Turning off the empathy switch: Lower empathic concern for the victim leads to utilitarian choices of action

Abstract

Empathy enables people to vicariously experience the other’s pain. At the same time, the focus of empathy can be narrow and reserved for a limited number of people. In sacrificial dilemmas, non-empathic people are more likely to sacrifice one person for greater good. However, no study has investigated the role of diminished empathic concern for the victim in utilitarian choices of action. In two studies, we investigated how empathy actually experienced in sacrificial dilemmas affects a decision to perform a harmful action onto the victim. In Study 1 (N = 275), participants were asked to rate the extent to which they were feeling two divergent tropes of affective empathy: other-oriented empathy (empathic concern) and self-oriented empathy (personal distress). Results showed that lower levels of other-focused empathy for the victim predicted utilitarian choices of action. In Study 2 (N = 170), participants were asked to rate the extent to which they empathized with the victim and the saved. We also assessed dispositional empathy and psychopathy to test a hypothesis that psychopathy mediates the relationship between lower empathy for the victim and utilitarian choices of action. Results supported this hypothesis, whereas dispositional empathy was not significantly correlated with utilitarian choices of action. Overall, lower empathy experienced in the dilemma situation was associated with utilitarian choices of action, and this was specific to reduced empathic concern for the victim. People choose to pursue the utilitarian end that accompanies harm onto the other as a mean when the victim is out of their empathic focus.

A meta‐analysis of the relationship between empathy and executive function

“…EF plays a role in this process; at the least, some of its subcomponents may be a construct of empathetic behavior. Takamatsu () also found that other‐oriented empathy, rather than self‐oriented empathy, might predict our later prosocial behavior, which is closely related to EF (Valiente et al, ). Executive function would thus act as a switch to modulate our empathy for others’ emotions, and high EF would be a prerequisite for high empathy (Decety & Meyer, ; Heyes, ).…”

Moral decision-making in trolley problems and variants: how do participants’ perspectives, borderline personality traits, and empathy predict choices?

“…The former describes the ability to feel what others feel, and the latter refers to the capacity to comprehend others' perspectives and put oneself in someone's shoes. Several authors found that (1) a lack of affective empathy characterized psychopathy or antisocial traits, and (2) that this affective empathy depletion predicted group-oriented choices significantly in Trolley Problems Gleichgerrcht & Young, 2013;Decety & Cowell, 2014;Patil & Silani, 2014;Takamatsu, 2018;Burghart & Mier, 2021).…”

Ecosocialization – an Ecological Turn in the Process of Socialization

“…Through them, we aim to go closer to the foundation of relationships in the more-than-human world. In terms of ethical consideration, affective and embodied forms of empathy are also argued to play a critical role as they help to understand the difference of others, motivate helping behaviours, and make harming others aversive (Aaltola, 2018;Patil & Silani, 2014;Takamatsu, 2018).…”