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dc.contributor.authorGaesser, Brendan
dc.contributor.authorSchacter, Daniel
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-17T07:11:12Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.identifier.citationGaesser, B., and D. L. Schacter. 2014. “Episodic Simulation and Episodic Memory Can Increase Intentions to Help Others.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (12): 4415–20. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1402461111.
dc.identifier.issn0027-8424
dc.identifier.issn0744-2831
dc.identifier.issn1091-6490
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41555795*
dc.description.abstractEmpathy plays an important role in human social interaction. A multifaceted construct, empathy includes a prosocial motivation or intention to help others in need. Although humans are often willing to help others in need, at times (e.g., during intergroup conflict), empathic responses are diminished or absent. Research examining the cognitive mechanisms underlying prosocial tendencies has focused on the facilitating roles of perspective taking and emotion sharing but has not previously elucidated the contributions of episodic simulation and memory to facilitating prosocial intentions. Here, we investigated whether humans' ability to construct episodes by vividly imagining (episodic simulation) or remembering (episodic memory) specific events also supports a willingness to help others. Three experiments provide evidence that, when participants were presented with a situation depicting another person's plight, the act of imagining an event of helping the person or remembering a related past event of helping others increased prosocial intentions to help the present person in need, compared with various control conditions. We also report evidence suggesting that the vividness of constructed episodes-r ather than simply heightened emotional reactions or degree of perspective taking-supports this effect. Our results shed light on a role that episodic simulation and memory can play in fostering empathy and begin to offer insight into the underlying mechanisms.
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNational Academy of Sciences
dash.licenseLAA
dc.titleEpisodic simulation and episodic memory can increase intentions to help others
dc.typeJournal Article
dc.description.versionVersion of Record
dc.relation.journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
dash.depositing.authorSchacter, Daniel L.::e94dca167253512470c09bde2d26790b::600
dc.date.available2019-10-17T07:11:12Z
dash.workflow.comments1Science Serial ID 91139
dc.identifier.doi10.1073/pnas.1402461111
dash.source.volume111;12
dash.source.page4415


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