Does Empathy Trigger Only Altruistic Motivation? How About Selflessness or Justice?

A key question in research on empathy is what interpersonal motivations might be activated by empathy. Does empathy promote only a concern with other’s outcomes (“altruism”), as well as decreased concern with one’s own outcomes (“selflessness”), or an increased concern with equality in outcomes (“egalitarianism”)? These interpersonal motivations were assessed with a series of experimental games, and our manipulations of empathy paralleled earlier research on the empathy-altruism model. Participants received a (fictitious) note from another person outlining that he or she is coping with the anticipated loss of his or her father in conditions that emphasized taking the other’s perspective or an objective perspective (high and low empathy), whereas another group of participants received no note (no empathy). Consistent with our hypotheses, results revealed that a concern with another’s well-being (altruism) was greater in the two empathy conditions than in the no-empathy condition. Further, the authors observed no effect of empathy on selfishness or egalitarianism, two motivations that were substantially present independent of empathy. Thus, the findings suggest that empathy adds altruistic motivation to already existing selfish and egalitarian motivation.