Fight, Fight, Fight!

O.K., empathy scientists aren't exactly to whom we turn when looking for WWF-quality (sorry, World Wide Fund for Nature) combat, but, hey, we'll take what we can get.

This latest tussle takes on one piece of the empathy puzzle: Do you need to care to act?

A new study examines the long-standing  battle between developmental psychologist Martin Hoffman, who argues that empathic distress (suffering when someone else is suffering) is the gateway emotion for altruistic action and, in the other corner, social psychologist Daniel Batson, who says it's not required, as sometimes people "do the right thing" due to a sense of responsibility, social pressure or to make themselves look good.

 This paper, at least, declares Hoffman the winner, offering fMRI results to show that empathic distress and empathic altruism "share a common basis."

So, I feel your pain -- and that's why I'm gonna do something about it.