People more likely to help others they think are 'like them'

Study results reported in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Feelings of empathy lead to actions of helping – but only between members of the same group – according to a recent study in the July issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, an official publication of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, published by SAGE Publications.

The research, led by Stefan Stürmer of the University of Kiel, is presented in the article "Empathy-Motivated Helping: The Moderating Role of Group Membership." The article discusses two different studies, one using a real-world, intercultural scenario and the other using a mixture of people with no obvious differences besides gender. Researchers concluded that, while all the people felt empathy for someone in distress, they only tended to assist if the needy person was viewed as a member of their own "in-group."