Emphaty and altruism of rich and poor volunteer workers

1Empathy and Altruism to Rich and Poor Volunteers

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

“But you shall freely open your hand to him,

And shall generously lend him sufficient

For his need in whatever he lacks.”

-Deuteronomy 15:8

With our busy lives, it can be hard to find time to

volunteer but for a compassionate individual it does not

matter. A person will help no matter what the consequences

are. Helping someone in need no matter what your

socioeconomic status shows evidence how kindhearted a person

is. Helping does not only mean giving financial assistance,

it can also be through volunteer actions by spending your

time and effort. If a person is really willing to help, one


may help in many ways. As a quote says “if there’s a will

there’s a way”.

One who is inspired to help those who are in distress

brings an emotionally uplifting experience that can never be

matched by money or fame. It is a fulfillment; it is an

experience that cannot be bought with any amount of money.

After hearing and seeing news about volunteer workers, it

caught the attention of the researchers and made them

interested. It brought many questions like what pushes these

volunteer workers to do such good deed? How rich and poor

volunteer workers differ and similar when it comes to

empathy and altruism? Do they see themselves in other’s

shoes? Or they just do such thing for their own benefit?

Having questions in the researchers’ mind, it made them

wonder how rich and poor volunteer workers share a handful

of time despite their own needs and problems. That curiosity

shaped the researchers and made them interested in studying

the empathy and altruism of volunteer workers particularly

with the rich and the poor as a research topic of our study.


The heart of the topic of the present study lies on the

empathy and altruism of selected rich and poor volunteer

workers. The purpose of this study is to know their

differences and similarities considering they come from

opposite socioeconomic status. This study also aims to know

if socio-economic status has an impact when it comes to

showing altruistic behavior. Volunteering has been defined

as an activity that involves spending time unpaid, doing

something that aims to benefit the environment or individual

or groups other than, or in addition to, close relatives.

Currently there are many discussions around volunteering,

and it is relatively common to consider volunteering as a

social phenomenon (Leandro & Cardoso, 2005). Researchers’

personal reason of pursuing this study is when they got

amazed to those volunteer workers despite the hardships in

life. Researchers believed that this study will awaken the

eyes, heart and soul of everyone that socioeconomic status

is not a hindrance to do voluntary actions or to help people


in need. This study will also alert many citizens to become

aware about volunteer workers.

Theoretical Framework

The theories in this study are essential to help the

researchers strengthen their assumptions. The Empathy-

Altruism Hypothesis which has two functions of emotion has

been discussed in this study. Attachment Theory has also

been explained in this section for further understanding and

to support volunteerism.

In Altruism in Humans, Batson (2011,p 29) explained that

“it is that feeling other-oriented emotion elicited by and

congruent with the perceived welfare of another person in

need (i.e. empathic concern) produces a motivational state

with the ultimate goal of increasing that person’s welfare

by having the empathy-inducing need removed”. Empathic

concern that is felt to the person in need motivates in


showing altruistic behavior though it does not say that

empathy is the only reason for showing altruistic behavior.

According to Batson (2011), two functions of emotions,

specifically Information Function and Amplification

Function, would further explain why people elicit empathic

concern and altruistic behavior. An emotion that a person

feels depends on the changes in his or her relation to a

valued state. A valued state is one that is preferred

relative to possible alternatives. If the person obtained a

valued state (e.g. obtained a goal) he or she will feel

happy. On the other hand, if the person loses a valued state

(e.g. fail to achieve the goal), he or she will feel sad.

The quality and deep of emotional response to an event

depends on how the person values the event. It is if a

person feels overjoyed rather than just simply happy then it

means that the person valued the state much higher. This is

called the Information Function.


The Amplification Function of emotion can be explained

as that a need-state emotion arises when the perceive

negative discrepancy between the current state of affairs

and the state what a person desire-- if he or she value the

current state that is not his/hers or may notice that he or

she may lose his/her own valued state. Physiological arousal

component of an emotion can increase the strength of a goal-

directed motivation to eliminate the perceived need.

Emotions can turn potential motivations to become actual

motivation (Batson, 2011).

The two functions of emotion have a connection in the

relationship of empathy and altruism. It is explained in

Altruism in Humans wherein “the definition of empathic concern

as other-oriented emotion elicited by and congruent with the

perceived welfare of a person in need reflects the

information function of this need-state emotion. The

strength of one’s empathic concern provides information

about the amount of value one places on the other’s welfare-

specifically, on having the other’s need removed” (p. 31)


Amplification function reflects on altruism which is being

defined as motivational state that the ultimate goal is to

increase other’s welfare. Empathic concern could cause the

will of a person to decrease the perceived need of the other

person (Batson, 2011).

In Attachment Theory, human beings are naturally

equipped with attachment and care giving behavioral systems

because becoming emotionally attached to caregivers or in

need individuals during evolution improved fitness. As

Bowlby used the term, “a behavioral system is a species-

universal, innate neural program that organizes an

individual’s behavior in ways that serve an important

survival or reproductive function. Each behavioral system

governs the choice, activation, and termination of

particular kinds of behavioral sequences. The function of

the attachment behavioral system is to protect a person from

danger by assuring that he or she maintains proximity to

caring and supportive others or which is know also the

attachment figures” (as cited in Gillath et al., 2005,


p.426). The role of the care giving system is to respond to

requests for help and provide protection, support, and

relief in times of hardship. Its operation is most evident

in the emotional and behavioral actions of the parents to

the signal need or distress of their children, but also it

is considered to be the locus and foundation of empathy and

compassion in all situations where one person reacts to the

another person’s pain need, or distress (Gillath et al.,

2005).

Conceptual Paradigm

RICH VOLUNTEERWORKER

ALTRUISM

EMPATHY

POOR VOLUNTEERWORKER


Figure 1. The Schematic Diagram on the comparison of the

Concept of Empathy and Altruism of Selected Rich and Poor

Volunteer Workers.

The diagram above illustrates the comparison of the

respondents’ view regarding empathy and altruism among rich

and poor volunteer workers.

Statement of the Problem

In this study, the researchers studied the experiences

of empathy and altruism of selected rich and poor volunteer

workers.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following

questions

1. What is volunteer work for rich and poor volunteer workers?


2. What are the experiences of empathy & altruism among

selected rich and poor volunteer workers?

Assumptions

With the following problems the researchers assumed the

following responses:

1. Volunteer work for rich people is helping people who are in

need through fund raising, building up charitable

organization. But some rich volunteers apply their

professions in doing volunteer works. Also they tend to do

more on actions while volunteer work for poor people prefer

to do volunteer work by spending more time and efforts.

Since they cannot afford giving donations and prefer to

interact and to be hands-on on the activity that they are

participating.

2. Rich and poor people similar in terms of manifesting

empathic concern most likely if they experience same

situation before. Also in terms of altruism, both of them


have the ability to help. They possess the same goal of

helping others also they can feel a sense of gratification

to someone who is in need.

3. The respondents differ in terms of showing empathic concern

when they feel the sincerity of the person in need while in

terms of altruism, the poor help by actions while the rich

help by giving more than what they can give.

Scope and Limitation

The main focused of the study is to know the empathy

and altruism of selected rich and poor volunteer workers.

The researcher chose ten (10) rich and poor volunteer

workers composed of either male or female from Metro Manila.

Volunteer workers are 25-65 years of age. The respondents

participated in any volunteer kind of work for at least five

(5) years. Specifically in terms of services like in

Caritas, a Firemen or Doctors.


The researcher did not include the educational

attainment, kinship, monetary donations and the levels of

empathy and altruism of selected rich and poor volunteer

workers


Significance of the Study

The finding of this phenomological research was

considered essential to the following:

Volunteer workers. They will become aware about the level of

empathy they manifest and how does it affect the altruistic

behavior they show when doing volunteer works. They will

come up doing the right way of how volunteer will act.

Administrators of charitable institutions, NGOs and

volunteer organizations. The institutions will have an idea

on why different types of volunteer workers help and what

are the motivations of those people why they help. With

these, they may have an idea on how to persuade different

people become volunteer workers.


