Empathy and helping: effects of racial group membership and cognitive load

Abstract

Previous research suggests that (a) racial group membership attenuates empathy, and subsequent prosocial helping behaviour, towards out-group members, and (b) helping behaviour is modified by the potential helper’s pool of cognitive resources. It remains unclear, however, how cognitive load influences empathy and helping towards racial in- versus out-group members. We investigated this question using a sample of 30 White females. After completing either a high or a low cognitive-load task, participants viewed video clips depicting distressed White or Black females. We examined cardiovascular responses, self-reported empathic responses, and helping behaviour in response to the clips. We found no effect of racial group membership on empathic responding or on helping behaviour across cognitive-load conditions. However, results suggested that high cognitive load attenuates empathic responding, leading to decreased helping behaviour towards both racial in- and out-group members. Interestingly, a high internal motivation to respond without prejudice was associated with increased helping towards out-group members, but only under conditions of low cognitive load.

Keywords

Cognitive load empathy helping behaviour racial group membership

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Batson

Fultz

Schoenrade

(1987). Distress and empathy: Two qualitatively distinct vicarious emotions with different motivational consequences. Journal of Personality, 55, 19–39.

Baumeister

Bratslavsky

Muraven

Tice

(1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1252–1265.

Berntson

Cacioppo

Quigley

(1993). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Autonomic origins, physiological mechanisms. Psychophysiology, 30, 183–196.

Bradley

Codispoti

Cuthbert

Lang

(2001). Emotion and motivation I: Defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing. Emotion, 1, 276–298.

Cheng

Lin

Liu

Hsu

Lim

Hung

Decety

(2007). Expertise modulates the perception of pain in others. Current Biology, 17, 1708–1713.

Cheon

Harada

Kim

Mathur

Scimeca

Chiao

J. Y.

(2011). Cultural influences on neural basis of intergroup empathy. NeuroImage, 57, 642–650.

Cuddy

Rock

Norton

(2007). Aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Inferences of secondary emotions and intergroup helping. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10, 107–118.

Davidov

Zahn-Waxler

Roth-Hanania

Knafo

(2013). Concerns for others in the first year of life: Theory, evidence, and avenues for research. Child Development Perspectives, 7, 126–131.

Decety

(2011). Dissecting the neural mechanisms mediating empathy. Emotion Review, 3, 92–108.

10.

Decety

Svetlova

(2012). Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2, 1–24.

11.

Devine

Plant

Amodio

D. M.

Harmon-Jones

Vance

(2002). The regulation of explicit and implicit race bias: The role of motivations to respond without prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 835–848.

12.

DeWall

Baumeister

Gailliot

Maner

(2008). Depletion makes the heart grow less helpful: Helping as a function of self-regulatory energy and genetic relatedness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1653–1662.

13.

Dovidio

Gaertner

(1981). The effects of race, status, and ability on helping behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 44, 192–203.

14.

Eisenberg

(2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665–697.

15.

Forgiarini

Gallucci

Maravita

(2011). Racism and empathy for pain on our skin. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 108.

16.

Gaertner

Dovidio

(1977). The subtlety of White racism, arousal, and helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 691–707.

17.

Hagger

Wood

Stiff

Chatzisarantis

(2010). Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 495–525.

18.

Kaseweter

Drwecki

Prkachin

(2012). Racial differences in pain treatment and empathy in a Canadian sample. Pain Research & Management, 17, 381–384.

19.

Kunstman

Plant

(2008). Racing to help: Racial bias in high emergency helping situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1499–1510.

20.

Manstead

(1992). Gender differences in emotion. In Gale

Eysenck

M. W.

(Eds.), Handbook of individual differences: Biological perspectives (pp. 355–387). Chichester, UK: Wiley.

21.

Plant

Devine

(1998). Internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 811–832.

22.

Pryor

Reeder

Yeadon

Hesson-McInnis

(2004). A dual-process model of reactions to perceived stigma. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 436–452.

23.

Rottenberg

Ray

Gross

(2007). Emotion elicitation using films. In Coan

J. A.

Allen

J. J. B.

(Eds.), The handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment (pp. 9–28). London, England: Oxford University Press.

24.

Saucier

Miller

Doucet

(2005). Differences in helping White and Blacks: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 2–16.

25.

Stern

Ray

Quigley

(2000). Psychophysiological recording. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

26.

Zuo

Wang

Han

(2009). Do you feel my pain? Racial group membership modulates empathic neural responses. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 8525–8629.

27.

Zaki

Ochsner

(2012). The neuroscience of empathy: Progress, pitfalls and promise. Nature Neuroscience, 15, 675–680.