title: Does empathy predict altruism in the wild?
abstract: Why do people act altruistically? One theory is that empathy is a driver of morality. Experimental studies of this are often confined to laboratory settings, which often lack ecological validity. In the present study we investigated whether empathy traits predict if people will act altruistically in a real-world setting, "in the wild". We staged a situation in public that was designed to elicit helping, and subsequently measured empathic traits in those who either stopped to help or walked past and did not help. Results show that a higher number of empathic traits are a significant and positive predictor for altruistic behavior in a real-life situation. This supports the theory that the act of doing good is correlated with empathy.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Richard A I
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0714-0685
authors.initials: RAI
authors.lastname: Bethlehem
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Emma M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: van Andel
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Alexander I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Coles
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Kimberley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neil
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baron-Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000533:Altruism; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Empathy; altruism; autism; real-life; social behavior