Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time

Why is lower social class often associated with greater empathy? We test whether less wealthy people experience more challenges, thereby motivating them to help others as a means of securing future social support, and, in turn, cultivating empathy over recurrent experiences. Study 1 (N = 513) showed that wealth was negatively correlated with empathy through fewer challenges and less helping. Study 2 (N = 915) replicated this effect while revealing unexpected curvilinear associations. Among people helping less overall (measured monthly across 1 year), wealth led to lower empathy through fewer challenges and less helping. However, among people helping more overall, more helping led to decreasing empathy. Study 3 (N = 500) replicated the sequential indirect effect of wealth on empathic concern at low, but not high, helping in a two-wave preregistered study. Results suggest that repeated acts of helping can cultivate empathic concern—but, only for those helping a moderate amount.