times help others at a cost to themselves and whether truly selfless altruism exists. This "unselfish concern for the welfare of others" as Bernstein et al. define altruism (654), has been the central focus in much of the social psychological research and has been an issue debated fiercely for almost two decades. The majority of those believing that our helping behavior is determined by pure altruistic motives present many arguments in favor of this notion. According to the Empathic-Joy hypothesis, people help because they attain positive emotions when they view the target's joy. "Moreover, the source of such true altruism is said to be the reactive emotional response of empathic concern." (Davis 133). Another hypothesis that attempts to relate altruism with helping behavior is the Empathy-Altruism theory, "which maintains that people are more likely to engage in altruistic or unselfish helping –even when the cost of helping is high- if they feel empathy toward the person in need". (Bernstein et al. 657). Empathy, or "the shared feeling that results when we observe other people in emotional states, the compassion we feel for their sorrow, the resentment when they are slighted, the joy when they triumph" (Davis 2), is therefore viewed as a moral emotion that does actually foster altruism. "Regardless of its source, adopting the perspective of the needy target is said to produce in the observer the feelings of compassion and tenderness we have labeled empathic concern."(Davis 134). Another point we must consider is The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. "Although we all want many things to be under control, the effort and responsibility involved in control is often seen as decidedly unattractive" as Stephen Kaplan observes in his ar
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