Beneficiaries of volunteer services. They will be given more

information about volunteer workers and their reason and

intention of helping. They will be able to know how they

will form and create a thought of appreciation on how they

will thank those volunteer workers. The beneficiaries will

know how to connect or interact on volunteer workers who

help them.

Donors. It will serve as an eye opener to the charitable

givers that social actions are also essential other than

giving tangible things.

Social workers. It will encouraged social workers to do more

volunteer works and it will encouraged them to experience

things that will make them a better person through helping

other person.

Readers. The readers will gain knowledge about helping other

people and it will develop their reflective thinking and

self analysis about the things that they can contribute to


the world. The readers will learn to see helping in the eyes

of volunteers. The readers will gain awareness of people who

are doing good acts.

Future researchers. The proposed study will benefit and help

the future researchers as there guide or reference in

creating own study. The future researchers can use this

study as a material and expand it. Researchers can view the

point of the volunteer workers about helping.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined operationally and

conceptually to expound understanding on the terms used in

the study.

Altruism

Altruism is a voluntary behavior carried out to benefit

another individual without anticipation of rewards from


external resources and done for its own sake (as cited in

Park, 2007).

As used in the study, altruism is an individual focused

on giving meaningful service to other person. It is a free

will lends of hand to other people in need that do not

consider the idea of gaining any benefits as an exchange of

help.

Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to think and feel oneself into

the inner life of another person. It is our life long

ability to experience what another person experienced

(Welker, 2005).

As used in the study, empathy is a sense of uplifting

connectedness with others to experience an event, where we

feel as if we are embodying or understanding the experience

of another.

Poor


As used in the study a poor man is one who has 500 to

5,000 range of monthly income to support their family. Those

who are informal settlers, they do not own a house or just

renting somewhere in slum or squatters area. He can be a

renter of vehicle or the owner of it. He has to work hard in

order to provide food for the family.

Rich

As used in the study a rich man is described as one

with an abundant supply of resources and funds. He has a

regular income ranging from 30,000 and above to provide the

basic needs and luxuries or wants of self and/ or family. He

has every material thing that he needs and more. Own

properties exclusively one or more than two (2) cars, lands

and living in a very exclusive village.

Volunteer Workers

Volunteer workers is an investment in personal time,

effort, knowledge and skills out of free will to carry out

services and activities for the well-being of another person


or the wider public, and are executed by the persons without

existence of any conditions of a financial reward or any

other material benefit for the work done, unless otherwise

stated by the law (Croatia, 2007).

As used in the study a volunteer worker is a person who

performs an activity with his own free will without

remuneration or financial gain and to serve the public,

specifically, those who are in need, not to intentionally

gain one.


CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This section entails an analysis of literature and

studies about the volunteer workers to determine the link

between the reviewed materials and the present study.

Empathy Defined

According to Gordon (2003), empathy is the ability to

understand how the other person feels, to be able to take

the other’s perspective. A good society provides the ways

and means for empathy and solidarity. Without empathy, there

will be no altruism. If we want to have caring societies in

the future we must start building them today. Moreover he

stated that roots of Empathy classes differs from the

behavior of children in experienced significant increases in


peer nominations for a range of prosocial behaviors,

including perspective-taking, kindness, and being seen as

fair. Also experienced significantly increases in peer

nominations for bullying and relational aggression.

It was further explained in the study of Twenge,

Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Bartels (2007) that empathy

is an important mediator of helping behavior and other

prosocial behavior. Empathy relies on emotion: The empathic

person must internally simulate the feelings of someone

else. If the rejected person’s emotion system shuts down, as

a temporary coping mechanism, then he or she would be less

able to share another’s feelings, and that lack of empathy

could well translate into a reduction in prosocial behavior.

Nature of Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to recognize and understand

other people’s experiences, needs, and goals, and thus

facilitates social understanding and cooperation. Empathy is

bounded, however: it varies as a function of similarity and


familiarity of other people Preston & de Waal, (as cited in

Woltin, Corneille., Yzerbyt, & Förster, 2010)

Batson viewed empathy as “a means to altruistic

behavior. He and his co-researchers argued that empathy is

related to other personal motives, such as reducing the pain

of watching and feeling others suffer or for the sense of

rewards in helping others). Thus, “empathy” may lead to

altruistic outcomes, but it also may not. People may “do

good deeds” for all sorts of reasons, including personal

reward or satisfaction, sympathy, guilt, or due to other

egoistic motivations” (as cited in Gerdes & Segal, 2009).

In addition, Davis developed a model that includes most

of the empathy constructs that have been developed prior to

the recent neurobiological discoveries related to empathy.

His model starts with what he calls antecedents, goes

through multiple processes, and results in outcomes. The

antecedents include biological capacities as well as learned

socializations. The processes include the action of motor


mimicry as well as active cognitive processing. The outcomes

are divided into two categories, intrapersonal and

interpersonal, including affective response (physiologically

feeling something), and cognitive processing of attribution

(figuring out how the other person feels and why based on

the observed behaviors). His model, while comprehensive and

inclusive of all major concepts, is very complicated and

mixes the physiological and cognitive aspects of empathy

throughout the model. He does include the outcomes of

empathic feelings, but limited to the individual level (as

cited in Gerdes & Segal, 2009).

This model includes unconscious or automatic affective

responses and cognitive processing as well as consciously

choosing to take empathy-driven action. However, the extent

to which we can experience all three components, or the full

extent of empathy, when confronted by any given situation

varies greatly. This suggests that there is a dynamic nature

to empathy. Some aspects are experienced more than others

and in varying degrees by different people. This is due in


part to varying skill levels required for effective

cognitive processing as well as variation in the strength of

healthy neural pathways.

The experience of empathy is not perfectly linear,

although the model is described in a progressive, linear

fashion. However, if we try to define empathy without

including all three components, then we dilute the meaning

and power of the concept. Empathy from a holistic social

work perspective needs to include all three components.

Empathy is not only a condition, it is an action motivated

by affect and cognition. Empathic action requires that we

move beyond affective responses and cognitive processing

toward utilizing social work values and knowledge to inform

our action choice (Gerdes & Segal, 2009).

The Stages of Empathy

In addition Gutsell (2009) conducted a study about

Empathy consists of three different stages:


1. Emotional contagion,

2. Empathic concern

3. Empathic perspective taking

Gussel (2009) explained that emotional contagion of

negative emotions results in personal distress. This stage

is not altruistic. Instead, it is self focused; since the

negative feelings, elicited by the other, cannot be

distinguished from one’s own feelings. The observer feels

distressed but does not, or cannot, take the next step of

distancing him- or herself from these feelings. This self

centered empathy leads to the selfish motivation to

alleviate one’s own pain. One can ease one’s pain by either

reducing the distress of the other through helping, or by

leaving the distressing situation and turning one’s back to

the sufferer. However, at this stage, “real empathy”, or

what the lay person would consider to be empathy, is not yet

achieved.


We generally speak of empathy only when it involves

perspective-talking. Only when we feel with the other and

consequently feel for the other, and we understand the other

and his situation, we say that someone truly empathizes with

another. Hence, top down processes are involved in empathy.

The subject takes the object’s perspective and imagines

their mental state and situation to understand the emotions

the subject sensed from the object through emotional

contagion. Thus, the third and last stage of empathy is

empathic perspective taking – the cognitive process of

taking the other’s perspective plus empathic concern.

Empathic perspective taking can result in targeted helping,

which is helping adapted to the specific needs and goals of

the other (Gutsell, 2009).

Causes and Factors of Empathy

Prosocial behavior, such as helping and cooperating, is

a vital source of social harmony and good relationships.

Apparently, the other side of that coin is that prosocial

behavior drops off sharply when people think they may be


socially excluded from those harmonious relationships.

