title: Empathy promotes altruistic behavior in economic interactions.
abstract: What are the determinants of altruism? While economists assume that altruism is mainly driven by fairness norms, social psychologists consider empathy to be a key motivator for altruistic behavior. To unite these two theories, we conducted an experiment in which we compared behavior in a standard economic game that assesses altruism (the so-called Dictator Game) with a Dictator Game in which participants' behavioral choices were preceded either by an empathy induction or by a control condition without empathy induction. The results of this within-subject manipulation show that the empathy induction substantially increased altruistic behavior. Moreover, the increase in experienced empathy predicted over 40% of the increase in sharing behavior. These data extend standard economic theories that altruism is based on fairness considerations, by showing that empathic feelings can be a key motivator for altruistic behavior in economic interactions.
authors: Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: Olga M
authors: OM
authors: Klimecki
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Sarah V
authors: SV
authors: Mayer
authors: LEAD Graduate School &Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Aiste
authors: A
authors: Jusyte
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Jonathan
authors: J
authors: Scheeff
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Schönenberg