• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.35-46
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• 2015

Prior research suggested that people generally show stronger intentions to help in-group members because people experience higher levels of empathy for those who are similar to themselves. The present research demonstrated that one's levels of cosmopolitanism would moderate the mediating role of empathy on the relationship between cultural similarities and helping intentions. In particular, it was examined how the mediator (empathy) affected the relation between cultural similarity and helping intention for participants with low to high levels of cosmopolitanism. Results indicated that participants with lower levels of cosmopolitanism showed stronger empathy as targets are more culturally similar to participants' own culture. Participants with higher levels of cosmopolitanism, however, reported the same levels of empathy regardless of targets' cultural similarity. The implications and limitations of the results were discussed.