REINTERPRETING THE EMPATHY-ALTRUISM RELATIONSHIP - WHEN ONE INTO ONE EQUALS ONENESS

Important features of the self-concept can be located outside of the i ndividual and inside close or related others. The authors use this ins ight to reinterpret data previously said to support the empathy-altrui sm model of helping, which asserts that empathic concern for another r esults in selflessness and hue altruism. That is, they argue that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self-other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under thes e conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self. In 3 studies, the impact of empathic concern on willingness to help was e liminated when oneness-a measure of perceived self-other overlap-was c onsidered. Path analyses revealed further that empathic concern increa sed helping only through its relation to perceived oneness, thereby th rowing the empathy-altruism model into question. The authors suggest t hat empathic concern affects helping primarily as an emotional signal of oneness.