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Empathy And Helping

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Altruistic Reveries

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Abstract

Empathy is considered to be “one of the basic human attributes supportive of social life” (Hoffman, 1977a, p. 169). This makes it an attractive construct to study. Empathy has been considered to be a critical element in social understanding and in the regulation or reduction of antisocial behaviours such as aggression (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987; Feshbach, 1975; Krebs, 1970; Miller & Eisenberg, 1988). It has also been considered a useful explanatory concept for the development of altruism (Eisenberg, 1986, 1989; Batson & Coke, 1981; Krebs, 1970; Hoffman, 1975). Rushton (1995) suggested that we ought to characterize human beings as “helpful, cooperative, empathic, loving, kind, and considerate” (p. 382). Thus, it is not surprising that attempts have been made to find a biological basis for empathic tendency.

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  1. Anthony Chang
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  1. National University of Singapore, Singapore

    Basant K. Kapur  & Kim-Chong Chong  & 

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Chang, A. (2002). Empathy And Helping. In: Kapur, B.K., Chong, KC. (eds) Altruistic Reveries. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0809-0_6

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