Relation of sympathy and personal distress to prosocial behavior: A multimethod study.

Abstract

Assessed sympathy and personal distress with facial and physiological indexes (heart rate) as well as self-report indexes and examined the relations of these various indexes to prosocial behavior for children and adults in an easy escape condition. Heart rate deceleration during exposure to the needy others was associated with increased willingness to help. In addition, adults' reports of sympathy, as well as facial sadness and concerned attention, were positively related to their intention to assist. For children, there was some indication that report of positive affect and facial distress were negatively related to prosocial intentions and behavior, whereas facial concern was positively related to the indexes of prosocial behavior. These findings are interpreted as providing additional, convergent support for the notion that sympathy and personal distress are differentially related to prosocial behavior.

Oxytocin receptor genetic variation relates to empathy and stress reactivity in humans

“…The most commonly used self-report measure of dispositional empathy (30) consists of three core facets of other-oriented empathic behavior, namely perspective taking (e.g., ''I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective''), empathic concern (e.g., ''I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me''), and fantasy (e.g., ''I really get involved with the feelings of the characters in a novel. ''), all of which are positively intercorrelated, capture the broader concept of other-oriented empathy, and have been shown to predict helping for altruistic reasons (40). Participants rated each item from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).…”

Lying because we care: Compassion increases prosocial lying.

“…Compassion is evoked by witnessing or learning about others' physical or emotional pain (Batson et al, 1997;Condon & DeSteno, 2011;Eisenberg et al, 1989;Stellar, Cohen, Oveis, & Keltner, 2014;Stellar, Feinberg, & Keltner, 2014;Stellar, Manzo, Kraus, & Keltner, 2012;Van Kleef et al, 2008) or victimization (Cameron & Payne, 2011;Valdesolo & DeSteno, 2011a), and by viewing depictions of suffering others such as homeless or malnourished people (Oveis et al, 2009;Oveis, Horberg, & Keltner, 2010).…”

“…For example, participants induced to experience compassion become more willing to receive painful electric 1 Others have labeled this emotion as sympathy, empathy, or empathic concern (Batson, 1991; shocks in place of other people (see Batson & Shaw, 1991 for a review). In addition, participants who reported compassion while viewing footage of injured children offered to volunteer more time to help the family of those children (Eisenberg et al, 1989). Those experiencing compassion will help others even if they can escape the situation without doing so (Batson, Duncan, Ackerman, Buckley, & Birch, 1981).…”

The pain of a model in the personality of an onlooker: Influence of state-reactivity and personality traits on embodied empathy for pain

“…Other-oriented responses may instigate an altruistic motivation to help the other, whereas selforiented responses may imply an egoistic motivation to reduce personal distress (Batson, 1991). Studies also suggest that personal distress may counteract empathic responses and helping behavior (Hoffman, 1984;Eisenberg et al, 1989;Eisenberg, 2000).…”