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157
Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences
, 2002
"... The empathy literature is characterized by debate regarding the nature of the phenomenon. We propose a unified theory of empathy, divided into ultimate and proximate levels, grounded in the emotional link between individuals. On an ultimate level, emotional linkage supports group alarm, vicariousnes ..."
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Cited by 234 (5 self)
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The empathy literature is characterized by debate regarding the nature of the phenomenon. We propose a unified theory of empathy, divided into ultimate and proximate levels, grounded in the emotional link between individuals. On an ultimate level, emotional linkage supports group alarm, vicariousness of emotions, mother-infant responsiveness, and the modeling of competitors and predators; these exist across species and greatly effect reproductive success. Proximately, emotional linkage arises from a direct mapping of another's behavioral state onto a subject's behavioral representations, which activate responses in the subject. This ultimate and proximate account parsimoniously explains different phylogenetic and ontogenetic levels of empathy. The empathy literature has been characterized by disagreement regarding the exact nature of the phenomenon. There are emotional, cognitive, and conditioning views of empathy, and these views apply to different extents across species. We argue that with an adequate description of the ultimate and proximate mechanism, these views can be cohered into a unified whole. We use an interdisciplinary approach along ultimate and proximate levels for a unified theory grounded in the fact that individuals are behaviorally, physiologically and neurologically linked. These forms of
Relational job design and the motivation to make a prosocial difference
- Academy of Management Review
, 2007
"... This article illustrates how work contexts motivate employees to care about making a positive difference in other people’s lives. I introduce a model of relational job design to describe how jobs spark the motivation to make a prosocial difference, and how this motivation affects employees ’ actions ..."
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Cited by 91 (19 self)
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This article illustrates how work contexts motivate employees to care about making a positive difference in other people’s lives. I introduce a model of relational job design to describe how jobs spark the motivation to make a prosocial difference, and how this motivation affects employees ’ actions and identities. Whereas existing research fo-cuses on individual differences and the task structures of jobs, I illuminate how the relational architecture of jobs shapes the motivation to make a prosocial difference. Why do I risk my life by running into a burning building, knowing that at any moment... the floor may give way, the roof may tumble on me, the fire may engulf me?... I’m here for my community, a community I grew up in, a communitywhere I know lots of people, a community that knows me (fire-fighter; International Firefighters ’ Day, 2004). On my bad days I feel I have wasted three years working here in the ghetto.... You can work four days straight, sixteen hours a day... until your eyes start falling out.... we charge one-tenth of what a lawyer would normally charge.... It’s just physically too much—and emotionally.... You’re aware of the suffering of your client.... You know the pressure he’s under. It makes you all the more committed. We don’t help them only with their legal problems. If they’re suffering from a psycho-logical problem we try to hook them up with a psychiatrist.... You get to know them intimately. We’re very close.... The people I work with here are my life (inner-city attorney; Terkel, 1972: 538– 539). Employees often care about making a positive difference in other people’s lives. In the popular press, it is widely assumed that employees want to make a difference (Bornstein, 2004; Everett, 1995; May, 2003; Quinn, 2000). In order to moti-vate employees, many organizations define their missions in terms of making a difference
Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience.
- Scientific World Journal,
, 2006
"... Empathy is the ability to experience and understand what others feel without confusion between oneself and others. Knowing what someone else is feeling plays a fundamental role in interpersonal interactions. In this paper, we articulate evidence from social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, an ..."
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Cited by 80 (12 self)
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Empathy is the ability to experience and understand what others feel without confusion between oneself and others. Knowing what someone else is feeling plays a fundamental role in interpersonal interactions. In this paper, we articulate evidence from social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, and argue that empathy involves both emotion sharing (bottom-up information processing) and executive control to regulate and modulate this experience (top-down information processing), underpinned by specific and interacting neural systems. Furthermore, awareness of a distinction between the experiences of the self and others constitutes a crucial aspect of empathy. We discuss data from recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies with an emphasis on the perception of pain in others, and highlight the role of different neural mechanisms that underpin the experience of empathy, including emotion sharing, perspective taking, and emotion regulation.
Forgiveness, forbearance, and time: The temporal unfolding of transgression-related interpersonal motivations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2003
"... The investigators proposed that transgression-related interpersonal motivations result from 3 psychological parameters: forbearance (abstinence from avoidance and revenge motivations, and maintenance of benevolence), trend forgiveness (reductions in avoidance and revenge, and increases in benevolen ..."
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Cited by 74 (25 self)
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The investigators proposed that transgression-related interpersonal motivations result from 3 psychological parameters: forbearance (abstinence from avoidance and revenge motivations, and maintenance of benevolence), trend forgiveness (reductions in avoidance and revenge, and increases in benevolence), and temporary forgiveness (transient reductions in avoidance and revenge, and transient increases in benevolence). In 2 studies, the investigators examined this 3-parameter model. Initial ratings of transgression severity and empathy were directly related to forbearance but not trend forgiveness. Initial responsibility attributions were inversely related to forbearance but directly related to trend forgiveness. When people experienced high empathy and low responsibility attributions, they also tended to experience temporary forgiveness. The distinctiveness of each of these 3 parameters underscores the importance of studying forgiveness temporally.
The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature
- Journal of Environmental Psychology
, 2004
"... Five studies assessed the validity and reliability of the connectedness to nature scale (CNS), a new measure of individuals ’ trait levels of feeling emotionally connected to the natural world. Data from two community and three college samples demonstrated that the CNS has good psychometric properti ..."
