Similarity and Nurturance: Two Possible Sources of Empathy for Strangers

What accounts for variation in empathy felt for strangers in need? Currently, one of the most popular explanations among personality and social psychologists is perceived similarity: We feel sympathy and compassion for others to the degree that we perceive them to be like us. Two experiments designed to test the perceived similarity explanation more directly than previous research failed to find support. Results of the second experiment instead supported a classical, but currently less popular, explanation of empathy felt for strangers: nurturant tendencies based on the impulse to care for and protect offspring. We noted distinct theoretical and practical implications of the similarity and nurturance explanations. In addition, we encourage increased attention to nurturance as a possible source of empathy.