von Bieberstein, Frauke; Essl, Andrea; Friedrich, Kathrin (2021). Empathy: A clue for prosocialty and driver of indirect reciprocity. PLoS ONE, 16(8), e0255071. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0255071
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Indirect reciprocity has been proposed to explain prosocial behavior among strangers, whereby the prosocial act is returned by a third party. However, what happens if the prosocial act cannot be observed by the third party? Here, we examine whether empathy serves as a clue for prosociality and whether people are more generous toward more empathetic people. In a laboratory study, we measured prosocial behavior as the amount sent in the dictator game and empathy based on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). By using an incentivized task, we find that people believe that more empathetic participants send more money in the dictator game. Thus, people see empathy as a clue for prosocial behavior. Furthermore, in a second dictator game, participants indirectly reciprocate by sending more money to more empathetic recipients. Therefore, we suggest that empathy can replace a reputation derived from observable prosocial behavior in triggering indirect reciprocity.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Business Management > Institute of Organization and Human Resource Management > Organisation 03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Department of Business Management > Institute of Organization and Human Resource Management |
UniBE Contributor: |
von Bieberstein, Frauke, Essl, Andrea, Friedrich, Kathrin Anna |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 650 Management & public relations 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics |
ISSN: |
1932-6203 |
Publisher: |
Public Library of Science |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Daniel Frey |
Date Deposited: |
29 Sep 2021 11:41 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:53 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1371/journal.pone.0255071 |
PubMed ID: |
34383777 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/159364 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/159364 |
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