Daniel Batson
| Daniel Batson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Charles Daniel Batson March 15, 1943 |
| Occupation | Social psychologist |
C. Daniel Batson (born March 15, 1943) is an American social psychologist. He holds two doctoral degrees in Theology (from Princeton Theological Seminary) and Psychology (from Princeton University's Department of Psychology). He obtained his doctorate under John Darley and has taught at the University of Kansas. Batson retired from the University of Kansas in 2006 and now holds an emeritus position with the psychology department at the University of Tennessee. He is especially known for his contributions to three fields: the social psychology of altruism, empathic concern, and psychology of religion.
Batson has become well known for the empathy-altruism hypothesis, which states that "feeling empathy for [a] person in need evokes motivation to help [that person] in which these benefits to self are not the ultimate goal of helping; they are unintended consequences" (Batson & Shaw 1991, p. 114). The theory, initially proposed as an explanation of the so-called "empathy-helping relationship", implies that pure altruism is possible and that psychological egoism is false. Indeed, Aronson, Wilson and Akert (2005) have described Batson as "the strongest proponent that people often help others purely out of the goodness of their hearts" (Aronson et al., 2005, p362). Batson has published experimental research to support the empathy-altruism hypothesis against various alternative egoistic explanations. However, critics—who believe that all apparently altruistic actions are actually egoistic—have successfully attacked the theory (see, for example, the competing negative state relief model). More on the empathy-altruism hypothesis can be found in a number of social psychology text books, including Brehm and Kassin (1996).
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