Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior: The Mediating Role of Moral Emotions

Subject Areas : روان‌شناسی تحولی

Mahdi Torkman Malayeri ¹ , Razieh Sheikholeslami ^{2 *}

1 - PhD Candidate in Educational Psychology Shiraz University
2 - PhD Shiraz University

Received: 2019-07-03 Accepted : 2019-07-03 Published : 2019-03-21

Keywords: empathy, shame, guilt, Pro-social Behavior,

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of the moral emotions in the relationship between empathy and pro-social behavior. The research method was a descriptive correlational study using structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 508 senior high school students (257 girls, 251 boys) who were selected from high school in city of Shiraz during the academic year of  2016-2017 by cluster sampling method. The participants completed the Basic Empathy Questionnaire (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006), the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (Cohen,  Wolf, Panter & Insko, 2011) and the Pro-social Tendencies Measures (Carlo & Randall, 2002). The results of structural equation modeling indicated that a) empathy had a direct and positive effect on the pro-social behavior and emotions of guilt and shame, b) emotions of guilt and shame had direct and positive effect on pro-social behaviors, and c) emotions of guilt and shame mediated the relationship between empathy and pro-social behavior. The findings suggested the importance of moral emotions in pro-social behavior

References:

سبزی، ن. و شیخ‌الاسلامی، ر. (1394). نقش واسطه‌ای نمو‌یافتگی عاطفی در رابطه بین الگوهای ارتباطی خانواده و همدلی، روان‌شناسی تحولی: روان‌شناسان ایرانی، 12 (46) ، 153 -141.

کجباف، م. ب.، سجادیان،ا و نوری،ا . (1389). بررسی ساختار عاملی، روایی و اعتبار مقیاس گرایش‌های اجتماعی مطلوب در بین دانشجویان. جامعه‌شناسی کاربردی، 21، (38) ، 118 -101.

کمالی، ف. (1392). رابطه معنویت و احساسات شرم و گناه: نقش واسطه‌ای راهبردهای تنظیم شناختی هیجان. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه شیراز، شیراز.

محمدی، ز. جوکار، ب. و حسین‌چاری، م . (1393).پیش‌بینی رفتارهای خودشکن توسط جهت‌گیری هدف: نقش واسطه‌گری احساسات شرم و گناه. روا‌ن‌شناسی تحولی: روان‌شناسان ایرانی، 41 (11)، 102 -83.

نوروزی، ز. (1389). بررسی نقش خودتنظیمی و همدلی در پرخاشگری و ارتباط باهمسالان در گروهی از دانش‌آموزان شهر شیراز. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه شیراز، شیراز.

 

Albiero, P., Matricardi, G., Speltri, D., & Toso, D. (2009). The assessment of empathy in adolescence: A contribution to the Italian validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Journal of Adolescence, 32, 393-408.

Carlo, G., Hausmann, A., Christiansen, S., & Randall, B. A. (2003). Socio cognitive andbehavioral correlates of a measure of prosocial tendencies for adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 23, 107-134.

Carlo, G., & Randall, B. A. (2002). The development of a measure of prosocial behaviors for late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 31-44.

Caprara, G. V., Capanna, C., Steca, P., & Paciello, M. (2005). Measurement and personal determining of prosocial behavior: A social cognitive approach. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 2, 287-307.

Clark, C. M., Dahlen, E. R., & Nicholson, B. C. (2015). The role of parenting in relational aggression and prosocial behavior among emerging adults. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 24(2), 185-202.

Cohen, T. R., Wolf, S. T., Panter, A. T., & Insko, C. A. (2011). Introducing the GASP Scale: A new measure of guilt and shame proneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 947-966.

Cronin, K. A. (2012). Prosocial behavior in animals: the influence of social relationships, communication and rewards. Animal Behavior,84, 1085-1093.

Cuff, B. M. P., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L., & Howat, D. J. (2016). Empathy: A review of concept. Emotion Review, 8, 144-153.

Davis, M. H. (1994). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Madison, WI: Brown and Benchmark.

