Civic engagement and giving behaviors: The role of empathy and beliefs about poverty

ABSTRACT

The current study explores different routes to civic involvement by identifying how a context-specific dimension of empathy and beliefs of autonomy and dependency might jointly predict different types of giving behaviors (i.e., monetary donations), which in turn should predict civic engagement. The sample consisted of 1,294 participants (656 females) between the ages of 18 to 64 (M_age = 38.44, SD = 14.71), randomly selected from seven different cities in Chile. Even after controlling for gender, age, and the socioeconomic status of participants, results mainly support the role of giving behaviors as drivers of actual engagement in civic life. Monetary donations, in turn, are predicted by higher levels of empathy toward poverty and autonomy-oriented beliefs. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of agentic perspectives on civic participation.

KEYWORDS:

• Civic engagement
• empathy
• giving behavior
• monetary donations

Notes

1. Institutions, technological progress, macroeconomic stability, infrastructure, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, financial market sophistication, market size, business, sophistication, and innovation.

2. A Kish table (McBurney, 1988) ensures a random selection of the informant. Household residents of that home between 18 and 64 years old provided information about some characteristics and were assigned a code according to factors defined in the table, so that that code defines who corresponds to the interview.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bernadette Paula Luengo Kanacri

Bernadette Paula Luengo Kanacri is a Postdoctoral Fellow Researcher in the Department of Psychology at Sapienza Università di Roma and at the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies at the P. Universidad Católica de Chile. Her research interests mainly focus on the development and promotion of prosocial behaviors and civic engagement across adolescence and young adulthood. Roberto González is Full Professor of Social Psychology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His primary current research interests focus on psychological antecedents of acculturation preferences and the psychology of prejudice towards minority groups. Daniel Valdenegro is a Master’s student and works as a Project Manager of the Social Psychology Laboratory at the School of Psychology of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Gloria Jiménez-Moya is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her work focuses on the experimental study of social identity and collective actions, as well as the psychological correlates of social inequalities. Patricio Saavedra is a PhD student at the University of Sussex. He works at the John Drury’s Research Group and focuses on the study of psychological determinants and outcomes of collective actions. Eduardo Andrés Mora is a PhD student at the School of Psychology of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His main research interests are focused on the role of social inequalities and socioeconomic features on in-group and out-group relationships. Daniel Miranda is a PhD student at the School of Sociology of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The study of inequality and civic knowledge are his main research interests. He works as a Research Assistant for the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies in Chile. Lucas Silva Didier is an undergraduate student of Psychology. He works as a Junior Assistant Researcher at the Social Psychology Laboratory at the School of Psychology of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Concetta Pastorelli is Full Professor of Personality and Assessment in the Department of Psychology at Sapienza Università di Roma. Her primary research interests focus on the development of personality and the role of parenting on children’s aggressive/prosocial behaviors.