Exclusion manipulations caused large and significant

reductions in prosocial behavior. In a way, the empathy

findings hark back to our original theory, which was that

exclusion, would cause emotional distress, which in turn

would alter behavior. Rather than distress, however, social

exclusion appears to cause a temporary absence of emotion,

rendering the person relatively numb to both physical pain

and emotion. The shutting down of the emotional system may

enable the rejected person to avoid feeling terrible, just

as the analgesia after physical injury may allow the injured

person to finish dealing with a crisis or fight without

being sidetracked by intense pain. But the emotional

shutdown can constitute a kind of temporary social handicap,

not least because it prevents empathy. As empathy requires

one person to reproduce or simulate another person’s

emotions, the emotionally numb (excluded) person will be

relatively incapable of empathy (as cited in Gutsell, 2009).


Gordon (2003) stated that the behavioral consequences

of rejection do not depend on emotional distress directly

causing behavior. Instead, rejection may operate by

temporarily derailing the emotion system. Under normal

circumstances, emotion may operate as a tool for

interpersonal understanding. That is, people use their

emotions to connect with other people by simulating the

other person’s inner states, which causes them to care about

the person. The resulting improvement in understanding can

inform and motivate prosocial behavior, such as helping

those in need. Social exclusion apparently renders the

prosocial behavior tool temporarily useless, possibly

because going emotionally numb naturally protects the psyche

from intense, debilitating distress. Without empathic

emotion to understand the needs and suffering of others,

people lose the inclination to help. The mistake in our

original theory was to think of emotion as an exclusively

intrapsychic process of action control. The present findings

suggest that emotion’s function in promoting interpersonal

understanding is what matters for prosocial behavior.


Concept of Altruism

Curry, Smith, and Robinson (2009) contended that the

degree of altruism was potentially connected to the

perceived cost to the giver as evidenced in the following

transaction. Being altruistic means sacrificing. True

altruism was described as possibly being unattainable

because of the weak human condition. Every person induces

altruism because of personal reasons; models for altruistic

acts, witnessed from everyday experiences, religious tenets,

as a values system, reciprocity, career, and/or past

experiences. Altruism was also noted in acts of prosocial

interest and charitable giving is a weak form of altruism.

Altruistic behavior may also be manifested in one's career

because of the needs of the altruistic helper (e.g.,

personal satisfaction, financial gain, social value of the

career, need to feel needed). Altruistic acts should be

learned when you are still young because when you are older

or adult, it is hard to practice or be learned unless some


great disaster or some great life-altering experience

happens to you that changed you.

Duvarci and colleagues (2009) defined altruism as

“helping someone else without benefiting from it yourself”

(p.10). The altruism comes into a person’s mind to perform

an act without even thinking about the consequences or

acknowledging the possibility of gaining from it. True

altruism exists on rare occasions only in certain people and

that it is the most sincere act a person can perform. The

act itself can start out as being truly altruistic. It can

be a natural sincere action where the aspect of self-gain

does not even occur. However, if a person afterwards feels

uplifted and better about him-/herself, it then just reverts

to a simple altruistic act. An altruistic action may come

from different aspects of human nature. It can implicitly be

found in a person’s moral values, or due to the recognition

of emotions based on the past life experiences. A person’s

altruistic actions may be a result of childhood upbringing

and modeling.


Empathy and Altruism

According to Ting-Yuan Ho (2006), charitable givers

tend to have higher incomes, volunteer more, religious and

more educated. Income, religious activity, and volunteering

provide some predictive power, but ultimately charitable

giving is reliant on many other factors. Furthermore a

person giving a high percentage of their incomes to charity

can be praised for their generosity. In reality charities

are strictly concerned with the absolute the amount of

giving.

Smith (2006) stated that the four aspects of altruism

were examined: altruistic love, altruistic values,

altruistic behaviors, and empathy. Altruism is thought of as

dealing with both values/preferences and behaviors motivated

mainly out of a consideration for another’s need rather than

one’s own. Empathy is closely related to altruistic values,

but both empathy and altruistic values are only moderately,


positively associated with altruistic behaviors. Moreover,

they are better predictors of helping behaviors involving

that close without ties to the helper. Altruistic love is

less related to the other constructs primarily because of

this personal rather that general reference.

Hupfer and Taylor (2008) contended that blood donation

can be described as a prosocial behavior, and donors often

cite prosocial reasons such as altruism, empathy or social

responsibility for their willingness to donate. Maintaining

an adequate blood supply depends on people giving blood, a

behavior that can be described as prosocial. Prosocial

behaviors are acts that most people in society or in a

social group generally consider to be beneficial to others.

Most blood donors appear to have high levels of the primary

prosocial characteristics (altruism, empathy and social

responsibility) commonly thought to be the main motivators

for donation, but these factors do not appear to be the ones

most strongly related to donation frequency. Traditional

donor appeals based on these characteristics may need to be


supplemented by approaches that address practical concerns

like convenience, community safety, or personal benefit.

In addition to the study of Hupfer and Taylor, Fong

(2007) investigates the determinants of generosity in an

experiment on charity to real-life welfare recipients. It

tests the effects of various measures of unconditional

altruism and conditional or reciprocal altruism. People who

are self-reported unconditional altruists make offers that

are highly elastic with respect to the apparent worthiness

of the recipient. One interpretation of this is that self-

reported unconditional altruists have combined desires to

help others and to reciprocate. Unconditional altruism and

reciprocal altruism may not be independent values. This

refers to combination as empathic responsiveness.

Doug (2011) stated that concerned people respond

generously to local human needs, while the needs of the

extreme poor are neglected. The affluent do not contribute

more due to poorly managed empathy rather than indifference,


especially, the plight of the poor arouses anxiety and guilt

among the affluent, which deploy cognitive distortions that

protect them from these uncomfortable emotions.

Bierhoff and Rohnmann (2004) explained that

associations between prosocial behavior and personality are

to be understood primarily as a situation-speci c pro lefi fi

(e.g. dependent on ease of escape without helping).

Altruistic personality is possibly not at all altruistic but

might be the expression of ‘instrumental means to the

egoistic ultimate goal.

Manner (2007) contended that increased oneness will

increase helping. The source of altruistic motivation

demonstrates a significant zero-order relationship with

helping. The empathy-helping relationship is disappeared

when statistically controlling for the set of non-altruistic

motivation. Helping was functionally mediated by only non-

altruistic motivations and not by empathic concern. This

study sets stage of development of more integrative models


linking the functional relationships among perspective-

taking, oneness, empathy, other help-relevant affective

states and helping itself. Interactive effects of

perspective taking and oneness may be of great importance.

Burks, Youll and Durtschi (2012) examined the empathy-

altruism hypothesis. The results of the study supported

their hypothesis about the relationship of empathy and

altruism because there is positive and significant

association between altruism and empathy. It was found that

there is no significant association between altruism and

social desirability and also between social desirability and

empathy. It was found that there is small to medium

relationship in empathy in altruism in a clinical setting

and in helping behaviors social norms proved less

influential in this study in connection to how the

participants responded.

Relative strength of dispositional empathic

concern and a moral principle to care about others


associates helping behavior. Care–helping relationship is

stronger than the empathy–helping relationship for most

helping behaviors, and that the empathy–helping relationship

is mediated by the principle of care. That dispositional

empathic concern is mediated by the principle of care

requires new theoretical interpretations of the empathy–

helping relationship, and suggests new directions for

research on helping behavior (Hoffman, 2002).

The results show that although empathic concern is

associated with many of the helping behaviors, the principle

of care is more consistently associated with helping.

Considering empathic concern and care each in isolation from

the other, both empathic concern and care are associated

with large percentage increases (ten percent or higher) in

baseline probabilities of performing many helping behaviors.

However, the empathy–helping associations weaken after the

principle of care is partially out. In contrast, the care–

helping associations do not weaken much even after empathic

concern is partially out. These results are confirmed in the


structural equation models: the principle of care–helping

association is much stronger than the empathy–helping

association (Bekkers, 2006).

