Compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review

Abstract

What is compassion? And how did it evolve? In this review, we integrate 3 evolutionary arguments that converge on the hypothesis that compassion evolved as a distinct affective experience whose primary function is to facilitate cooperation and protection of the weak and those who suffer. Our empirical review reveals compassion to have distinct appraisal processes attuned to undeserved suffering; distinct signaling behavior related to caregiving patterns of touch, posture, and vocalization; and a phenomenological experience and physiological response that orients the individual to social approach. This response profile of compassion differs from those of distress, sadness, and love, suggesting that compassion is indeed a distinct emotion. We conclude by considering how compassion shapes moral judgment and action, how it varies across different cultures, and how it may engage specific patterns of neural activation, as well as emerging directions of research.

Figure 1

Appraisal model of compassion displaying how witnessing negative outcomes leads to felt compassion with moderation of relevance to self.

Figure 2

Recognition accuracy of compassion, fear, sadness, and happiness by expression modality. Accuracy rates corrected for number of choices. Facial expression findings averaged from Haidt & Keltner (1999) and Keltner & Buswell (1996); touch findings from Hertenstein et al. (2006).