AI Article Synopsis
- Research shows that feelings of compassion and the motivation to help needy individuals are influenced by both genetic relatedness and perceived control over the situation.
- Emotional closeness primarily drives helping behavior toward family, while compassion plays a unique role in helping others.
- Two studies found that genetic relatedness and control independently affect the willingness to help, mediated by emotional closeness and compassion, highlighting the different functions of these emotions in encouraging prosocial actions.
Article Abstract
Why do people feel compassion? Two largely separate research literatures - one driven by evolutionary psychology and one driven by attribution theory - have shown that feelings of compassion for needy individuals and subsequent helping are predicted by both genetic relatedness and causal control. Research also suggests that emotional closeness, rather than compassion, motivates help for family. In two studies, we tested the role of genetic relatedness and control on cognitive and emotional mediators of helping. Results revealed that relatedness and control had distinct and independent effects on willingness to help needy individuals that were mediated by emotional closeness and compassion, respectively. These results provide a unique bridging of disparate literatures and suggest that emotional closeness and compassion serve distinct functions in facilitating prosocial behavior.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2019.1681352 | DOI Listing |
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