Andreone & Rao (2010) explained the pure incentives of

altruism. The importance of social component of giving and

assert the studying giving without considering communication

between given and recipients has the potential to overlook

many valuable insighter. They also introduces the study of

communication into an economics experiment and shows that

communication, especially the power of asking, greatly

influences feeling of empathy and pro-social behavior

According to (Preston and de Waal, 2002) that the

central evolutionary challenge for social group is uniting a

heterogeneous set of individuals towards common goals. One

means by which social groups form and endure is by endowing

group members with extraordinary prosocial proclivities,

such as in-group love, towards other group members .Here

examined the neural basis of extraordinary empathy and


altruistic motivation in African-American. In this results

indicate that empathy for in-group members is neutrally

distinct from empathy for humankind, more generally. People

showed greater response within anterior cingulated cortex

and bilateral insular when observing the suffering of

others, taken together that the findings reveal distinct

neural mechanisms of empathy and altruistic motivation in an

intergroup context and may serve as a foundation for future

research investigating the neural bases of intergroup

prosociality, more broadly construed.

Altruism to the Rich and Poor

Mayo and Tinsley (2009) explained that wealthy people

who are self-serving attributed are less likely to induce

altruistic behavior while those who are fundamental

attributed will be more involved in altruistic actions. The

wealthier a person is, the lesser he would tend to act

altruistically. In comparison to that, Taylor, Webb, and

Cameron (2007) explained that wealthy people have a large

community of altruistic people, especially those who are


charitable givers; just some of them still expect

reciprocity in terms of self-uplifting. Still, many wealthy

people are less like to act altruistically in reason that

they are outsized tax-payers and that it is more than enough

to help others.

According to Mattis and colleagues (2009) Poor people

behave altruistically in an effort to respond to the

emotional, material or physical needs of specific

individuals. Urban poor community has a great contribution

in inducing altruistic behaviors. They reasoned out that

high spirituality and religiosity of poor communities

attributes altruistic actions. In addition, familial

modeling and environment altruism witnessing result to a

person’s altruistic action. Since poor urban people often

experience altruistic acts from others, especially from

others, memories of having received altruism instill with

awe and gratitude that they were moved to reciprocate acts

of kindness. Poor people sometimes helped the specific

individuals or families who had helped them. However, as an


act of homage to their helpers, some individuals extended

care to people other than those who had helped them.

Piff, Kraus, Cote, Cheng and Keltner (2010) examined

how social class influences prosocial behavior. Lower class

people are more prosocial toward others than their upper

class counterparts. The lower class individuals were more

likely than upper class individuals to help the distressed

people. Feelings of compassion, rooted in a concern for

others’ welfare, underlie class-based differences in

prosocial behavior. Social class shapes people’s prosocial

tendencies and that people who have less do give more.

Relative to their upper class, lower class people exhibited

more generosity, more support for charity, more trust to

behavior toward a stranger, and more helping behavior toward

a person in distress. Despite their reduced resources and

inferior rank, lower class individuals are more willing than

their upper class counterparts to increase another’s

welfare, even when doing so is costly to them.


Volunteering and Benefits gained by Volunteers

Volunteering has been defined as an activity that

involves spending time unpaid, doing something that aims to

benefit the environment or individuals or groups other than,

or in addition to, close relatives. Volunteering is seen as

a means of engaging people in civic society. The benefits of

volunteering can be wide ranging including social capital,

social inclusion, health and well-being, and developing

skills (as cited in Brien, Townsend & Ebden, 2010).

There are several sophisticated studies that

demonstrate that volunteering contributes to improved well-

being outcomes for the older volunteer. Role theory offers a

useful perspective by suggesting that participation in

volunteer roles will increase well-being outcomes (role

enhancement), at least up to a point (role strain). Those

who volunteer have higher levels of well-being than those

who do not, and that there is a positive relationship

between the number of volunteers’ hours and well-being


outcomes, up until some point where the effects level off.

We hypothesize that those who perceive that their volunteer

work has a beneficial impact on others will have more

positive gain (Howell, Hinterlong, Rozario & Tang, 2003).

Meier and Stutzer, (2004) explained that volunteering

can positively affect individuals’ well-being due to various

motivational reasons. The different cannels can be roughly

divided into two groups: (1) People’s well-being increases

because they enjoy helping others per se. The reward is

internally due to an intrinsic motivation to care for others’

welfare; (2) People volunteer instrumentally in order to

receive a by-product of volunteer work. People do not enjoy

volunteering per se but their utility increases because they

receive an extrinsic reward from volunteering.

Howell and colleagues (2003) suggests that volunteering

positively affects late life well-being. It indicates that

increased volunteer hours are related to higher levels of

well-being. We found that volunteers who perceive more

benefit to other people from their work do not report higher


well-being outcomes. This study adds to a substantial body

of evidence that volunteering positively affects late-life

well-being. In fact, evidence suggests that occupying the

role versus not, that is, engagement versus no engagement,

is related to well-being. It supports the perspective that

volunteering is important in the larger context of

successful aging.

The same results were found in the study of Meier and

Stutzer (2004) wherein the volunteers are less prone to

depression, for elderly volunteers, a positive correlation

between volunteering and life satisfaction is found,

volunteers’ physical health is stronger as they grow older

and, ultimately, volunteers are found to have a lower risk

of early mortality. Helping others increases people’s

individual well-being. People who volunteer frequently are

more likely to report high life satisfaction than non-

volunteers. Volunteering is rewarding for the volunteers in

terms of higher life satisfaction.


Women appear to volunteer their time more often than

males. Women consistently outnumber male volunteers by a

ratio of nearly 3:1. The difference in volunteering between

the genders is widespread across all ages; however, when

considering active volunteers, both genders donate

comparable amounts of volunteer hours (Waters & Bortree,

2012). On the other hand, the study of Brien (2010) showed

that more men than women were volunteering in this sector

and those with higher socio-economic status were more likely

to volunteer in this sector. Despite the various

difficulties some of the volunteers faced their subjective

well-being appeared to be good. Volunteers, on average, felt

more interested, in control, calm, skilful, talkative and

satisfied after their day’s activity.

According to the study of Brien (2010), environmental

volunteering can be defined as “the engagement of volunteers

to achieve environmental gains”. Church refers to “practical

environmental action” such as conservation work while a

Volunteer Development Scotland report uses the term


“volunteering in the natural heritage” which it defines as

“activities which encourage and support the conservation and

improvement of, education and learning about, access to, and

enjoyment of the countryside, coastal waters and green

spaces around cities and towns”. More men than women were

volunteering in this sector, and those with higher socio-

economic status were more likely to volunteer in this

sector.

Understanding Volunteers Motivation

Motivation is a basic psychological process or a need

that activates a behavior and results from the interaction

between the individual and the environment. To enhance the

understanding of volunteer behavior is vital to identify

their fundamental motives to give their time and work to an

organization. In the previous work of (Ferreira et al. 2012)

identified four different motivations categories:

1. development and learning


2. altruism

3. career recognition

4. belonging and protection

Development and learning category includes motivations

related with the learning process, new perspectives and the

increase of experiences.

Altruism is a behavior that will benefit other, even

when this brings eventual sacrifices for the welfare of the

actor. Motives related to “help others” or the determination

of “make something worthwhile” are some examples of

motivations included in this category.

Belonging and protection contains motivations related

with social interaction, friendship, affection and love,

making new friends, meeting people and relationship network.

Career recognition means that volunteers are not

motivated by issues related to their career.


Satisfaction job plays an important role in voluntary

behavior, although there isn’t unanimity about the

dimensions that should be considered. (As cited in Ferrera

et al., 2012).

According to Bussell and Forbes (2012), it has been

said that volunteers are the most important group of

customers for a voluntary organization. Those needing the

organization’s services are plentiful but the supply of

volunteers is scarce.

Bussell and Forbes (2002), discovered some less obvious

reasons why people may volunteer including wanting to wear a

uniform, perks obtained, mixing with celebrities, health and

fitness, travel opportunities. The primary motivator for

many volunteers is the importance placed on certain values.

Volunteering allows the individual to act on his / her

underlying values and be his/ her true self. Volunteering

may give the individual the opportunity to express these


core values and beliefs or to pass them on to others. There

is a social-adjustive motive. People volunteer because

someone they value asks them to.

