The Influence of Empathy on Moral Judgments

Rojhat B Avsar ,Rami Gabriel

doi:10.22610/jebs.v13i1(j).3140

Rojhat B Avsar , Rami Gabriel

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v13i1(j).3140

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Abstract

Empathy is expected to correlate with pro-social attitude s, but what effect does empathy have on judgments of distributive fairness? In our study, we found that participants with higher empathy scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) were more likely to: (a) favor the use of egalitarian distribution when the joint effort is involved, and (b) deem overly self-interested or opportunistic behavior unfair. Female participants were more consistent in the exercise of moral judgments across diverse scenarios. Furthermore, empathy has several dimensions (e.g., perspective-taking or empathetic concern) and we observed that they interacted with gender and the nature of the hypothetical problem differently in some cases. Although the findings of the study are not counterintuitive, it has identified some avenues for further explorations and highlighted some potential methodological shortcomings of the IRI as a measure of empathetic traits.

Highlights

IntroductionThis distinction is of paramount importance for our notions of responsibility, our appraisal of a person’s character, and the functioning of our legal system
How does Empathy Inform Judgments of Fairness?Do we decide what’s fair based upon our reasoned judgments or our emotional reactions? This distinction is of paramount importance for our notions of responsibility, our appraisal of a person’s character, and the functioning of our legal system
We expected that empathetic individuals are likely to opt for a more equal distribution of bike hours once they are told that the productivity differences had been caused by factors beyond the individual’s control

Summary

Introduction

This distinction is of paramount importance for our notions of responsibility, our appraisal of a person’s character, and the functioning of our legal system. Some philosophers focused on the moral and ethical nature of emotions, and how these forces played out in our forms of social organization. A clear understanding of empathy and its neural correlates bears upon larger questions of morality and social living (De Oliveira-Souza, Zhan & Moll, 2014). We describe findings from an empirical investigation of how empathetic traits redound to notions of fair distribution and opportunism in economic exchange. Judging the fairness of any given act engages the emotional experience of empathy. It serves as a crucial locus of our interpretation of behavior and subsequent actions

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Conclusion