Do Bad People Deserve Empathy? Selective Empathy Based on Targets' Moral Characteristics

The relation between empathy and morality is a widely discussed topic. However, previous discussions mainly focused on whether and how empathy influences moral cognition and moral behaviors, with limited attention to the reverse influence of morality on empathy. This review summarized how morality influences empathy by drawing together a number of hitherto scattered studies illustrating the influence of targets' moral characteristics on empathy. To explain why empathy is morally selective, we discuss its ultimate cause, to increase survival rates, and five proximate causes based on similarity, affective bonds, the appraisal of deservingness, dehumanization, and potential group membership. To explain how empathy becomes morally selective, we consider three different pathways (automatic, regulative, and mixed) based on previous findings. Finally, we discuss future directions, including the reverse influence of selective empathy on moral cognition, the moral selectivity of positive empathy, and the role of selective empathy in selective helping and third-party punishment.

Automated summary

This review aims to summarize and discuss the influence of morality on empathy, as previous discussions mainly focused on the influence of empathy on moral cognition and behavior, with limited attention to the reverse influence of morality on empathy. The review draws together scattered studies to illustrate the influence of targets' moral characteristics on empathy. To explain why empathy is morally selective, the ultimate cause of increasing survival rates and five proximate causes based on similarity, affective bonds, the appraisal of deservingness, dehumanization, and potential group membership are discussed. Three different pathways (automatic, regulative, and mixed) are considered to explain how empathy becomes morally selective based on previous findings. Finally, future directions including the reverse influence of selective empathy on moral cognition, the moral selectivity of positive empathy, and the role of selective empathy in selective helping and third-party punishment are discussed.