Empathy and Altruism that Leads to Volunteer Works

Milanovic (2012) argued that there are varying degrees

of volunteerism, but research has found some concrete

results pertaining to the connectedness of empathy and

volunteerism. Individuals who express high levels of

empathic concern have particularly high levels of helping

behavior. Empathy is an important contributor to prosocial

behavior, defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit

another with no goal other than to help fellow humans. It

thus appears that higher levels of empathy are correlated

with one’s likelihood of engaging in activities, such as

volunteering, that seek to aid other individuals without

material gain.


Singh et al. (2005) attempted to decipher the

difference between volunteer and non-volunteer retirees as

far as the role of psychosocial and altruistic factors are

concerned and what this difference would imply as far as

motivating other retirees to engage in the voluntary work

for the development of the Malaysian society. The

psychosocial dimension includes the environment, lifestyle,

personality and resources while altruism includes empathy,

reciprocity and spirituality. They revealed that there was

an important differentiation between the volunteers and non-

volunteers by looking at the effects of both psychosocial

and altruism further indicating that these volunteers were

more altruistic and whose psychosocial factors greatly

influenced the volunteers' propensity to render voluntary

service to the community.

Duvarci et al. (2009) investigates what the motivations

are for a young volunteer worker, engaging in voluntary

activities. In order to look into this matter, the project

contains various data, which includes theories about


altruism, egoism and moral as well as child development.

There are many hidden factors within altruism thus decided

to examine the underlying causes by studying human

development, and how a person’s upbringing plays a role and

how it influences positive behavior. Furthermore, it

examines how Red Barnethas adjusted to the young volunteers

changing behavior. It concludes on how various factors

influence the young volunteers into doing volunteer work.

Both altruistic and egoistic motivations can be reasons for

performing volunteer work. It also debates how parents and

secondary socializes can be hidden factors in the young

volunteers’ motivations. At last, it debates whether or not

true altruism can be present, and concludes that it is still

debatable.

Young people today prioritize self-interest and that

they are given free rein on different Matters. The

organization adjusts to fit the young people’s profile and

indirect demands and by doing this they have acquired more

and more volunteers. Your surroundings are the most


important factor in how one develop through life, and

thereby also on how a person choose to act in certain

situations. There are many different definitions of what

altruism is and the simple thought of helping someone, is

not considered altruistic. Throughout this project it have

not encountered a clear definition of true altruism, however

many theorists have philosophized on the subject. Finally,

true altruism is fascinating as it is a personal and

delicate topic, which is constantly debatable (Duvarci et

al., 2009).


Synthesis

The above related studies conducted by different

researchers are closely similar to the researchers work for

they, too, dealt in the concept of empathy and altruism

among rich and poor respondents.

However some of these studies show that people who are

self-reported unconditional altruists make offers that are

highly elastic with respect to the apparent worthiness of

the recipient. One interpretation of this is that self-

reported unconditional altruists have combined desires to

help others and to reciprocate; unconditional altruism and

reciprocal altruism may not be independent values. These

refer to combination as empathic responsiveness (Ting-Yuan

Ho, 2006; Fong, 2007; Andreone & Rao 2010).

Researchers of this study tells that if the rejected

person’s emotion system shuts down, as a temporary coping

mechanism, then he or she would be less able to share


another’s feelings, and that lack of empathy could well

translate into a reduction in prosocial behavior . In

contrast, sometimes empathy can lead to altruism but some

study shows that empathy can lead to personal distress that

alleviate one’s own pain. Other thing is that people

perceive altruism as sacrificing or offering oneself to a

suffering person without expecting anything in return.

(Gutsell, 2009; Gordon, 2003; Curry et al., 2009; Duvarci et

al., 2009; Twenge et al., 2007).

Empathy is an important contributor to prosocial

behavior and it appears that empathy are correlated with

one’s likelihood of engaging in activities, such as

volunteering, that seek to aid other individuals without

material gain (Milanovic, 2012). Thus, in the findings of

Singh et.al (2005) there was a significant difference

between the volunteers and non-volunteers by looking at the

effects of both psychosocial and altruism further indicating

that these volunteers were more altruistic and whose

psychosocial factors greatly influenced the volunteers'


propensity to render voluntary service to the community.

Apparently it showed that a lot of young people today

prioritize self-interest and that they are given free reign

on different Matters (Duvarci et al., 2009).

Howell et al. (2003) findings suggest that volunteering

positively affects late life well-being. Modeling is one

great factor why poor people tend to act altruistic

behavior. In comparing the rich and the poor, poor is more

altruistic than the rich. The poor is more willing to

perform an altruistic behavior to the distressed because the

poor may experienced the same situation or is more exposed

to altruistic acts (Mayo & Tinsley, 2009; Taylor et al.,

2007).


CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses how the study will be

conducted. It includes the research design, the

description and sampling of the respondents, research

scale, instrumentation, data collection and analysis.

Research Design

The researchers used qualitative design particularly

the phenomenological method of research. Meaning it was

based on the experience, thoughts, ideas, and perspective of

the respondents. This method enabled researcher to achieve

their goal to find out the empathic concern and altruistic

behavior of the rich and poor volunteer workers.


The researchers formulated ten (10) open ended

questions that were appropriate for face-to-face interview

to obtain the necessary details concerning about the

experience of the empathic concern and altruistic behavior

of rich and poor volunteer workers

Description of the Respondents and Research Locale

The respondents in the study were ten (10) selected

volunteer workers. The respondents compromised five (5) rich

and five (5) poor volunteer workers, whose age are between

25-65 years old, and with at least 5 years of being a

volunteer worker. The respondents were physically able and

retentive. The researcher visited three different

institutions for their data gathering.

The researcher’s 1st locale was Caritas Manila at 2002

Jesus St. Pandacan Manila. It was founded on October 1953 by

the late Archbishop of Manila Rufino Cardinal Santos

conceived it to be "a social welfare program with the


purpose of uplifting the spirit of the unfortunate members

of our community, to assist them in all their needs, and to

bring the help of God in their miseries and distress.

Caritas Manila is the lead church NPO operating in the

Philippines, with social services and integrated family

development programs for the poor and the vulnerable. Its

key intervention programs for poverty alleviation are in

education and economics to benefit its youth and family

partners. The researcher’s 2nd locale was Philippine

Foundation for Breast Care, Inc. (PFBCI) it was founded on

January 2001 it is located in the Breast Care Center of East

Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City. PFBCI is a non-stock,

non-profit, grassroots, volunteer-based organization,

committed and dedicated to fight breast cancer and save

lives. The researcher’s 3rd locale was New Village

Volunteer Fire Prevention Unit Inc. is a non-stock, non-

profit organization. It was founded last June 24, 2005 at

Gen. Tinio Street corner EDSA, Bagong Barrio, Caloocan,

Philippines. The New Village Volunteers is composed of

young and dynamic Filipino-Chinese individuals who volunteer

https://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&pc=FACEBK&mid=8100&where1=Gen.+Tinio+Street+corner+EDSA%2C+Bagong+Barrio%2C+Caloocan%2C+Philippines&FORM=FBKPL0&name=New+Village+Volunteer+Fire+Prevention+Unit%2C+Inc.&mkt=en-US

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their time and risk their lives without hesitation in order

to save lives and properties it was founded to enhance fire

protection services and instill discipline in its members

for the good of the organization and the lives and

properties of others in the community.

Sampling Technique

This study used purposive sampling technique. This

technique is considered to access a particular subset of

people. At the time of the study, the criteria of

researchers in selecting the respondents were as follows:

1. Residing in Metro Manila

2. 25-65 years old

3. male or female

4. Have been active in any volunteer work for at least 5 years

specifically in terms of services like in caring of


Orphanages, Non Profit Organizations, Fire fighter or

Doctors.

5. The rich volunteer worker must possess the following

characteristics:

5.1. Those that have regular income to provide their

basic needs and luxuries/wants of self and/or family.

5.2. Those who own properties exclusively more than 2

cars, lands and living in a very exclusive village.

6. The poor volunteer workers must possess the following

characteristics:

6.1. Those that have no regular income. Their money is

sufficient enough to provide the basic needs of self

and/or family.

6.2. Those who are informal settlers. They do not own a

house or just renting somewhere in a slum area.

