Does Mental Simulation Decrease the Empathy Gap in Help‐Seeking?

Abstract

People hesitate to seek help when they perceive the cost of helping as high. In general, help‐seekers overestimate the cost of helping because of errors in perspective‐taking. We examined whether three processes of mental simulation (recalling an experience of providing help, of rejecting a request for help, and of sensing the empathy gap) would decrease the cost of helping perceived by help‐seekers. Participants underwent one of the simulations or no simulation (control condition), read two scenarios that described helping and help‐seeking, and rated the perceived cost of helping in the scenarios. Contrary to the prediction, simulations did not decrease the cost of helping perceived by help‐seekers. Recalling an experience of rejecting requests also increased the perceived cost of helping in unemployment scenarios. The post hoc analysis for controlling the depressive mood in depression scenarios showed that the cost of helping from the helper's perspective decreased, whereas that from the help‐seekers remained the same under the empathy‐gap simulation condition. These results suggest that realizing the asymmetry between helpers and help‐seekers may be counterproductive in help‐seeking and widen the empathy gap.

Effects of adverse life events on mental health in single older adults in Japan

“…With respect to ‘an event that had the largest impact on you’ selected above, respondents were asked the following question: ‘Did you talk to and seek help from anybody about the [event that had the largest impact on you]?’ They were to select either yes (1 point) or no (0 points) regarding four categories of people they might have consulted for help: (1) family, (2) non‐family (friend, acquaintance, or colleague), (3) public institution (e.g., municipal hall, hospital, bank), or (4) other persons or organisations. The options for those they might have consulted for help were based on the findings of a previous study 23 while also considering the attributes of the participants of this study (i.e., single middle‐aged and older adults). The sum of the scores for individual items was used as a parameter of respondents' help‐seeking behaviours.…”