Which Marley Was That?

Yesterday I was lecturing in my class about the role of empathy in altruism. Since it's the Christmas season I was making a lot of references to the various charity opportunities we are exposed to this time of year. For example, I was talking about the shame I feel every time I walk into the store past the Salvation Army bell ringer. I often give some money but it's motivated by shame. Same sort of shame I feel when a cashier says ringing up my purchase, "Would you like to donate $5 to help the homeless this Christmas season?" What are you supposed to say to that?

So a lot of helping is motivated by internal impulses to manage shame, guilt, and image. Not that I'm complaining too much. I tend to think guilt is a good thing. I appreciate my guilt. I told onto it as a talisman.

Still, it's not very altruistic to give out of guilt. Which is where empathy comes in. A lot of good empirical research, most of it done by Daniel Batson, suggests that altruism (being fully other-oriented) is possible when empathy is engaged.

So this is what I was talking about in class yesterday, about how we should cultivate empathy. To make this point I ended up talking about Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I was, in my dramatic way, recounting the Ghost of Marley visiting Scrooge. But after class I realized I'd made a mistake. Instead of calling him the ghost of Jacob Marley I was calling him the ghost of Bob Marley.

And that, we all know, is a very different sort of Christmas story...