Empathy as a predictor of prosocial behavior and the perceived seriousness of delinquent acts: a cross-cultural comparison of Argentina and Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Empathy is relevant to sociomoral development, especially in relation to prosociality and the penalization of acts as faults and crimes (sociomoral judgment). The objective of this research was to test whether empathy is a predictor of prosociality and of perceptions of seriousness of delinquent acts among research participants in Argentina and Spain. The Argentinian sample comprised 215 high school and university students (67 males; average age 18.57, SD = 0.81). The Spanish sample comprised 199 university students (50 males; average age 20.48, SD = 2.75). The proposed theoretical model showed good fit in both countries. Although empathy was found to predict prosocial conduct more than the perception of the seriousness acts as offenses and crimes, empathy was a significant of both prosocial conduct and perception of the seriousness acts as faults and crimes. Thus, the importance of empathy in morality was supported for both countries, supporting the influence of in different cultural context.