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Suffering and compassion: The links among adverse life experiences, empathy, compassion, and prosocial behavior.
Abstract
Experiencing past adversity traditionally has been linked to negative life outcomes. However, emerging evidence suggests that heterogeneity exists with respect to links between adversity and resilience, with adversity often enhancing cooperation in the face of joint suffering. Here, the authors present 2 studies designed to examine if the severity of past adversity is associated with an enduring propensity for empathy-mediated compassion, and, if so, whether the resulting compassion directly is, in turn, linked to behavior meant to relieve the suffering of others. Using both MTurk and laboratory-based paradigms, the authors find that increasing severity of past adversity predicts increased empathy, which in turn, is linked to a stable tendency to feel compassion for others in need. In addition, they demonstrate that the resulting individual differences in compassion appear to engender behavioral responses meant to assist others (i.e., charitable giving, helping a stranger).
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“Research supports the idea that greater empathy leads to greater compassion, and greater compassion leads to greater pro-social behavior (Lim & DeSteno, 2016).”
From A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Meditation on Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors (2018) · cites this paper as Lim & DeSteno, 2016
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“This phenomenon extends to members of out-groups (Vollhardt & Staub, 2011), may be explained by greater empathy and compassion (Lim & DeSteno, 2016), and may also relate to higher engagement at work (EskreisWinkler, Shulman, & Duckworth, 2014).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lim, D., & DeSteno, D.
- Affiliations
- Northeastern University (US)
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2016-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 175-182
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- OpenAlex
- W2419787400
- Cited by
- 299
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 26.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Keywords
- adversity, empathy, compassion, prosocial behavior, helping behavior, charitable giving, helping strangers, resilience, individual differences
- MeSH terms
- Emotional Adjustment, Adult, Aged, Cooperative Behavior, Empathy, Female, Helping Behavior, Humans, Individuality, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult
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