title: Can empathic concern be generalized from one person to others? Another positive side of the 'one-among-others' effect.
abstract: Previous research on the one-among-others effect has shown that inducing empathic concern towards a victim presented among other individuals in need enhances: (1) awareness of these others and (2) the willingness to help them individually. In this work, we test that these outcomes are linked by an additional process: the generalization of empathic concern felt for the victim towards the others in need. Study 1 revealed that inducing empathic concern for a victim presented as one-among-others led to see the others as separate and different individuals, not as a unitary group. Study 2 showed that the one-among-others presentation (vs. only-one-victim) increased empathic concern towards those presented along with the main victim. Study 3 showed that the one-among-others presentation (vs. a single-victim or a statistical presentation) increased the empathic concern felt for other individuals in need. Therefore, the one-among-others presentation does not weaken empathic concern but, instead, it leads to its generalization from one to others.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ambrona
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. luis.oceja@uam.es.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Oceja
authors.affiliation: Liverpool Hope University, UK.
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: López-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrera
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans
keywords: Generalization of empathic concern; awareness of others; one-among-others effect