Motivational effects on empathic choices

Abstract

Empathy often feels automatic, but variations in empathic responding suggest that, at least some of the time, empathy is affected by one’s motivation to empathize in any particular circumstance. Here, we show that people can be motivated to engage in (or avoid) empathy-eliciting situations with strangers, and that these decisions are driven by subjective value-based estimations of the costs (e.g., cognitive effort) and benefits (e.g., social reward) inherent to empathizing. Across seven experiments (overall N = 1,348), and replicating previous work (Cameron et al., 2019), we found a robust empathy avoidance effect. We also find support for the hypothesis that individuals can be motivated to opt-in to situations requiring empathy that they would otherwise avoid. Participants were more likely to opt into empathy-eliciting situations if 1) they were incentivized monetarily for doing so (Experiments 1a and 1b), and 2) if a more familiar and liked empathy target was available (Experiments 2a and 2b). Framing empathy as explicitly related to one’s moral character and reputation did not motivate participants to engage in empathy (Experiment 3a and 3c), though these null results may be due to a weak manipulation. These findings suggest that empathy can be motivated in multiple ways, and is a process driven by context-specific value-based decision making.

European Americans' intentions to confront racial bias: Considering who, what (kind), and why

“…The notion that people may confront friends and structural bias due to perceptions that the perpetrator would change and listen is also in line with the literature on bystander helping and empathy (e.g., Cameron et al, 2016Cameron et al, , 2019. For example, efficacy concerns (is empathy INTENTIONS TO CONFRONT RACIAL BIAS 37 successful for achieving goals; Cameron et al, 2019) can deter engagement in empathy and people especially avoid empathy when interacting with strangers (Ferguson et al, 2020). Thus, the common concerns may underlie bystander helping and confrontation decisions.…”

The Experience of Empathy in Everyday Life

“…The emerging work on lack of motivation to empathize might be related, in some part, to most lab studies of empathy involving the negative emotions of strangers. Whereas some work suggests that people might avoid both positive and negative empathy (Cameron et al, 2019), empathy for strangers might be especially unmotivating (Ferguson et al, 2020). In future lab studies on motivation to empathize, researchers should consider including a range of expressed emotions and including empathy targets who are close to the participant, not just strangers.…”

Investigating Adult Age Differences in real-life Empathy, Prosociality, and Well-being using Experience Sampling

“…The likelihood to engage in empathy-eliciting situations increased with monetary incentives, and also when the target of empathy was familiar [76] . Further, increased perceived closeness leads to better perspective taking abilities in older adults [77,78] , and both, our own age and the social interaction partners age affect these capacities [79] .…”