Table 1. Trait empathic concern predicts altruistic behavior after an unfair dictator transfer even after controlling for confounding variables in a hierarchical regression model.
Step 1 modeled potential confounding variables of social desirability, general prosocial behavior (as indicated by transfers made when participants played as the dictator), family income, previous earnings or punishment in the game before playing as the third party, and current mood (state positive or negative affect). Trait empathic concern (the emotional component of compassion) was entered in Step 2 and was measured by the Empathic Concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980). Punishers represent a subset of participants who played the Punishment Game that decided to punish by spending > $0 (N = 37/89).
| Game Helping | Punishers | |
|---|---|---|
| N (Unfair) | 89 | 37 |
| Step 1: Confounds Δ R 2 | 0.31*** | 0.22 |
| Step 2: Empathic Concern Δ R 2 | 0.04* ^ | 0.18** |
* p ≤ 0.05
** p ≤ 0.01
*** p ≤ 0.001
^ When the two “extreme altruist” outliers were included in the Helping Game regression, the relationship between empathic concern and helping behavior became non-significant (Empathic Concern Δ R 2 = 0.016, p = 0.12).