Abstract
Abstract When we feel empathic concern, do we seek an empathy-specific boost to our esteem? This pride hypothesis was tested against the empathy–altruism hypothesis by looking at (a) mood change after individuals feeling high (vs. low) empathy for a person in need learn that, without their help, the person is no longer in need; (b) mood change after individuals learn that, through no personal fault, their help fails to remove the need; and (c) the association of reward-relevant thoughts with the helping of those feeling high empathy. Results of experiments using each technique failed to support the pride hypothesis; they supported the empathy–altruism hypothesis instead. Based on these and all the previous results, it seemed time to conclude that the motivation produced by empathic concern must be altruistic. But this conclusion was premature. Colleagues proposed two new egoistic explanations, each of which could explain all the apparent support for the altruism hypothesis. Their proposals extended the search.
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