Question

Participants in an experiment by Toi and Batson listened to a tape recording in which a student (Carol) in their Introductory Psychology class described an accident that caused her to fall behind in the course. Some participants were encouraged to empathize with Carol, whereas others were encouraged to listen objectively to the interview. Half of the participants thought Carol was in their section of the class; the others thought she was in another section. When participants:______.
a. empathized with Carol, most participants helped whether she was in their section.
b. empathized with Carol, most participants helped only when she was in their section.
c. did not empathize with Carol, most participants helped when she was not in their section.
d. did not empathize with Carol, most participants helped whether or not she was in their section.

Answer 1

Answer:

a. empathized with Carol, most participants helped whether she was in their section.

Explanation:

Baton recognised that sometimes people helped others out of their own self interests. In this experiment, there were two groups, the high empathy group and the low empathy group.

Those in the high empathy group were found to be equally likely to help Carol in any circumstance, while those in the low empathy group only helped her out of their own self interests. As seeing Carol In school everyday made them have a sense of guilt if they refused to help.