One criticism of Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis is that
A) both sadness and happiness can cause an increase in helping behavior.
B) manipulations of empathic concern might actually be clues that the potential helping recipient might share genes with us, thus rendering the helping a selfish act rather than an altruistic act.
C) similarity and friendship really don't elicit perspective taking and empathic concern.
D) individuals experiencing empathic concern for another tend to help regardless of whether it's easy or difficult to leave the aversive situation without helping.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The criticism is that manipulations of empathic concern might actually be clues that the potential helping recipient might share genes with us, thus rendering the helping a selfish act rather than an altruistic act. This suggests that empathy may not always lead to true altruistic behavior.

One Criticism of Batson's Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis Is That