Batson et al. (1981): Empathy-altruism theory

Method

44 female undergraduates were exposed to a person in distress and instructed either to observe the victim's reactions (low empathy) or to imagine the victim's feelings (high empathy)

Empathy-altruism theory

states that some helpful actions are truly altruistic in their nature, because motivation comes from genuine desire to increase one's welfare

Altruism is determined through

the "helper's" motives

Results/conclusion

As predicted by the empathy altruism hypothesis, the low-empathy condition helped less when things got difficult. This suggests that their helping was directed toward the egoistic goal of reducing their own distress. In the high empathy condition, participants displayed a high rate of helping even when they were offered an easy escape. This suggests that their helping was directed towards the altruistic goal of reducing the stress of the person in need.

According to Baston (1991) there are 3 factors that facilitate perspective taking

The observer has had similar experiences. The observer is attached to the victim. The person is instructed to imagine what it is like in the victim's position.

Empathy-altruism is a form of altruism based on

feelings for others

Aim

finding ways to distinguish between selfish motives and true altruism