an impediment to empathic responding. Participants read about targets who experienced distress in a social context and who assumed a perspective that was consistent or inconsistent with norms typical of U.S. culture. When evaluating targets with a dissimilar as opposed to similar cultural perspective, participants exhibited a lack of perspective taking, perceiving those responses as inappropriate, atypical, and dissimilar to their own likely response in that situation. They also tended to attribute dissimilar targets' distress to dispositional as opposed to situational forces, essentially assigning them more blame. Further, emotional empathy, including feelings of compassion and sympathy were lessened with respect to targets whose responses reflected unfamiliar cultural norms. Path analyses indicated that inadequate appreciation of the different cultural perspective could account for much of the reduction in empathic concern. Results suggest that lack of perspective taking with regard to divergent cultural norms may compromise cross‐cultural exchanges of tolerance and compassion.

Solidarity through shared disadvantage: Highlighting shared experiences of discrimination improves relations between stigmatized groups.

“…Specifically, empathy is a psychological response that is reserved for those who share one's interests, backgrounds, and experiences (e.g., Batson, Turk, Shaw, & Klein, 1995;Davis, 1994;Heinke & Louis, 2009;Krebs, 1975;Nelson & Baumgarte, 2004). If framing same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue elicits greater perceived similarity toward gay men and lesbians (vs. framing it as a gay rights issue), then Black participants in the "civil rights" framing condition should also express greater empathy toward gay men and lesbians.…”

Cultural Background and Individualistic–Collectivistic Values in Relation to Similarity, Perspective Taking, and Empathy

“…In other research (e.g., Nelson & Baumgarte, 2004), collectivistic scenarios were derived on the basis of presumed Asian cultural behaviors; participants' Western individualistic values were inferred because of their (American) nationality; and differences in similarity ratings for the targets were attributed to cultural similarity without including a comparison group of Asians or a measure of participants' values. The present study thus aims to address a gap in the literature by examining the antecedents of similarity judgments within scenario studies.…”

“…Despite recent research in cross‐cultural psychology, which has clearly challenged the binary approach to individualism–collectivism, as well as the utility of generalizations about regional differences—a categorical distinction between individualistic and collectivistic values is still commonly made in applied social psychology and is associated with East–West geography (e.g., Bos, Williamson, Sullivan, Gonzales, & Avery, 2007; Keller et al., 2004; Nelson & Baumgarte, 2004). What are the implications for studies of similarity, perspective taking, and empathy?…”

“…Earlier research on cultural similarity has used vignettes whose targets acted according to individualistic and collectivistic values that were hypothesized to be culturally similar and dissimilar, respectively, to Western targets (e.g., Nelson & Baumgarte, 2004). This past research raised two theoretically interesting issues, however.…”

“…In a world in which cultures increasingly mix, it is important to consider how cultural differences can affect interpersonal exchanges. Existing evidence that people show reduced perspective taking and empathy for culturally dissimilar others (e.g., Nelson & Baumgarte, 2004) has serious implications for people who are living in foreign cultures and who might be exposed to marginalization. The present study aims to build on earlier research by exploring values and ethnocultural heritage as antecedents of perceived similarity.…”