Given the criteria that make up the respondents,

purposive sampling method is most suitable for the study.


Research Instrument

In this study, the researcher used descriptions. The

researchers provided a Letter of Participation (Liham ng

Pakikilahok) that would determine the purpose of the study,

Informed Consent (Liham ng Pag sangayon) that qualifies the

respondents participation in the study. The Personal Data

Sheet is used to gather demographic information from the

respondents and Guide Questions (Mga Gabay ng Katanungan) to

serve as a steer in the interview process.

A semi structured interview was done to better express

the thoughts and experience of the respondents. A voice

recorder was used to ensure that the gathered information

will be documented appropriately.

Data Gathering Procedures

The following steps were undertaken in conducting this study.


1. The researchers asked permission from the Program Head of

the Psychology Department of Far Eastern University and also

to the administrators of the Caritas Manila, New Village

Fire Fighter Volunteer, Philippine Breast Care Organization

to conduct the study on empathy and altruism of selected

rich and poor volunteer worker.

2. The researchers selected the respondents through purposive

sampling. Once the respondents agree to participate, a

Letter of Consent and a Letter of Participation is provided

to the respondents. Assurance was given concerning

confidentiality and right to drop out of the respondent from

the study.

3. Researchers asked the respondents about their most

convenient time and location for the

interview.

4. The researchers executed the interview in the participant’s

convenient time and comfortable place.


5. Before the interview begun, the respondents were asked to

fill out a Personal Data Sheet for their personal

information and to sign the inform consent.

6. The researchers used the interview guide questions during

the interview. During the interview, researchers recorded

their answers using voice recorder for the researchers’ data

gathering purposes.

7. The recorded responses and data gathered were transcribed by

the researchers

8. After the researcher had been transcribed and analyze the

record responses of the participants, they went back to the

different institution to clarify some statements that are

not clear.

9. The researcher asked the respondents to sign the “liham ng

pagpapatotoo”


10. The researcher used their analyze data from the

responses of the pervious intake interview to validate and

clarify their responses. During the interview the

researchers recorded their answers using voice record

11. The recorded responses and data gathered were

transcribed by the researchers for thematic analysis.


Data Analysis


CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents the data gathered by the

researchers. The data were extensively analyzed and

classified into themes. The respondents’ views and answers

were carefully quoted according to the sequence of the

research questions.

SOP 1: What is volunteer work for rich and poor volunteer

workers?

Theme 1: No External Rewards (Walang hinihintay na kapalit)

A person who engages in any kind of volunteer acts does

not ask anything in exchange for they know the meaning of


helping out. Imposing the value of helping, in doing

volunteer activities the external rewards are not being

implied. Volunteer workers help people in need with their

own free will. The person will not consider the idea of

gaining any benefits in doing the act.

Pag sinabi mong volunteer walang hinihintay nakapalit talaga (Respondent 6, 34 years old,Male, Rich, Volunteer for 22 years)

Pag-gawa ng isang bagay makakatulong ka, oo, nahindi ka naman nanghihingi ng anumang kapalit.(Respondent 8, 61 years old, Female, Rich,Volunteer for 7 years)

Masarap pala tumulong. Masarap tumulong ngwalang kapalit. (Respondent 10, 56 years old,Female, Rich, Volunteer for 6 years)

Walang inaantay na kahit anong kapalit… yun.Kelangan serbisyo talaga. (Respondent 9, 53years old, Female, Rich, Volunteer for 14 year)

Para sa akin, yung mga katulad kong volunteertalagang kahit saan siguro tayo makarating, silayung parang kahit walang bayad magtyaga langbasta makatulong. (Respondent 5, 47 years old,Male, Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

Para sa akin, hindi ako naghahangad ng kapaliteh. Kung may ibibigay salamat, kung wala salamatna din pero hindi talaga ako umaaasa ng kapalit.(Respondent 3, 46 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 10 years)

Pag sinabi mong volunteer, yan yung mga klase ngtao na hindi nagpapabayd na walang conditionskumbaga. (Respondent 2, 55 years old, Female,Poor, Volunteer for 8 years)


Yun walang inaantay ng kapalit ung gawa ka langng gawa. (Respondent 4, 23 years old, Male,Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

According to Fong (2007), people help regard on the

characteristics or intentions of the recipients without any

cost to themselves. Volunteer might receive internal rewards

as a direct result of their activities and because they like

to “help others” do not expect other rewards (materials)

(Ferreira et al 2012).


Theme 2: Intentional Voluntary (Kusang Loob na Pagtulong)

It is in human nature that when a person witnesses an

individual who is suffering, one will do an immediate action

to help. People are known to be culturally sensitive of

others around them that lead in helping other people in

distress. The volunteer workers do not hesitate to give help

for they know the value of helping. It is in the person’s

free will that engaging in volunteer activities must be

within his own decision and being coerced by others.

Nagkukusang loob tayo pag sinabi mong volunteerka. (Respondent 6, 34 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 22 years)

Kusang loob na pagtulong at pagtawag sanangangailangan. (Respondent 9, 53 years old,Female, Poor, Volunteer for 14 years)

Pag sinabi mo volunteer work, ang nasa isip koagad non is kusang loob kong pagtulong.(Respondent 2, 55 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

Kase ang volunteer work ay isang gawain naginagawa mo ng kusa. (Respondent 3, 46 yearsold, Female, Rich, Volunteer for 10 years)


According to Leventhal (2009), the concept of free will

is found in most definitions of volunteering but not in the

definitions of altruism. In every volunteer action, a person

has the free will when helping others. Moreover, as Chou

(1998) studied altruistic behavior, he was able to define it

as voluntary and intentional behavior that benefits others

and that it is not motivated by the expectation of external

rewards or avoidance of externally produced punishments.

Eisenberg and Miller explained that altruistic helping is a

voluntary action and is intended to benefit another person

that is not being performed due to the expectation of

receiving external rewards or avoiding external punishments

or aversive reactions (as cited in Oswald, 1996).

Themes 3: Satisfaction (Kasiyahan)

Helping a person makes ones heart overwhelmed. To feel

that the person being helped has overcome the sufferings in

life also gives a volunteer a sense of contentment.


Volunteer workers find happiness and fulfillment when they

are helping the people who are in need. Engaging in

volunteer acts made a person uplifted. Those who have get

involved in volunteer acts do not expect any kind of reward,

especially material things, in doing volunteer activities

still they experience unanticipated satisfaction deep inside

their hearts.

Isang volunteer payak lang yan e. Simple, paratinasa isip mo makatulong ka. Yung maibibigay moyung best para sa kanila kasi napakasaraptumulong. Masaya syempre. Masaya. Minsan sabi kopa nga, lord di ko kailangan ng ano yung ano ematerial na ibigay sakin nung mga natulungannamin. (Respondent 1, 60 years old, Female,Poor, Volunteer for 8 years)

Unang una na nga nakakatulong tayo sa ibang tao,ahh… magaan sa kalooban mo, kasi hindi langnakakatulong ka, hindi parang bawat isang ahhh…Anong tawag dun? Isang katulad ng pag bibigay ngtulong sa kanila. Talagang imbis na maiyak ka,talagang yung puso mo punong puno dahil sapagtulong mo sa ibang tao. (Respondent 5, 47years old, Male, Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

Hindi mo maexplain. Masaya na masarap na ewan.Basta uplifted ka. Hindi, hindi matutumbasan ngkahit ano mang salapi. (Respondent 3, 46 yearsold, Female, Poor, Volunteer for 10 years)

Masarap tumulong sa mahihirap lalo na kapagtumutugon sila. Masaya ako kapag nakakatulongako kahit walang kapalit. Masaya ako. Masaraptumulong sa mahihirap lalo na kapag tumutugonsila. (Respondent 9, 53 years old, Female, Rich,Volunteer for 14 years)


Masaya. Parang isang malaking biyaya na nakagawatayo na kahit na maliit ng bagay sa ating kapwadb. Kasi dapat may feelings, kasi yung ginagawamo so in doing volunteer works nag-kakaroon akong parang fulfillment. Pag sinabi mongvolunteer work maraming aspects so, and I findfulfillment. (Respondent 8, 61 years old,Female, Rich, Volunteer for 7 years)Yung pasyente mo nagamot mo then nagpasalamat.Yun pinakamalaking fulfillment sa volunteerwork. (Respondent 7, 42 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 15 years)

Masaya. Parang ano... ahh… parang kung makikitamo lahat ng volunteers na nag eenjoy.(Respondent 10, 56 years old, Female, Rich,Volunteer for 6 years) Syempre Masaya. Magaaan sa pakiramdam.(Respondent 6, 34 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 22 years)

Volunteering is presented as a meaningful way to spend

time and gain personal satisfaction while also making a

contribution to their communities and to societies. In doing

volunteer activities, one can gain satisfaction which boost

oneself (Chambre, 2008). Altruistic behaviors are modestly

associated with more excitement and more overall happiness

to a person. It gives pleasure in ones emotional strength

that leads to the person’s happiness in doing such behavior

(Smith, 2006). In relation to the study of Smith, Ferreira

and colleagues (2012) elucidate that in voluntary fields,


job satisfaction plays a big role in engaging to voluntary

activities for it gives satisfaction to the volunteer

worker.


