Skin Conductance Response to the Pain of Others Predicts Later Costly Helping

Grit Hein · Claus Lamm · Christian J. Brodbeck · Tania Singer

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Action Observation and Synchronization Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies Emotions and Moral Behavior

Abstract

People show autonomic responses when they empathize with the suffering of another person. However, little is known about how these autonomic changes are related to prosocial behavior. We measured skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings in participants while either receiving painful stimulation themselves, or observing pain being inflicted on another person. In a later session, they could prevent the infliction of pain in the other by choosing to endure pain themselves. Our results show that the strength of empathy-related vicarious skin conductance responses predicts later costly helping. Moreover, the higher the match between SCR magnitudes during the observation of pain in others and SCR magnitude during self pain, the more likely a person is to engage in costly helping. We conclude that prosocial motivation is fostered by the strength of the vicarious autonomic response as well as its match with first-hand autonomic experience.

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References

1992The altruism question: toward a social-psychological answer 2003Both of Us Disgusted in My Insula 2010Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain 2009The Social Neuroscience of Empathy 2006Human Empathy Through the Lens of Social Neuroscience 1983Marital interaction: Physiological linkage and affective exchange.2010Neural Responses to Ingroup and Outgroup Members' Suffering Predict Individual Differences in Costly Helping 2004A Touching Sight

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