These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Closeness or compassion? Relatedness and causal control influence helping via distinct pathways.
    Author: Goetz JL, Halgren S.
    Journal: J Soc Psychol; 2020 Jul 03; 160(4):479-495. PubMed ID: 31630672.
    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.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]