Self–other merging and the empathy–altruism hypothesis: Reply to Neuberg et al. (1997).

R. B. Cialdini, S. L. Brown, B. P. Lewis, C. Luce, & S. L. Neuberg (1997) present data that they claim challenge the empathy-altruism hypothesis by providing evidence that the effects of empathy on helping are due to self-other merging. Despite S. L. Neuberg et al.'s (1997) efforts at reassurance, doubts remain about the meaning of these data because they were obtained using scenario procedures and confounded manipulations. Using less questionable methods, C. D. Batson et al. (1997) failed to find evidence that empathy-induced helping was due to self-other merging. At a more fundamental level, the Cialdini et al. challenge rests on an apparent misunderstanding of the empathy-altruism hypothesis and, as a result, of appropriate means to test it. Finally, the question of whether empathy leads to anything more than superficial helping is addressed.