Department of Applied Social Studies Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology SS4708 - Research Project in Psychology FINAL YEAR PROJECT BSSPSY – 2007 Gender and cultural differences in the empathy-altruism hypothesis among university students in Hong Kong Student Name: Woo Man Sze, Zisi Supervisor: Dr. Betty C. Eng Date: 28th April, 2007 1 Abstract This study aims to examine the authenticity of empathy-altruism hypothesis in university students of Hong Kong, and whether gender and cultural factors would determine its effectiveness. One hundred and eighty-eight year one university students in Hong Kong participated and were categorized by gender and language major as it related to cultural values. Participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire to measure their empathy level after watching a video clip that portrayed a message of encouraging help by feeling for others. Independent t-test, chi-square and comparison of frequency percentage were employed to determine the difference in empathic score and the corresponding relation to the hypothetic situational altruistic behavior. Results showed no significant differences between male and female’s empathy scores. Except for categorizing the participants by willingness to be a volunteer worker, a marginal significant difference was found, with female participants’ empathy score higher than male participants. No statistical significant result was obtained in all kinds of classification in cultural dimension. For the investigation of the relation of empathic level and altruistic behavior, significant result was found only in female participants, who were willing to participate in hypothetic altruistic behavior. Implications, limitations and improvements of the present study were explained in discussion for suggesting future investigation. 2 Table of Contents Page Abstract ii Introduction 6 Purpose of Study 6 Significance of Study 7 Literature Review 10 Altruism 10 Pro-social behavior in social exchange perspective 10 Gender and cultural difference in altruism 12 Empathy-altruism hypothesis 14 Early explanations of the role of empathy in altruism 15 Empathy 17 Gender difference in empathy 20 Concept of in-groups and out-groups 21 Effects of language learning on self identity 21 Cultural difference in empathy 22 Kohlberg’s theory of moral development 23 3 Relationship between moral orientation and altruistic motivation in Chinese context 24 Research Hypotheses 26 Method 28 Participants 28 Facilities and Apparatus used in Study 31 Procedure 35 How the data was analyzed 37 Results 39 Gender differences in university students’ empathy score 39 Cultural differences in university students’ empathy score 40 Relationship between empathy scores and altruistic behavior in Gender Dimension 43 Relationship between empathy scores and altruistic behavior in Cultural Dimension 44 Discussion 48 Implications and limitations of study 48 Recommendations and further investigation 55 4 References 58 Appendices 69 Appendix I - Sample of Administration consent form 69 Appendix II - Sample of Participant consent form 71 Appendix III - Sample of Research Questionnaire 73 5 Gender and cultural differences in the empathy-altruism hypothesis among university students in Hong Kong Introduction Many scholars have studied the reasons behind people engaging in pro-social behaviors. One of the important questions in this field is whether pure altruism really exists. Batson (1987, 1991) introduced the empathy-altruism hypothesis to prove the existence of altruistic behavior, which is motivated by empathic feeling. Nevertheless, some people in the society could be considered as more helpful than others. Batson tried to explain this individual difference through his hypothesis that people help for purely altruistic reasons if they feel empathy. Otherwise, people would help according to their own self interest. Thus, factors that influence the level of empathic feeling become a determinant in altruistic behavior. Based on Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis, researchers have found that several factors would lead to the differences, which included gender, personality and emotional states (Aronson et al., 2001). Purpose of Study The objectives of the present research were to examine the authenticity of this hypothesis in university students of Hong Kong. In addition, according to a number of studies has shown that there is a gender difference on empathy scale, to investigate whether gender would be a factor that determines the effectiveness of this hypothesis. 