b. 1943
C. Daniel Batson is an American social psychologist best known for the empathy-altruism hypothesis, which proposes that empathic concern produces genuinely altruistic motivation rather than disguised self-interest. His experimental research on prosocial behavior and moral motivation has significantly shaped debates in moral psychology, and his empirical findings are frequently cited in philosophical discussions of human nature, including comparative work on Mencian moral psychology.
Developed the empathy-altruism hypothesis, a foundational theory in prosocial behavior research
Designed experimental paradigms distinguishing genuine altruism from egoistic motivation
Contributed empirical grounding to philosophical debates about human moral nature
Authored 'Altruism in Humans' (2011), synthesizing decades of prosocial research
Research applied cross-culturally to debates in Confucian moral psychology (Mencius vs. Xunzi)