Friends or Foes: Is Empathy Necessary for Moral Behavior?. (September 2014)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Friends or Foes: Is Empathy Necessary for Moral Behavior?. (September 2014)
- Main Title:
- Friends or Foes
- Authors:
- Decety, Jean
Cowell, Jason M. - Abstract:
- In the past decade, a flurry of empirical and theoretical research on morality and empathy has taken place, and interest and usage in the media and the public arena have increased. At times, in both popular culture and academia, morality and empathy are used interchangeably, and quite often the latter is considered to play a foundational role for the former. In this article, we argue that although there is a relationship between morality and empathy, it is not as straightforward as apparent at first glance. Moreover, it is critical to distinguish among the different facets of empathy (emotional sharing, empathic concern, and perspective taking), as each uniquely influences moral cognition and predicts differential outcomes in moral behavior. Empirical evidence and theories from evolutionary biology as well as developmental, behavioral, and affective and social neuroscience are comprehensively integrated in support of this argument. The wealth of findings illustrates a complex and equivocal relationship between morality and empathy. The key to understanding such relations is to be more precise on the concepts being used and, perhaps, abandoning the muddy concept of empathy.
- Is Part Of:
- Perspectives on psychological science. Volume 9:Number 5(2014)
- Journal:
- Perspectives on psychological science
- Issue:
- Volume 9:Number 5(2014)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 9, Issue 5 (2014)
- Year:
- 2014
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 5
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2014-0009-0005-0000
- Page Start:
- 525
- Page End:
- 537
- Publication Date:
- 2014-09
- Subjects:
- morality -- empathy -- emotional sharing -- empathic concern -- perspective taking -- social and affective neuroscience -- developmental science -- ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Psychology -- Periodicals
150 - Journal URLs:
- http://pps.sagepub.com/ ↗
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/ppsc ↗
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/index.cfm?journal=pps&content=pps/home ↗
http://online.sagepub.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1177/1745691614545130 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1745-6916
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 6428.161240
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 6095.xml