Law and Literature: Theory and Evidence on Empathy and Guile

Abstract

Legal theorists have suggested that literature stimulates empathy and affects moral judgment and decision-making. I present a model to formalize the potential effects of empathy on third parties. Empathy is modeled as having two components–sympathy (the decision-maker’s reference point about what the third party deserves) and emotional theory of mind (anticipating the emotions of another in reaction to certain actions). I study the causal effect with a data entry experiment. Workers enter text whose content is randomized to relate to empathy, guile, or a control. Workers then take the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and participate in a simple economic game. On average, workers exposed to empathy become less deceptive towards third parties. The result is stronger when workers are nearly indifferent. These results are robust to a variety of controls and model specifications.

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Replaces

Daniel L. Chen, “Does Empathy Beget Guile? Experimental Evidence”, TSE Working Paper, n. 16-684, July 2016.

Reference

Daniel L. Chen, “Law and Literature: Theory and Evidence on Empathy and Guile”, Review of Law and Economics, vol. 15, n. 1, March 2019.