ABSTRACT

Global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the impending climate change require each and every one of us to perform long-term self-restrictive behaviours, implying personal costs, for the sake of vulnerable others and future generations. We argue that empathy – conceptualised as other-oriented moral emotional process – can impact how we think, feel and act towards others in times of such disruptive global developments. Our research highlights how and under which circumstances empathy fosters solidarity with others in need. We review our findings which corroborate empathy’s potential in directly changing health-relevant behaviour (such as hand hygiene behaviour or adherence to COVID-19 pre-emptive measures) and as well as pro-environmental actions, which serve to protect others’ well-being through self-discipline and self-restriction. Furthermore, we also review and discuss research which indicates potential boundary conditions of empathy-induced prosocial responses to the plight of vulnerable individuals.

摘要

为了脆弱的他人和子孙后代，COVID-19 大流行或即将到来的气候变化等全球挑战要求我们每个人执行长期的自我限制行为，这意味着个人成本。我们认为，同理心——被概念化为以他人为导向的道德情感过程——可以影响我们在这种破坏性的全球发展时期对他人的思考、感受和行为方式。我们的研究强调了同理心如何以及在何种情况下促进与有需要的人的团结。我们回顾了我们的发现，这些发现证实了移情在直接改变与健康相关的行为（例如手部卫生行为或遵守 COVID-19 预防措施）以及有助于保护他人福祉的环保行动方面的潜力通过自律和自我约束。