Daniel Batson
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C. Daniel Batson (b. 1943) is an American social psychologist. He holds both doctoral degrees in Theology (from Princeton Theological Seminary) and Psychology (from Princeton University). He obtained his doctorate under John Darley and has taught at the University of Kansas. He is especially known for his contributions to two fields: the social psychology of altruism, and his psychology of religion.
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[edit] Batson on altruism
Batson has become famous for the "empathy-altruism" theory, which states that we are more likely to become altruistic towards other when we empathise with them. It is important to note that this theory implies that pure altruism is possible; indeed, Aronson, Wilson and Akert (2005) have described Batson as "the strongest proponent that people often help others purely out of the goodness of their hearts" (Aronson et al., 2005, p362). This theory states that we are likely to help others when we empathise with them. Indeed, he has published experimental research to support this view. For example, a famous study by Batson and Toi (cited in Aronson et al., 2005), in which people were either asked to be objective or empathetic when listening to the plight of an accident victim, found that people were more likely to help the victim in the empathy condition. The theory implies that pure altruism is possible, although critics who believe that all apparently altruistic actions are actually covert forms of self-serving behaviour have attacked the theory. More on this theory can be found in a number of social psychology text books, including Brehm and Kassin (1996). He is the co-author of an often-cited study examining bystander intervention in theology students (Darley & Batson, 1973); although this study is often cited as evidence that exposure to the parable of the Good Samaritan did not make the students more helpful, there has been debate about whether Batson used appropriate statistics to analyse this study (Greenwald, 1975).
[edit] Batson on religion
Batson's most famous[citation needed] contribution to the psychology of religion has been his argument that the traditional distinction, made by Gordon Allport between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations, does not exhaust all possible orientations to being religious; rather, he believes it is important to refer to what he calls Quest, a form of being religious where questions are seen as important as answers (Batson & Schoenrade, 1991a; 1991b). This view has been controversial, and critics have questioned whether this Quest really does correlate with any other variable germane to religiosity. He has also written about religious experiences, defending a four-stage model of religious experiences, based upon Graham Wallas' four-stage model of problem-solving in the psychology of creativity.
[edit] Bibliography
Batson, C.D. (1976). Religion as prosocial: Agent or double agent? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 15, 29-45 Batson, C.D. & Schoenrade, P. (1991a). Measuring Religion as Quest: Validity concerns. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 416-429
Batson, C.D. & Schoenrade, P. (1991b). Measuring Religion as Quest: Reliability Concerns. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 430-7
Batson,C.D., Schoenrade, P & Ventis, L. (1993). Religion and the Individual.New York: Oxford University Press
Darley, J. & Batson, C.D. (1973). From Jerusalem to Jericho: A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behaviour. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 100-108.
Additional references:
Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D. & Akert, R.M. (2005). Social Psychology. New Jersey: Pearson. ISBN 0-13-178686-5
Brehm, J. & Kassin, S. (1996). Social PsychologyBoston: Houghton Mifflin (Third Edition). ISBN 0-395-73630-7
Greenwald, A. (1975). Does the Good Samaritan parable increase helping? A comment on Darley and Batson's no-effect conclusion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 578-583.
