CAREER: Building empathy through social psychological processes

同理心--分享和理解他人的情绪--是产生慷慨、加强社会关系和减少偏见的社会“粘合剂”。尽管同理心很重要，但它也是脆弱的，往往在最需要的时候崩溃。在不同社会群体之间的互动中尤其如此。人们经常忽视与他们意见不同的个人的意见，不能接触到外部群体成员的情绪，避免他人的痛苦。移情障碍具有严重而广泛的后果：产生两极分化的意识形态僵局，煽动冲突，并在学校中引发欺凌行为。移情通常被认为是一种相对稳定的特征，不会改变。相比之下，贾米尔·扎基(Stanford University)和他的同事们发展了一种新的理论方法，提出移情是一个有动机的过程；因此，可以通过改变可能促使一个人转向或远离移情反应的动机来修改这一理论。这个项目将测试两种理论方法，这两种方法可以改变动机过程并“扩大”个人的同理心，特别是在具有挑战性的群体之间的情况下。这项研究利用两个社会心理学概念--心态和社会影响--来改变同理心反应。心态描述了人们对智力和个性等心理现象的信念。虽然一些人认为这些特征是稳定和不可改变的(所谓的“固定心态”)，但另一些人认为这些现象是可塑性的，并在他们的控制之下(“成长心态”)。这个项目将测试鼓励同理心的成长心态是否会导致参与同理心反应的动机发生变化。第二个概念，社会影响力，基于这样的发现，即人们有动机改变自己的行为、信仰和观点，以与他人的行为、信念和观点相匹配；因此，提供一个规范，让其他人重视同理心，从而促进同理心反应。这个项目将衡量心态和社会规范的变化对(I)个人理解他人情绪的能力，(Ii)他们从与自己不同的人的角度看待问题的意愿，以及(Iii)他们社会关系的强度和多样性的影响。此外，这项研究将测试动机转向同理心反应是否会增加高中生的慷慨行为，减少欺凌行为。总体而言，这项工作将在同理心的基础科学和如何将这门科学应用于关键的社会环境方面取得关键进展。在基础科学方面，这项工作将提高对移情扩展过程和机制的理解，并测试移情作为动机过程的新理论。关于应用，这项工作可以帮助补救移情障碍的一些有害后果，包括在慈善捐赠方面的群体间歧视、欺凌和自私。

Empathy - sharing and understanding of others' emotions - serves as a social "glue" that produces generosity, strengthens social ties, and reduces prejudice. Despite its importance, empathy is also fragile, and often breaks down just when it is needed most. This is especially true in interactions between different social groups. People often dismiss the opinions of individuals with whom they disagree, fail to engage with the emotions of outgroup members, and avoid others' suffering. Empathic breakdowns have severe and wide-ranging consequences: producing polarizing ideological stalemates, fomenting conflict, and driving bullying in schools. Empathy is often considered a relatively stable characteristic that is not amenable to change. In contrast, Jamil Zaki (Stanford University) and colleagues have developed a novel theoretical approach, which proposes that empathy is a motivated process; thus, it could be modified by shifting the motives that may drive one towards or away from engaging in empathetic responses. This project will test two theoretical approaches that could shift motivational processes and "expand" individuals' empathy, especially in challenging intergroup situations. This research leverages two social psychological concepts - mindsets and social influence - to shift empathetic responses. Mindsets describe people's beliefs about psychological phenomena such as intelligence and personality. Whereas some people believe these characteristics are stable and unchangeable (so-called "fixed mindsets"), others believe these phenomena are malleable and under their control ("growth mindsets"). This project will test whether encouraging a growth mindset of empathy will cause shifts in motivation to engage in empathetic responses. The second concept, social influence, draws on findings that people are motivated to change their behavior, beliefs, and opinions to match those of others; therefore, providing a norm that others value empathy could consequently promote empathetic responses. This project will measure the effects of shifting mindsets and social norms on (i) individuals' ability to understand others' emotions, (ii) their willingness to take the perspective of people who differ from them, and (iii) the strength and diversity of their social relationships. Additionally, the research will test whether motivational shifts towards empathetic responses increase generous behaviors and decrease bullying among high school students. Overall, this work stands to make key advances both in the basic science of empathy and in how this science can be applied to critical social settings. With respect to basic science, this work will improve understanding of the process and mechanism through which empathy can be expanded, and also test a novel theory of empathy as a motivated process. With respect to application, this work can help to remedy some of the harmful consequences of empathic breakdowns including intergroup discrimination, bullying, and selfishness in the context of charitable giving.