Theme 4: Time Management and Effort (Pagbabahagi ng oras at

Pagsisikap)

In doing volunteer works, a person really allocates

time for it. Right management of time in volunteering and

for other priorities in life must be managed carefully to

perform well in all the duties a person is being responsible

of. Volunteer workers find ways to contribute the needs or

reliefs of the survivors and devote necessary time. If you

cannot devote into helping do not say that you can.

Volunteer works is parang aside from dailyactivities that you’re doing, nageextend ka ngextra hour, extra effort to reach out. Para saakin, ayun lan ang feeling ko that is volunteerwork na makakatulong ka, hindi lanyungnageextend ka ng time, hindi ka lang nageextendng, magshare ng effort kundi yung sa pag-gawa ngisang bagay makakatulong ka. (Respondent 8, 61years old, Female, Rich, Volunteer for 7 years)

Ang isang volunteer kasi kailangan meron kangcertain time, may time management kang susundinkasi dapat may time ka sa family mo, may time kasa pagtratrabaho mo, sa pag earn mo ng incomedapat ano yun… Hati-hati. (Respondent 2, 55years old, Female, Poor, Volunteer for 8 years)

Hindi ko sya pisikalna mahawakan, gagawa ako ngparaan para yung tulong ko makaabot sa kanila.(Respondent 3, 46 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 10 years)


Volunteering means any activity in which time is given

freely to benefit another person, group, or organization. It

is not coerced or ordered by others but it is the person’s

responsibility to manage and use the time efficiently.

Community volunteers were also willing to put in extra

efforts to ensure that the activities are carried out

successfully and willingness to remain in the organization

(Thomas et al., 2011).

SOP 2: What are the experience of empathy and altruism among

selected rich and poor volunteer workers?

Empathy

Theme 1: Affective Sharing (Maramdamin sa Pagbabahagi)

Volunteer workers feel the helplessness of the person

seeking for help. A person’s empathic perspective taking

were sometimes came from the experiences of the past. The

person may have reminisced and able to relate on the


incident in the past based on the situation where the other

person is currently experiencing. The agony of the person

who is need melt the heart of the volunteer workers base on

their stories.

Kasi I came from a poor family kaya alam ko yungpakiramdam. (Respondent 8, 61 years old,Female,Rich, Volunteer 7 years)

So naiiyak ako in the sense na mahal padin akong diyos kasi hindi ako yun nandon sakalalagayan nya db? mas sila nakakaawa kesasakin so may blessed padin ako na kahit mahirapako nakatulong ako sa kanila naging instrumentoako para makatulong sa kanila na kahit ganonlang sitwasyon ko sa buhay. Kasi naranasan ko nadin na ma demolish yung bahay namin at walangmapuntahan. (Respondent 9, 53 years old, Female,Rich, Volunteer for 14 years)

Tinutulungan ko dahil nararamdaman ko yungnararamdaman ng taong yun lalo na kapag naexperience niyo. (Respondent 3, 46 years old,Female, Poor, Volunteer for 10 years)

Kasi bilang isang mahirap yun lang dinnararamdaman ng tao nararamdaman ko rin.(Respondent 1, 60 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

Para sa akin kasi, naranasan ko na din yun,masakit din kasi. Syempre sa panahon natinngayon maraming walang makain, so parasakin yung mga ganyang bagay na hirap nahirap parang nakikita ko yung ganyang tao.Nakakaiyak kasi. (Respondent 5, 47 years old,Male, Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

Nararamdaman mo yung nararamdaman nung isangtaong yun. Paano yung biktima? Kung paano kung


ako yung ganon? Ikaw din mismo, nahihirapan kakasi ilalagay mo yung sarili mo sa kanya eh.Kaya nahihirapan ka din. (Respondent 2, 55 yearsold, Female, Poor, Volunteers for 8 years)

Empathy is an act of perceiving, understanding,

experiencing and responding to the emotional state and ideas

of another person. It is the ability to imagine what another

person is feeling and thinking. As we age, we develop the

ability to take on other roles and imagine the feelings of

others. To be empathic is to experience the affect, process

it, and then take appropriate, effective, and empathy-driven

action. Being empathic means understanding the situation of

others and taking action in response to the interpretation

of the situation (Segal, 2009). According to Feshbach,

empathy does not only include the cognitive ability to take

the perspective of another but it is also the ability to

experience emotions of the person in distress. It lets a

person feel the suffering of the other and apply it in the

person’ situation (As cited in Kristeller & Johnson 2005).

In perceiving empathy, a person’s affective response


connects from apprehension and understanding of another’s

emotional state or condition. The person’s feelings would be

expected to be the same with the feelings of the other in

distress. The initial emotion of empathy leads to sympathy

which was described as a sorrow or concern for the

distressed or needy person (Einoff, 2008)

Altruism

Theme 1: Connectedness to Spirituality

One reason of a volunteer worker in doing good acts to

others is the vow to God. A prayer has been included as a

part of helping other people especially those who are

distressed. Prayer can be offered when a person who wants to

help does not have any resources to give. Volunteer workers

stated that their altruism is influenced by their

spirituality. The helper may feel a sense of transcendent

connectedness with others that promotes the altruistic


behavior. We are all known to be a religious country so

people are well up grown to be altruistic base on their

values. For other volunteer workers, being altruistic means

serving other and not yourself. Being an altruistic person

serves also as an offer to the high above.

Pangako ko sa Diyos na magvovolunteer ako lalona sa walang pera. (Respondent 7, 42 years old,Male, Rich, Volunteer for 15 years)

Ako pag ala akong material na maibibigay angibinibigay ko sa kanila prayer. Pagpapalakas ngloob. Lakasan niy loob niyo. Support baspiritual. Diba? At least ang spiritualnatutulungan mo sila na ipagdasal. (Respondent1, 60 years old, Female, Poor, Volunteer for 8years)

Tumutulong ako spirituality, upang mapakilala sakanila na may Diyos. (Respondent 3, 46 yearsold, Female, Poor, Volunteer for 10 years)

Ito talaga yung natutunan ko. Laging ineexpalinsa amin nag vovolunteer ka as self leader. Angaim mo is to serve other not yourself, kundi toserve other, tapos ang pinaka mo si Jesus.(Respondent 10, 56 years old, Female, Rich,Volunteer for 6 years)

In the study of Chambre (2008), he explained that using

religious service attendance as a rough alternative measure

for the religious values adds motivation in ones helping

behavior. Religious doctrine and faith are factors that


motivated selfless behaviors. Religious people induce

altruistic actions because of reliance to God (Mattis,

2009). For many, the sense of duty and responsibility to a

particular community is the primary motivation and sometimes

this configuration has shapes strongly influenced by

religious traditions (Ferreira et al 2012). Helping is more

frequent among the religious and the religiously involved

people (Smith, 2006).

