Specifying the relation of empathy and prosocial tendencies: Examining the physiological state of the helper and the role of emotional experiences of targets in need

本项目提出了关于移情对帮助行为的有益影响的两个创新观点（有时被称为移情利他主义假说；例如，Batson等人，1988;Batson, Chang, Orr, & Rowland, 2002；见Batson & Shaw， 1991的概述）。具体地说，它测试了对有需要的人（即目标）的同理心是否只会导致亲社会行为（即帮助行为）的增加，如果目标在面对引起需求的事件时表现出悲伤，而不是其他负面情绪，如愤怒。除此之外，该项目还将探讨迄今为止尚未被考虑的移情-帮助关联的潜在机制：通过心理生理学测量（阻抗心动图）评估帮助者的情感动机状态。因此，本项目首次考察了迄今为止被忽视但可能是共情-帮助关联的边界条件：需要帮助的目标所表达的情感体验。此外，将挑战和威胁的生物心理社会模型（Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996）应用于共情领域，可以在线评估帮助者在处理有需要的目标的信息时当前的情感动机状态。这代表了一种方法上的进步，因为到目前为止，帮助者的情感状态主要是通过自我报告来评估的（例如Batson等人，1988；Cialdini等人，1987），这在内省和需求特征方面容易产生偏差（Nisbett和Wilson, 1977; Orne, 1962）。使用阻抗心电图不仅解决了这些方法上的缺点。它也有助于关于移情诱导帮助的潜在决定因素的持续争论，即它是否真正是利他决定的，还是由希望减少帮助者的消极情感状态的利己主义决定的。具体来说，当前的项目检验了潜在的帮助者对悲伤目标的同情是否会将其视为挑战（而不是威胁），从而促进对有需要的目标的帮助。帮助者应该把自己看作是比悲伤的需要帮助的目标者投入了更多的资源来应对情境需求，因为帮助者通常不会像目标者那样受到情境的影响（即他们不像目标者那样需要帮助）。此外，有需要的目标所经历的情绪会让潜在的帮助者了解目标如何评估自己在这种情况下的应对潜力（参见Frijda, 1986; Frijda, Kuipers, & Ter Schure, 1989）：悲伤意味着没有足够的资源来应对这种情况，而愤怒意味着能够应对这种情况。此外，主动帮助行为更可能来自挑战，而不是与抑制倾向相关的威胁（例如，psamez - edgar, et al, 2010）。

The present project addresses two innovative ideas regarding the well-documented beneficial effect of empathy on helping behavior (sometimes labeled as the empathy-altruism hypothesis; e.g., Batson et al., 1988; Batson, Chang, Orr, & Rowland, 2002; see Batson & Shaw, 1991 for an overview). Specifically, it is tested whether empathy with a person in need (i.e., the target) only leads to increased prosocial behavior (i.e., helping behavior) if the target expresses sadness in face of the need-causing event and not another negative emotion such as, for example, anger. Beyond that, the project will address an underlying mechanism of the empathy-helping association that has not been considered so far: the affective-motivational state of the helper assessed with psychophysiological measurements (impedance cardiography). Thereby, this project, for the first time, examines a so far neglected but likely boundary condition of the empathy-helping association: the emotional experience expressed by the target in need. Moreover, applying the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996) to the field of empathy allows for an online assessment of helpers current affective-motivational state while processing information about a target in need. This represents a methodological advancement given that so far, helpers affective states has been assessed mainly via self-reports (e.g. Batson et al., 1988; Cialdini, et al., 1987), which are prone to biases in introspection and demand characteristics (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; Orne, 1962). Using impedance cardiography not only addresses these methodological shortcomings. It also contributes to an ongoing debate regarding the underlying determinants of empathy-induced helping, namely whether it is truly altruistically determined or whether it is egoistically determined by the wish to reduce a negative affective state in the helper. Specifically, the current project examines whether potential helpers empathizing with a sad target experience this as challenge (and not as threat) which in turn fosters helping the target in need. Helpers should see themselves as disposing of more resources to cope with the situational demands than the sad needy target because helpers are usually not affected by the situation in the same way as the target (i.e. they do not require help as the target does). Moreover, emotions experienced by a target in need inform potential helpers about how the target estimates his or her coping potential in the situation (cf. Frijda, 1986; Frijda, Kuipers, & Ter Schure, 1989): Sadness implies not having enough resources to cope with a situation whereas anger implies being able to cope with the situation. Furthermore, active helping behavior more likely results from challenge than from threat which is related to inhibitory tendencies (e.g., Pérez-Edgar, et al., 2010).