Toi and Batson (1982)

Participants

*84 female undergraduates* (volunteers from an introductory psychology course)

Conclusion

empathy leads to altruism

Method

lab experiment IV: high empathy/low empathy condition (level of empathy); how costly it would be not to help Carol DV: whether the subjects filled out a slip agreeing to help Carol

Title

more evidence that empathy is a source of altruistic motivation

Critical thinkng: gender considerations

seeing that all the participants were female (and of similar age and mindset as they all took the same psychology course), the results are not generalizable to men

Critical thinkng: alternative explanations

seeing that listening to an interview is not representative of most real-life situations when empathy and altruism combine to result in action, the findings could also be explained by differences in how the participants were raised (different levels of emphasis on empathy and altruism) if the participant does not adopt the victim's perspective, the factor of personal distress would be the driving factor of altruism and thus be affected by the cost condition (factor of egoism because the individual does not want to be judged)

Critical thinkng: methodological considerations

strengths: - cause and effect relationship - increased control and accuracy - objectivity - standardization - internal validity - demand characteristics limitations: - total control = impossible - artificial (lacks mundane realism, low ecological validity) - biased results - low external validity --> construct validity (is it possible to measure an emotion?)

Background

the empathy-altruism model claims that empathic emotions can motivate altruistic behavior. factors such as similarity, friendship, kinship can foster empathic emotions.

Hypothesis

the high empathy will lead to a higher degree of helping behavior

Critical thinkng: applications

this study has important applications to how to promote prosocial behavior, implying how to create connections between individuals in order to create a more balanced society focused on unison and helping behavior. the findings can be used to explain historical events, famous examples of altruism in society (e.g. Holocaust, why strangers help other strangers)

Aim

to test the empathy-altruism theory, *if the manipulation of the participants' level of empathy would influence their likelihood of helping*

Critical thinkng: cultural considerations

as the study was conducted in the western world, it does not take into account potential cultural discrepancies between the ability to express emotions (some cultures place more or less emphasis on empathy)

Procedure

the participants listened to a *fictive interview with Carol Marcy*, a freshman in the class who had both of her legs broken in an auto accident and was worried about being able to still pass the course. the *researchers manipulated the level of empathy*: half the participants were asked to listen to the interview, trying to be as *objective as possible* (low empathy condition). the other half was asked to *imagine the perspective of the person being interviewed* (high empathy condition). the *researchers also manipulated how costly it would be not to help Carol*. in one condition, participants learned that Carol would *come back* to class next week (high-cost condition) whereas they were told that she *would not come to class* in the other condition (low-cost condition). after listening to the interview, *subjects were asked to help Carol in going over the missed lecture notes*.

Results

the results confirmed the empathy-altruism hypothesis. those in the high-empathy group were almost equally likely to help Carol in either set of circumstances. the participants in the low-empathy group helped less when it was easy to escape than when it was difficult to escape (en egositic motive)

Critical thinkng: ethical considerations

there was informed consent, the participants were not deceived, their identities remained confidential, they were debriefed, they could withdraw. however, it could be argued that they were not comoletely protected from harm because they may have experienced some level of personal distress in the case that they would have to face the victim if they had not offered help

How does this study demonstrate the components of the empathy-altruism hypothesis?

this study clearly demonstrates the components of the empathy-altruism hypothesis because the high empathy condition in the study suggests that the participant would express empathic concern and thus altruism regardless of the cost. therefore, it is clear that as empathic concern for a person in need increases, the more likely a person is to abide by an altruistic motive. therefore, seeing that the participants were more likely to help Carol when they viewed the situation from her perspective (or knew that she would return to school), grounds of similarity result in empathy which in turn guides altruistic behavior.