6 Furthermore, in reference with research that people from collectivistic culture would more likely to feel empathy for in-group members (Batson et al., 2001). It is believed that altruistic behavior would be more likely to be evoked when the helpee is considered as an in-group member, which can be foresee that there would be cultural difference in empathy for people from the collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Through understanding the role of culture in the concept of in-groups and out-groups, another objective of the current research was to explore the cultural difference in empathy-altruism hypothesis. Significance of Study Firstly, this study is significant to one because I would like to fulfill my personal interest in understanding human nature in helping behavior. I always prefer an optimistic view to a Freudian negative view on human nature because of the numerous stories about people helping each other in the society. I believe that altruistic motivators are rooted inside humans, which is something good that involve no manipulation. However, it seems those helping situations involving self interest are more common in daily lives, which possibly cover the bright side of people (Sabini, 1995). This is because reward, such as material and psychological benefit, is observable and measurable in most pro-social occasions. Nevertheless, I believe that helping behavior is not purely a kind of positive outcome in cost benefit analysis. As 7 people become less likely to care about the pure altruistic motive, I would like to bring this goodwill to the society. It is because cost of helping does not always involve little effort, especially for situations such as marrow donation where the donor may bear a health risk. In such cases, they may get emotional comfort as the primary benefit. Something must be important to motivate a person to help. Therefore, through proving Batson’s empathy-altruism hypothesis in university students in Hong Kong, it can enrich the evidence for the existence of altruism, thus changing the dominating negative view in society by exalting the beautiful side of human nature. Secondly, by verifying empathy is the key factor that would lead to higher probability of the occurrence of altruistic behavior, the current study provides indicators for charitable organizations to increase their chance for receiving help by developing advertising strategy that enhance empathic feeling of potential helpers. I believe that everybody will experience an occasion when they need help and wish to obtain help. Since everybody is favorable to altruistic behavior, increasing its chance of happening fills the world with harmony. Thirdly, if empathy is the crucial key that leads to different kinds of general altruistic behavior, the next step is to identity the determinants that can induce empathic feeling. This is the rationale of the present study to focus on gender and cultural differences in empathy and altruism. Different kinds of altruistic behavior 8 may require different kinds of strengths. For example, in helping in a fire situation, people with physical strength, with males and females, would be considered as more capable in performing such type of helper. It is easy to imagine that everybody can act as a helping role differently and some people can help more effectively in some situations. For instance, according to Hong Kong Red Cross (2005), male donors are suggested to give blood four times a year. Because females lose blood through menstruation, they are suggested to give blood three times a year at most. This frequency of blood donation is determined by the life expectancy of red blood cells, which is roughly 120 days. Therefore, fewer donations would be obtained if only females are willing to help. As a result, if there is a gender difference in empathy, it can provide explanation and suggestion to increase empathic feeling of the particular gender. Similarly, people from different cultures may have different levels of empathic feeling towards the helpee. Of importance is whether the cultural identity of helpee is considered as an in-group member by the helper. If this is the case, people can work on this concept to increase the likelihood of altruism in the world to serve the common good. This provides a more conducive social environment that can enhance acceptance and cooperation among people. 9 Literature Review Altruism Altruism is generally defined as any form of voluntary act intended to favor another without expectation of reward (Smith & Mackie, 2000; Batson et al. 2002; Aronson et al., 2004). It is a specific kind of motivation to benefit another without consciously considering for one’s own self interest (Hall, 1999). In other words, altruism refers to a kind of selfless help, which based on pure desire to help others (Aronson, Wilson, Akert, & Fehr, 2004.) Nevertheless, altruism is not a synonym for pro-social behavior. The latter refers to helping behavior of favoring another person with the goal that may involve benefits to self (Smith & Mackie, 2000; Aronson et al., 2004). For instance, people donating money to tsunami relief fund may not always be selfless. In the case that the donation is for the sake of tax exemption, its motive would not be regarded as altruistic. The major difference between altruism and pro-social behavior is that altruism does not involve the element of self interest (Myers, 1996). Pro-social behavior in social exchange perspective In the past decades, psychologists have been researching on the internal processes underneath helping behavior and having an enduring debate on the existence of true altruism (Cialdini, 1991). With the presence of self interest, helping 10