The role of contextual variables in the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior

MARÍA CRISTINA RICHAUD; BELÉN MESURADO

Montreal

Congreso; 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology; 2018

Applied Psychology

The results highlight the importance of contextual variables of empathy in the development of prosocial behaviors and anticipated emotional exhaustion. Duan (2000) suggests that people are intrinsically more motivated to empathize with positive affects rather than with negative affects, because positive empathy has low cost and high benefits. However, our empirical results only partially support these postulates.Although situations of positive empathy were associated with a lower anticipation of emotional cost, they were also associated with a reduction in prosocial behavior when compared with a situation of negative empathy. It was hypothesized that teenagers act in many cases by comparison. In the case of the situation of negative empathy there is someone who is in "inferiority of conditions" than me, while in the situation of positive empathy is in a situation equal or better than me.At the same time, the results showed that the emotional cost will be lower in situations of empathy both positive and negative when the beneficiary of the aid is a friend.Fiske (2013) argues that people tend to dehumanize others especially when they perceive that others have a low level of competence and support such as in situations of addiction. However, the results of this study showed that in Argentine adolescents, negative attribution does not have a negative effect on prosociality although it brings with it high levels of emotional exhaustion.General ConclusionsThe results of both studies show the importance of considering contextual variables when deciding whether or not to conduct prosocial behavior. Among these we have analyzed the attribution, the emotional cost and to whom prosocial behavior would be directed, as well as introducing the possibility of experiencing positive or negative empathy against certain events. Therefore, there is no such direct relationship between empathizing with the other and carrying out prosocial behavior, but this relationship would be mediated by a series of internal and external contextual variables.This knowledge is important for its application in programs to promote empathy and prosociality, of considerable value for today´s society characterized by high levels of aggressiveness and low levels of prosocial behavior.