Class and compassion: socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering

Previous research indicates that lower-class individuals experience elevated negative emotions as compared with their upper-class counterparts. We examine how the environments of lower-class individuals can also promote greater compassionate responding-that is, concern for the suffering or well-bein...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 449
Main Authors: Stellar, Jennifer E, Manzo, Vida M, Kraus, Michael W, Keltner, Dacher
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01.06.2012
Subjects:
Emotions - physiology
Empathy
Female
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Psychological Tests
Social Class
Socioeconomic Factors
Stress, Psychological - psychology
ISSN:1931-1516, 1931-1516
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous research indicates that lower-class individuals experience elevated negative emotions as compared with their upper-class counterparts. We examine how the environments of lower-class individuals can also promote greater compassionate responding-that is, concern for the suffering or well-being of others. In the present research, we investigate class-based differences in dispositional compassion and its activation in situations wherein others are suffering. Across studies, relative to their upper-class counterparts, lower-class individuals reported elevated dispositional compassion (Study 1), as well as greater self-reported compassion during a compassion-inducing video (Study 2) and for another person during a social interaction (Study 3). Lower-class individuals also exhibited heart rate deceleration-a physiological response associated with orienting to the social environment and engaging with others-during the compassion-inducing video (Study 2). We discuss a potential mechanism of class-based influences on compassion, whereby lower-class individuals' are more attuned to others' distress, relative to their upper-class counterparts.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1931-1516
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/a0026508