Empathy and the Collective Good: Caring for One of the Others in a Social Dilemma
We predicted that feeling empathy for another member of the collective in a social dilemma would create an altruistic desire to allocate resources to that person as an individual, reducing collective good. To test this prediction, 2 studies were run. In each, participants faced a dilemma in which they could choose to benefit themselves, the group, or other group members as individuals. In Study 1, empathy for another group member was manipulated; in Study 2, naturally occurring empathic response was determined by self-report. In both studies, participants who experienced high empathy allocated more resources to the target of empathy, reducing the overall collective good. These results suggest the importance of considering self-interest, collective interest, and other-interest (altruism) as three distinct motives, each of which may operate in social dilemmas. © 1995 American Psychological Association.
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- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
- 1505 Marketing
Citation
Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
- 1505 Marketing