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Cited by 132Experimental Behavioral Economics StudiesEmotions and Moral BehaviorPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Role of Compassion in Altruistic Helping and Punishment Behavior

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Weng, Helen Y., Fox, Andrew S., Hessenthaler, Heather C., Stodola, Diane E., Davidson, Richard J.·2015·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0143794PMC PMC4675554
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Abstract

Compassion, the emotional response of caring for another who is suffering and that results in motivation to relieve suffering, is thought to be an emotional antecedent to altruistic behavior. However, it remains unclear whether compassion enhances altruistic behavior in a uniform way or is specific to sub-types of behavior such as altruistic helping of a victim or altruistic punishment of a transgressor. We investigated the relationship between compassion and subtypes of altruistic behavior using third-party paradigms where participants (1) witnessed an unfair economic exchange between a transgressor and a victim, and (2) had the opportunity to either spend personal funds to either economically (a) help the victim or (b) punish the transgressor. In Study 1, we examined whether individual differences in self-reported empathic concern (the emotional component of compassion) was associated with greater altruistic helping or punishment behavior in two independent samples. For participants who witnessed an unfair transaction, trait empathic concern was associated with greater helping of a victim and had no relationship to punishment. However, in those who decided to punish the transgressor, participants who reported greater empathic concern decided to punish less. In Study 2, we directly enhanced compassion using short-term online compassion meditation training to examine whether altruistic helping and punishment were increased after two weeks of training. Compared to an active reappraisal training control group, the compassion training group gave more to help the victim and did not differ in punishment of the transgressor. Together, these two studies suggest that compassion is related to greater altruistic helping of victims and is not associated with or may mitigate altruistic punishment of transgressors.

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Metadata

Authors
Weng, H. Y., Fox, A. S., Hessenthaler, H. C., Stodola, D. E., & Davidson, R. J.
Affiliations
University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
Corresponding author
  • Weng, Helen Y.
  • Davidson, Richard J.
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2015-12-10
Volume
10
Issue
12
Pages
e0143794
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0143794
PMC
PMC4675554
OpenAlex
W2191876901
Cited by
132
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 49 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2
FWCI
19.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Fetzer Institute
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (T32-MH018931)
  • Mind and Life Institute
  • Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
  • Curtin University of Technology
  • National Institutes of Health (AT003997)
  • University of California, San Francisco
  • National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018931)
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (T32AT006956, P01AT004952, T32AT003997)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Keywords
compassion, altruistic punishment, empathic concern, trait empathy
MeSH terms
Adult, Altruism, Empathy, Female, Games, Experimental, Humans, Male, Punishment, Young Adult

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