Volunteerism in the last year as a moderator between empathy and altruistic social value orientation: an exploratory study

Abstract

Volunteerism is a sustained prosocial activity, and young adults are one of the most important targets for organizations recruiting volunteers. Empathy and altruistic social value orientation measured by a decomposed game are dispositional traits that might foster engagement in volunteerism. participants and procedureUsing a self-report online-based questionnaire study on two groups of young adults (aged 18-35, N = 224 nonvolunteers and N = 178 volunteers in the last year) the relationship between empathy and altruistic social value orientation in both of these groups was explored. resultsThe results showed that volunteers scored significantly higher on empathy and altruistic social value orientation than non-volunteers. In non-volunteers, empathy is positively linked to altruistic social value orientation, whereas for volunteers the relationship is inversed. conclusionsThe results provide evidence that volunteers, when high on empathy, might not necessarily be ready to share financial resources with others, as operationalized by a decomposed game.

Helping others in real life and in the laboratory: pride and prosocial behavior

“…In Study 1, we looked at helping Ukrainian refugees in Poland (the neighboring country) at the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Pride equips a person with the ability and psychological resources to help others (Dickens & Robins, 2022;Ding & Liu, 2022), and the level of sharing behavior is higher in volunteers than in non-volunteers (Nowakowska, 2022). In addition, people are more likely to volunteer because volunteering gives them a sense of pride (Hart & Matsuba, 2007), and an increased sense of pride increases their willingness to volunteer (Septianto et al, 2018).…”

Does empathy promote helping by activating altruistic motivation or concern about social evaluation? A direct replication of Fultz et al. (1986).

“…Finally, today’s young people have more experience with volunteering and expect to do more volunteering during their years in college than in decades past (Twenge et al, 2012). Empathy is more strongly related to prosocial behavior among people who do not volunteer in charitable organizations than among those who do—in fact, empathy appears to be negatively related to prosocial behavior among young people involved in volunteering (Nowakowska, 2022)—so the high rates of volunteering among young people today could contribute to reducing or even reversing the effect of empathy on prosocial behavior.…”

Do positive emotions prompt people to be more authentic? The mediation effect of gratitude and empathy dimensions on the relationship between humility state and perceived false self

“…Empathy "bridges the gap between self-experience and that of others" (Wilkinson et al, 2017, p. 19). This complex emotion predicts whether an observer would provide help when confronted with a request to do so, but also as an altruistic, fully voluntary gesture when help is needed, although the beneficiary does not ask for it (Nowakowska, 2022). Reik's model of the empathy process includes identifying with the interlocutor, incorporating the other person's emotions, understanding the other's emotions, and separating oneself from them (Reik, 1948, as cited in Mora-Pelegrín et al, 2021.…”