High cost helping scenario: The role of empathy, prosocial reasoning and moral disengagement on helping behavior Marinella Paciello a,⇑ , Roberta Fida b , Luca Cerniglia a , Carlo Tramontano c , Ellie Cole c a Uninettuno Telematic International University, Rome, Italy b Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy c Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, UCL, London, United Kingdom article info Article history: Received 9 July 2012 Received in revised form 7 November 2012 Accepted 8 November 2012 Available online xxxx Keywords: Empathy Prosocial reasoning Moral disengagement Omission Personal distress Helping behavior abstract This study aimed to investigate the process that leads people to offer or omit help in response to an expli- cit request for assistance, taking into account both emotional and cognitive factors. Specifically, a hypo- thetical scenario methodology was used in a sample of 174 Italian youths (50% males) to examine whether and how factors such as empathy, prosocial moral reasoning and moral disengagement influ- ence the propensity to help when providing assistance is not in the individual’s personal interest. While a few previous studies have included moral disengagement as an antecedent of prosocial decision mak- ing, we highlight the significance of this factor in the avoidance of moral responsibility towards others in need. The results highlight two ways in which differences in emotional tendencies and moral-cognitive processes may operate in prosocial decision making in high personal cost situations. First, high empathy levels could promote an altruistic response which in turn fosters mature prosocial moral reasoning. Sec- ond, personal distress may enhance moral disengagement mechanisms that may facilitate self-centred behaviors. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Theoretical background The offer of assistance is not guaranteed, even when help is explicitly requested. Early studies on helping behaviors have pointed to this issue, focusing on identifying reasons why people may decide to offer or not offer help to others in different circum- stances. Of particular interest are situations in which assisting oth- ers is not in the interests of the helper and even may be disadvantageous to them (Batson, 1991). A well-known example of this from the psychological literature is the case of Kitty Genov- ese, whose cries for help after being attacked were ignored by all of the 38 people who heard her. With this example in mind, the re- sults of several studies examining factors that may promote help- ing behaviors and hinder harmful behaviors become extremely significant. In particular it is important to consider the role of the emotional and relational spheres of personality, such as the ability to feel and show emotional concern for others (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006), as well as cognitive factors related to an individ- ual’s moral functioning, such as moral thinking and moral reason- ing (Turiel, 2006), personal responsibility and self-regulatory capacities (Bandura, 1991; Estrada, 1995). In the current study we will investigate the process that leads people to offer or omit help in response to an explicit request for assistance, taking into account the path leading from emotion through cognition to the propensity to help. In particular, based on the theoretical model proposed by Batson (1991), we aim to examine how individual differences in emotional reactions to oth- ers’ discomfort can sustain moral cognitive processes and, in turn, influence the propensity to help in high personal cost scenarios. To this aim, we will integrate in a single posited model both affective and cognitive dimensions that are well-documented in previous research on moral functioning: empathy and personal distress (Batson & Shaw, 1991; Davis, 1980) as emotional responses, and prosocial moral reasoning (henceforth PMR) (Eisenberg, 1986) and moral disengagement (henceforth MD) (Bandura, 1991) as two moral cognitive processes that imply different degrees of responsibility. More specifically, using a hypothetical scenario methodology, we will investigate in a sample of adolescents how empathy and personal distress influence PMR and MD foster or in- hibit helping behaviors when a request for assistance is not in the helper’s personal interest. We focused on adolescence because moral experiences and expertise gained in this developmental per- iod set the foundations for adult moral character, identity and agency (Blasi, 2001). Thus the study of moral functioning in this peculiar period of life is pivotal to understanding how individual 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.004 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 39, 00186 Rome, Italy. Tel.: +390669207660. E-mail address: m.paciello@uninettunouniversity.net (M. Paciello). Personality and Individual Differences xxx (2012) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid Please cite this article in press as: Paciello, M., et al. High cost helping scenario: The role of empathy, prosocial reasoning and moral disengagement on helping behavior. Personality and Individual Differences (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.004