Departmental Papers (ASC)
Document Type
Technical Report
Date of this Version
10-2015
Publication Source
PLoS ONE
Volume
10
Issue
10
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0140838
Abstract
In three experiments, we examine parochial empathy (feeling more empathy for in-group than out-group members) across novel group boundaries, and test whether we can mitigate parochial empathy with brief narrative descriptions. In the absence of individuating information, participants consistently report more empathy for members of their own assigned group than a competitive out-group. However, individualized descriptions of in-group and out-group targets significantly reduce parochial empathy by interfering with encoding of targets’ group membership. Finally, the descriptions that most effectively decrease parochial empathy are those that describe targets’ mental states. These results support the role of individuating information in ameliorating parochial empathy, suggest a mechanism for their action, and show that descriptions emphasizing targets’ mental states are particularly effective.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© 2015 Bruneau et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords
memory, recall memory, experimental design, personality, emotions, problem solving, altruistic behavior
Recommended Citation
Bruneau, E., Cikara, M., & Saxe, R. (2015). Minding the Gap: Narrative Descriptions about Mental States Attenuate Parochial Empathy. PLoS ONE, 10 (10), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140838
Included in
Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social Psychology Commons
Date Posted: 15 June 2018
This document has been peer reviewed.