The role of empathy and responsibility in charitable giving: a mixed methods investigation

The literature on empathic concern and perceptions of similarity as traditional explanations for helping behaviours has included studies at the individual (Batson et al., 1991), the intragroup (Houston, 1990) and the intergroup (Sturmer, Snyder & Omoto, 2005) level. The concept of self-ascribed responsibility (as responsibility attributed to the self), however, has been largely overlooked in terms of how it can influence helping behaviours. While some paradigms emphasise the importance of the diffusion of responsibility in explaining when and why people do not intervene to help (Latané e & Darley, 1970), little attention has been paid to the processes involved in the reversal of this specific aspect of the bystander effect phenomenon (the effect of an increased sense of responsibility on helping). The aim of this mixed methods thesis is to develop our understanding of the role of empathy and self-ascribed responsibility as they relate to intergroup helping and charitable giving. The first exploratory study of this project adopted a discursive psychological approach (Edwards & Potter, 1992). In looking at how charity and non-charity workers produced accounts of their own and others charitable giving, the analysis demonstrated the strategic use of interpretative repertoires (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) of empathy and responsibility. These repertoires were invoked at different times, and in different ways, throughout the discursive interactions depending on the particular function they were deployed to serve. Empathy was invoked by constructing specific versions of the recipient group in speakers’ accounts, whereas responsibility was drawn upon by constructing specific versions of the relationship between donor and recipient of help. Previous research has suggested empathic concern as an important factor in helping situations (Batson et al., 1991; Sturmer et al., 2005) however self-ascribed responsibility in social psychological studies on helping has not been systematically examined, save through its absence. Therefore, the second study of this thesis adopted a quantitative method of investigation, and sought to determine whether or not empathy and responsibility (shifting from interpretative repertoires to concepts operationalised as constructs) would be seen to independently predict helping behaviours in the form of intentions to donate. Results of a survey study showed that both variables contributed separately to donation proclivity. Subsequently, a series of experiments (2x2 factorial designs) were conducted which primed either empathy or responsibility as normative aspects of the ingroup’s identity, and then offered participants the opportunity to indicate intentions to donate to different types of target groups (presented as either blameworthy or innocent, ingroup or outgroup, and finally threatening or non-threatening). Results suggest that while empathy as a normative aspect of one’s social identity can predict helping that is oftentimes contingent on certain criteria, namely the target group presenting as ingroup members, as innocent of their fate and as non-threatening, responsibility appears to prime a different set of considerations when choosing to give. Those primed with responsibility were seen to overcome issues of group membership, blame and threats to shared resources to essentially give equal amounts to all target groups. It is therefore suggested that responsibility can be viewed as potentially altruistic in its ability to help in costly situations, as not susceptible to an SIT prediction of ingroup bias, and can prime a collective identity more so than empathic concern. This interpretation of the findings has important implications for the consistent donations charitable organisations rely on in terms of long-term giving.