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Cited by 64 (0 self)
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Five studies assessed the validity and reliability of the connectedness to nature scale (CNS), a new measure of individuals ’ trait levels of feeling emotionally connected to the natural world. Data from two community and three college samples demonstrated that the CNS has good psychometric properties, correlates with related variables (the new environmental paradigm scale, identity as an environmentalist), and is uncorrelated with potential confounds (verbal ability, social desirability). This paper supports ecopsychologists ’ contention that connection to nature is an important predictor of ecological behavior and subjective well-being. It also extends social psychological research on self–other overlap, perspective taking, and altruistic behavior to the overlap between self and nature. The CNS promises to be a useful empirical tool for research on the relationship between humans and the natural world. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1.
Attachment, Caregiving and Altruism: Boosting Attachment Security Increases Compassion and Helping
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2005
"... Recent studies based on J. Bowlby’s (1969/1982) attachment theory reveal that both dispositional and experimentally enhanced attachment security facilitate cognitive openness and empathy, strengthen self-transcendent values, and foster tolerance of out-group members. Moreover, dispositional attachme ..."
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Cited by 56 (3 self)
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Recent studies based on J. Bowlby’s (1969/1982) attachment theory reveal that both dispositional and experimentally enhanced attachment security facilitate cognitive openness and empathy, strengthen self-transcendent values, and foster tolerance of out-group members. Moreover, dispositional attachment security is associated with volunteering to help others in everyday life and to unselfish motives for volunteering. The present article reports 5 experiments, replicated in 2 countries (Israel and the United States), testing the hypothesis that increases in security (accomplished through both implicit and explicit priming techniques) foster compassion and altruistic behavior. The hypothesized effects were consis-tently obtained, and various alternative explanations were explored and ruled out. Dispositional attachment-related anxiety and avoidance adversely influenced compassion, personal distress, and altruistic behavior in theoretically predictable ways. As expected, attachment security provides a foundation for care-oriented feelings and caregiving behaviors, whereas various forms of insecurity suppress or interfere with compassionate caregiving.
Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review
- Psychological Bulletin
, 2010
"... converge on the hypothesis that compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose primary function is to facilitate cooperation and protection of the weak and those who suffer. Our empirical review reveals compassion to have distinct appraisal processes attuned to undeserved suffering; dis ..."
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Cited by 56 (7 self)
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converge on the hypothesis that compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose primary function is to facilitate cooperation and protection of the weak and those who suffer. Our empirical review reveals compassion to have distinct appraisal processes attuned to undeserved suffering; distinct signaling behavior related to caregiving patterns of touch, posture, and vocalization; and a phenomenological experience and physiological response that orients the individual to social approach. This response profile of compassion differs from those of distress, sadness, and love, suggesting that compassion is indeed a distinct emotion. We conclude by considering how compassion shapes moral judgment and action, how it varies across different cultures, and how it may engage specific patterns of neural activation, as well as emerging directions of research.
2004, "Social Identity as Social Glue: The Origins of Group Loyalty
- Journal of Personality & Social Psychology
"... In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the role of social identity in fostering group loyalty, defined as staying when members can obtain better outcomes by leaving their group. In Experiment 1, high (vs. low) identifiers expressed a stronger desire to stay in the group in the presence of an att ..."
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Cited by 46 (7 self)
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In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the role of social identity in fostering group loyalty, defined as staying when members can obtain better outcomes by leaving their group. In Experiment 1, high (vs. low) identifiers expressed a stronger desire to stay in the group in the presence of an attractive (vs. unattractive) exit option. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this basic finding and tested several explana-tions. The results suggest that high identifiers ’ group loyalty is better explained by an extremely positive impression of their group membership (group perception) than by a justification of previous investments in the group (self-perception) or their adherence to a nonabandonment norm (norm perception). Hence, social identity seems to act as social glue. It provides stability in groups that would otherwise collapse. If the state is at peace and is as well-governed as a human community can be, then the citizen’s loyalty to his country, his services to it in the forms of energy, devotion, and funds, in general coincide with his own vital interests. The fatherland repays his loyalty by giving him safety, justice, and sometimes even freedom. In fulfilling his patriotic duties he is not performing an act of love. Only when the fatherland is in danger does his giving become a sacrifice, his serving a suffering, his loyalty a love. —Johan Huizinga, Men and Ideas The welfare and existence of many voluntary groups, small or large, depend on the willingness of group members to make regular investments in those groups. Although each member may acknowledge the importance of these investments, it can be diffi-cult to maintain groups, because it is attractive for members to free ride on the contributions of others in the group. Indeed, if many people act selfishly, the aggregate investment levels may fall short of what is needed to preserve groups, causing them to collapse. In the social–psychological literature, such group maintenance prob-lems are commonly referred to as social dilemmas or, to be more
Impact and the art of motivation maintenance: The effects of contact with beneficiaries on persistence behavior
, 2007
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Good soldiers and good actors: Prosocial and impression managementmotives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behavior
- Journal of Applied Psychology
, 2009
"... Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship be-haviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employ-ee ..."
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Cited by 37 (13 self)
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Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship be-haviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employ-ees to express citizenship in ways that both “do good ” and “look good. ” We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice—a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo.
