Empathy-altruism

Empathy-altruism is a form of altruism based on moral emotions or feelings for others.

Social exchange theory represents a seemingly altruistic behavior benefits the altruist that outweighs the cost the altruist bears and thus such behavior is self-interested. In contrast, C. Daniel Batson holds that people help others in need out of genuine concern for the well-being of the other person. The key ingredient to such helping is "empathic concern". According to Batson's "empathy-altruism hypothesis", if someone feels empathy towards another person, they will help them, regardless of what they can gain from it. An alternative hypothesis is "empathy-joy", which states a person helps because they find pleasure at seeing another person experience relief (2008). When a person does not feel empathy, the standards of social exchange theory apply.