TY - JOUR

T1 - Empathy as a motivator of dyadic helping across group boundaries

T2 - The dis-inhibiting effect of the recipient’s perceived benevolence

AU - Lotz-Schmitt, Katharina

AU - Siem, Birte

AU - Stürmer, Stefan

PY - 2017/3/1

Y1 - 2017/3/1

N2 - A growing body of work suggests that group-based dissimilarity limits the influence of empathy on helping across group boundaries. The present research examines under which conditions empathy becomes “dis-inhibited” as a motivator of out-group helping. We propose that, when intergroup dissimilarity is high, empathy’s influence on helping critically depends upon the out-group target’s perceived benevolence, i.e. sociability and trustworthiness. Study 1 (N = 123) and 2 (N = 176) manipulated an out-group target’s intercultural dissimilarity and his or her individual features. Results confirmed that when dissimilarity was high, the target’s sociability (Study 1) and benevolence (Study 2) had a facilitative effect on the empathy-helping intentions relationship. When dissimilarity was low, in contrast, empathy predicted helping intentions independent of the target’s individual features. Study 3 (N = 178) manipulated trustworthiness and sociability orthogonally and confirmed the primary role of the out-group target’s trustworthiness over the target’s sociability in dis-inhibiting the empathy-helping relationship among participants with a conservative political orientation.

AB - A growing body of work suggests that group-based dissimilarity limits the influence of empathy on helping across group boundaries. The present research examines under which conditions empathy becomes “dis-inhibited” as a motivator of out-group helping. We propose that, when intergroup dissimilarity is high, empathy’s influence on helping critically depends upon the out-group target’s perceived benevolence, i.e. sociability and trustworthiness. Study 1 (N = 123) and 2 (N = 176) manipulated an out-group target’s intercultural dissimilarity and his or her individual features. Results confirmed that when dissimilarity was high, the target’s sociability (Study 1) and benevolence (Study 2) had a facilitative effect on the empathy-helping intentions relationship. When dissimilarity was low, in contrast, empathy predicted helping intentions independent of the target’s individual features. Study 3 (N = 178) manipulated trustworthiness and sociability orthogonally and confirmed the primary role of the out-group target’s trustworthiness over the target’s sociability in dis-inhibiting the empathy-helping relationship among participants with a conservative political orientation.

KW - benevolence

KW - competence

KW - empathy

KW - intercultural dissimilarity

KW - intergroup helping

KW - Social Work and Social Pedagogics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85012202185&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/1368430215612218

DO - 10.1177/1368430215612218

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85012202185

VL - 20

SP - 233

EP - 259

JO - Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

JF - Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

SN - 1368-4302

IS - 2

ER -