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Trait Sympathy and Perceived Control as Predictors of Entering Sympathy-Arousing Situations

University of Washington

Two studies provide evidence that dispositional sympathy and perceived control interact to predict choices for and against situations likely to elicit sympathy. Sympathetic persons choosing among previewed experiments on the basis of the emotion elicited by each were particularly likely to choose a sympathy induction, and appeared to interpret that prospect in positive terms, but only when they expected substantial control over the procedure. In a second study, sympathizers were the most likely to volunteer for studies of people in distress, so long as the sympathizers expected a means of helping the distressed persons. In contrast, assurances of situational control did not encourage less sympathetic subjects to participate in either context Results provide for the expansion of models relating affect to prosaically behavior to include preferences for contact with distressed persons and for an interpretation of trait sympathy as less of a personal liability than prevalent views suggest.

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