De Hooge, I. E. (2013). Moral emotions and prosocial behavior: It may be time to change our view of shame and guilt. In C. Mohiyeddini, M. Eysenck, & S. Bauer (Eds.), Psychology of Emotions. (pp. 255-276). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Decety, J., Bartal, IB-A., Uzefovsky, F., & Knafo-Noam A. (2016). Empathy as a driver of prosocial behaviur: Highly conserved neurobehavioral mechanisms across species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, ،371(5), 2015-2077.

Dovidio, J. F., & Banfield, J. C. (2015). Prosocial behavior and empathy. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 216-220). Oxford, England: Elsevier.

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial development. In: Eisenberg, N., Damon, W., Lerner, R.M. (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology, Social, Emotional, and Personality Development, vol. 3. Hoboken, NJ, US: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Gordon, H. (2014). Investigating the relation between empathy and prosaically behavior: An emotion regulation framework. Thesis of Master of Science. The faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Hastings, P. D., McShane, K. E., Parker, R., & Ladha, F. (2007). Ready to make nice: Parental socialization of young sons’ and daughters’ prosaically behaviors with peers. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(2), 177-200.

Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development-implications for caring and justice. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hoffman, M. L. (2008). Empathy and prosaically behavior. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 440-455). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Hooker, C. I., Verosky, S. C., Germine, L. T., Night, R. T., & D’Esposito, M. (2008). Mentalizing about emotion and its relationship to empathy. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3, 204-217.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the Basic EmpathyScale. Journal of Adolescence, 29(4), 589-611.

Konstam, V., Chernoff, M., & Deveney, S. (2001). Toward forgiveness: The role of shame, guilt, anger and empathy. Counseling and Values, 46, 26-39.

Lampridis, E., & Papastylianou. D. (2017). Prosocial behavioral tendencies and orientations towards individualism-collectivism. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(3), 268-272.

Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Fraser, A. M. (2014). How much is it going to cost me? Bidirectional relations between adolescents' moral personality and prosocial behavior. Journal of Adolescence, 37(5), 993-1001.

Passanisi, A., Sapienza, I., Budello, S., & Giaimo, F. (2015). The relationship between guilt, shame and self-efficacy Beliefs in middle school students. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 197, 1013-1017.

Roberts, W., Strayer, J., & Denham, S. (2014). Empathy, anger, guilt: Emotions and prosocial behaviour. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science/Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement, 46(4), 465-47.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2018). Life-span human development. USA: Cengage Learning.

Smith, A. (2006). Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy in human behavior and evolution. The Psychological Record, 56, 3-21.

Stellar, J. E., Gordon .M., Piff, P. K., Cordaro, D., Anderson, C. L., Bai, Y., Maruskin, L. A., & Keltner. D. (2017). Self-transcendent emotions and their social functions: Compassion, gratitude, and awe bind us to others through Prosocial. Emotion Review, 13(2), 1-8.

Sze, J. A., Gyurak, A., Goodkind, M. S., & Levenson, R. W. (2012). Greater emotional empathy and prosocial behavior in late life. Emotion, 12(5), 1129-1140.

Tangney, J. P. (1990). Assessing individual differences in proneness to shame and guilt: Development of the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory. Personality and Social Psychology, 59(2), 102-111.

Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. l. (2002). Across time and beyond skin: Self and transgression in the everyday socialization of shame among Taiwanese preschool children. Social Development, 10, 420-437.

Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. J. (2007). Moral emotions and moral behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345-372.

Telle, N. T., & Pfister, H. R. (2016). Positive empathy and prosocial behavior: A neglected link Emotion Review, 8, 154-163.

Torstveit, L., Sutterlin, S., & Lugo, R. G. (2016). Empathy, guilt proneness, and gender: Relative contributions to prosocial behaviur. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 260-270.

Taylor, Z. E., Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., Eggum, N. D., & Sulik, M. J. (2013). The relations of ego-resiliency and emotion socialization to the development of empathy and prosocial behavior across early childhood. Emotion, 13(5), 822-831.

Vaish, A. (2018). The prosocial functions of early social emotions: the case of guilt. This review comes from a themed issue on early development of prosocial behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 25-29.

Williams, A., O’Driscoll, K., & Moore. C. (2014). The influence of empathic concern on prosocial behavior in children. Fronteirs in Psychology, Retrieved 12 May 2014 from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00425.

Wondra, J. D., & Ellsworth, P. (2015). An appraisal theory of empathy and other vicarious emotional