Empathy and Legislating

• In Event: Decision Making Among Political Elites

Abstract

Common explanations of legislative behavior focus on material calculations (such as re-election) as the driving force of how elected representatives vote on bills. Empathy is a psychological trait that drives human decisions in other areas of politics and beyond. We ask whether and how empathic motivations influence the behavior of elected representatives and their staff. We conducted a study at the 2018 National Conference for State Legislators in which we collected data on legislators’ (and members’ their staff) empathic motivations, along with other measures of preferences. We are able to link these responses to legislative behavior and investigate the role that empathy plays (or fails to play) in legislative decision making.

Authors

• Johanna Dunaway, Texas A&M University

• Bert Bakker, University of Amsterdam

• Stuart N. Soroka, University of Michigan

• Kevin Arceneaux, Temple University