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Beyond Egoism and Group Identity: Empathy toward the Other and Awareness of Others in a Social Dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Luis Oceja  and
Isabel Jiménez
Luis Oceja*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Isabel Jiménez
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Luis Oceja Fernández, Ciudad Universitaria Cantoblanco (UAM), Facultad de Psicología, Despacho 83, Ctra. Colmenar Viejo, km. 15, 28049 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In three experiments, participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could benefit themselves, the group, or other group members as individuals. The results showed that participants who felt high empathy toward a certain individual allocated more resources to the target of empathy, but without reducing the collective good. Then, we adapted the measure of empathy developed by Batson and colleagues (Batson, Ahmad, et al., 1999; Batson, Batson, et al., 1995) to the Spanish context. The results of Experiment 3 supported the existence of a new process: awareness of other individuals present in the social dilemma. It is proposed that this process is independent of those typically studied in research of this field: self-interest, group identification, and the empathy for a specific individual.

En tres experimentos se presentó a los participantes un dilema social en el que podían beneficiarse a sí mismos, al grupo, o a individuos concretos del grupo. En primer lugar, los resultados mostraron que las participantes que sintieron una alta empatía por un individuo concreto le adjudicaron más recursos, pero sin perjudicar al bien colectivo. En segundo lugar, se adaptó al castellano la medida de empatía elaborada por Batson y sus colegas (Batson, Ahmad, et al., 1999; Batson, Batson, et al., 1995). En tercer lugar, los resultados del Experimento 3 apoyaron la existencia de un nuevo proceso: la conciencia de la existencia de otros individuos presentes en el dilema social. Se propone que este proceso es independiente de los tradicionalmente estudiados por la investigación en este campo: el auto-interés, la identificación con el grupo, y la empatía sentida hacia un individuo en concreto.

Keywords

empathyawareness of otherssocial dilemmaempatíaconciencia de otrosdilema social
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 2007 , pp. 369 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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