Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis

Definition

The empathy–altruism hypothesis states that feelings of empathy for another person produce an altruistic motivation to increase that person's welfare. In the empathy–altruism hypothesis, the term empathy refers to feelings of compassion, sympathy, tenderness, and the like. Altruism refers to a motivational state in which the goal is to increase another person's welfare as an end in itself. (Altruistic acts are what are ordinarily called “good deeds.”) Note that this definition of altruism is different from the typical usage of the term, which is usually defined to mean an act of helping that involves considerable personal costs to the helper. Overall, the empathy–altruism hypothesis has generated a large body of research that answers important questions about why people help and fail to help, and offers insights into the roles played by different types of motives underlying human social behavior.

Background and Importance

The empathy–altruism hypothesis arose out of a longstanding debate in Western philosophy and psychology about whether humans possess the capacity for altruism. For centuries, it was assumed that all human behavior, including the helping of others, is egoistically motivated. The term egoism refers to a motivational state in which the goal is to increase one's own welfare as an end in itself. Although there is little doubt that egoism can be a powerful motivator of helping behavior, some researchers have questioned whether all human behavior is motivated by self-interest. Specifically, some have suggested that people may help because they feel empathy for another person's welfare, which may lead to altruism. Those who have argued that empathy may be a source of altruism include naturalist Charles Darwin, philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith, as well as psychologists Herbert Spencer, William McDougall, Martin Hoffman, and Dennis Krebs. Social psychologist C. Daniel Batson formulated the empathy–altruism hypothesis as a revision and extension of the ideas developed by these philosophers and psychologists.

Evidence and Alternative Explanations

The empathy–altruism hypothesis predicts that those feeling high levels of empathy for a person in need will be more likely to help than will those feeling less empathy. This prediction is well supported by research. However, a number of egoistic alternative explanations have been proposed to explain these findings. For example, those feeling high levels of empathy may feel more distress and, consequently, may be more likely to help because they are egoistically motivated [Page 299]to reduce their own distress. Another possibility is that those feeling high levels of empathy are more likely to help because they are more egoistically motivated to avoid feeling bad about themselves or looking bad in the eyes of others should they fail to help. Similarly, those feeling high levels of empathy may be more likely to help because they are more egoistically motivated to feel good about themselves or to look good in the eyes of others should they help. Determining whether these and other egoistic explanations can explain the high rates of helping among those feeling high levels of empathy has generated much scientific debate and empirical research. With few exceptions, evidence from dozens of experiments over the past 30 years has provided support for the empathy–altruism hypothesis over all the available egoistic explanations and, by extension, for the claim that humans are indeed capable of altruism.

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