Importance Of Empathy: People More Likely To Help Others They Think Are Like Them

July 20, 2006

Importance Of Empathy: People More Likely To Help Others They Think

Are " Like Them "

11 Jul 2006

Feelings of empathy lead to actions of helping - but only between

members of the same group - according to a recent study in the July

issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, an official

publication of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology,

published by SAGE Publications.

The research, led by Stefan Sturmer of the University of Kiel, is

presented in the article " Empathy-Motivated Helping: The Moderating

Role of Group Membership. " The article discusses two different

studies, one using a real-world, intercultural scenario and the other

using a mixture of people with no obvious differences besides gender.

Researchers concluded that, while all the people felt empathy for

someone in distress, they only tended to assist if the needy person

was viewed as a member of their own " in-group. "

The first study, using a real-world intercultural scenario, split

German and Muslim male participants into culturally-defined groups.

When everyone learned that another participant was having difficulty

finding housing, they all felt empathy for the other regardless of

what group they were in. However, when asked about their intentions

to help the participant, empathy had a stronger impact when the other

was categorized as a member of their in-group.

To further substantiate the findings from the first study, the

second study created " minimal " in-groups and out-groups using a

mixture of male and female participants without obvious cultural

differences. As in the first study, when participants learned that

another participant needed financial help due to the loss of money

and a credit card, they all felt empathy, but actual assistance was

provided only when the distressed person was a member of their

in-group.

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