Theme 2: Automatic Response of the Volunteer Workers (Tulong Agad)

Empathic person were able to feel the suffering of

others and from that capability to empathize they were bound

to take action. When volunteer workers got empathic about

the situation of the person in need, they took immediate

action to induce altruistic behavior into the person in

need.


Wala ng tanong tanong basta tulong agad.(Respondent 5, 47 years old, Male,Poor,Volunteer for 5 years)

Ang objective talaga naming is to respond toemergency so kapag may namonitor kami sa radiona may sunog sa isang location ahh lalabas kamikahit saan man yan basta kayang abutin.(Respondent 6, 34 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 22 years)

Duvarci and colleagues (2009) explained that altruism

comes into a person’s mind to perform an act without even

thinking about the consequences or acknowledging the

possibility of gaining profit from the action.

Theme 3: Regardless of Socio-Economic Status ( Hindi alintana ang estado

sa buhay)

The volunteer workers perceived that social status is

not a hindrance in performing voluntary activities. A person

can make a way in performing altruistic behavior toward

people who are suffering. Social status cannot be used as an

excuse not to be an altruistic person.


Rich people are more privilege when being involve in

volunteering, but the lack of money does not mean a person

cannot do anything to get involve in volunteer works. People

who are willing to do volunteer action do not need to invest

monetary contribution instead personal skill, knowledge,

time and effort is necessary. Therefore, being financial

incapable is not a hindrance in being an altruistic person.

Mayaman o mahirap may kakayanan kangmagvolunteer o tumulong sa kapwa mo. (Respondent3, 46 years old, Female, Poor, Volunteer for 10years)

Hindi hadlang, kahit wala kang pera pwede kanamang tumulong. (Respondent 4, 23 years old,Male, Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

Lahat naman tayo may kakulangan db? Kumbaga nga,para tayong kadena. Kung ano yung kakulangan ko,meron ka. Tapos kung ano yung kakulangan mo,meron ako.aya hindi tayo pwedeng sabihin monghindi ako pwede mag volunteer kasi kulang ako.(Respondent 2, 55 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

Hindi mo kailangan ng pera para makatulong.Dapat walang hadlang ang economic status kasitumtulong ka eh. (Respondent 7, 42 years old,Male, Rich, Volunteer for 15 years)

Hindi naman although kailangan mo kasi kung walaka sapat na pera hirap ka, pero may mga time namay mga volunteers naman. Hindi naman kasi


kailangan ng mayaman ka para makatulong ka.Hindi naman pera kailangan kundi serbisyo mo.Sabi nga, wlang mahirap na hindi kaya tumulongat walang mayaman na hindi kailangan ng tulongdiba? So hindi. Hindi issue kailangan mayamanka may pera ka. Hindi ehh. (Respondent 10, 56years old, Female, Rich Volunteer for 6 years)

Hindi sinasabi kung mayaman ka or hindi, usuallylamang lang yun may pera saka yung malakas yungincome nakakatulong sila, and for those na medyo, simpleng, meron kaming mga tricycle boys langparang ganon, hindi naman naming silanirerequired but they can extend their effortto man power parang ganon , pero parepareholang, parepareho all walks of ano. (Respondent6, 34 years old, Male,Rich,Volunteer for 22years)

Hindi ako naniniwala na kapag ikaw ay mahirap,pag ikaw ay walang pera hindi kana pwedetumulong. (Respondent 8, 61 years old, Female,Rich, Volunteer for 7 years)

According to Smith (2006), income is unrelated to

empathy and altruism. He further stated that the

socioeconomic status does not really make a difference when

it comes to altruism because regardless of the status of the

person they are still manifesting altruism. Furthermore,

Wang (2013) explained that people in upper socioeconomic

class and lower socioeconomic class both induce altruistic

behavior. People always tend to be altruistic when they feel

empathic concern for the distressed people.


Theme 4: Expectation Differences (Inaasahang kapalit)

When doing altruistic action toward the people in need,

rich volunteer workers look forward more on the results how

the person being helped respond to the aid offered to them.

The rich volunteer workers anticipate that the helped gives

importance to the effort of the volunteer workers and how

they will overcome their suffering. They look forward on how

to strengthen the way of living of the person involved. On

the other hand, poor volunteer workers think likely more on

the spiritual blessing from God. Whatever the person does

and whatever happens while doing altruistic deeds, poor

volunteers perceived that God is just behind us watching. He

is the one to reward a person for his altruistic behavior.

Siguro sa mga tinulungan, magkaroon naman silang posibilidad na tumugon naman sila. Sanamagkaroon ng pagbabago sa kanilang buhay”(Respondent 9, 53 years old, Female, Rich,Volunteer for 14 years)

Yung natulungan mo siya hoping na sana yungnagawa mong tulong sa kanya eh magiginginstrument kung paano siya lalago as a person


and maisip niya… ahh someday yung ginawa sakanya gawin niya sa iba. (Respondent 8, 61 yearsold, Female, Rich, Volunteer for 7 years)

Kapag kailangan tinutulungan ko siya susundinniya kung ano sinabi sa kanya. (Respondent 10,56 years old, Female, Rich, Volunteer for 6years)

Kay lord lang. Dahil nakatulong ka, kung meronka man ineexpect in return kay lord lang.(Respondent 2, 55 years old, Female,Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

Nag vovolunteer ako kase gusto ko sa langit akopupunta. (Respondent 3, 46 years old,Female,Poor, Volunteer for 10 years)

Monroe elucidates that altruism is a helping action

that does not entail any expectation of reciprocation (As

cited in Kristeller & Johnson, 2005). In relation to that,

Haski-Leventhal (2009) explained that there is a possibility

that people may induce altruism because they do care for the

humankind and that altruism is also one at their core

values. According to Trivers, individuals sometimes act

benevolently toward others in the expectation of a

reciprocal act of kindness in the future (as cited in Vugt &

Van Lange)


Theme 5: Situation Confirmation (Kasiguraduhan bago tumulong)

Different people have different perspective in showing

altruistic behavior to others. Some people easily trust

others but some are doubtful due to their past experiences

of being taken advantage of. Rich volunteer workers seek for

an assurance before they lend a help. Volunteer workers make

sure and feel the sincerity of the person who is in need of

help. Furthermore, poor people immediately act

altruistically to the distressed others without any

hesitations or thinking that they were being taken

advantage.

Kunwari may pera ka, hindi mo naman ibibigaylahat kasi kalokohan naman yun. (Respondent 7,42 years old, Male, Rich, Volunteer for 15years)

Dapat silipin din sila kung dapat ba silatulungan” (Respondent 9, 53 years old, Female,Rich, Volunteer for 14 years)

Minsan hindi natin sila matulungan kasi alamnatin na pag tinulungan natin itong isa mamayamarami na sila then lahat susugod sayo. Kayaminsan you choose not to help na lng muna. Nextn lng pag ano kaya mo na lang parang maawa ka nalang dahil nakonsensya ka hindi mo natulungan.


(Respondent 6, 34 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 22 years)

Wala ng tanong tanong basta tulong agad. Akokasi yung taong maunawain sa kapwa, basta pagkailangan mo hindi na kita tatanungin ohuhusgahan kung ano man yung pangangailangan mo.(Respondent 5, 47 years old, Male, Volunteer for5 years)

Kahit anong pang balakid talaga tutulong ako.(Respondent 1, 60 years old, Female, Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

According Piff and colleagues (2010) lower class people

exhibited more generosity, more support for charity, more

trust behavior toward a stranger, and more helping behavior

toward a person in distress than their upper class

counterparts. Despite their reduced resources and

subordinate rank, lower class individuals are more willing

than their upper class counterpart to increase another’s

welfare, even when doing so is costly to the self. In

addition, Kempker L. B. (2006) People who have used to do

altruistic actions more often, the act will be habitual for

the person. They help others in need without any hesitation.


Theme 6: Attitude towards Altruism ( Kakayahan patungo sa

kabutihang loob)

People have different ways of showing altruism. Being

involved in altruistic activities sometimes depends on the

needs of the person who is suffering or the time of the

volunteer worker. Rich volunteer workers shows altruistic

action depending on what they can give and do to the

distressed person. They make sure to help the person but

they prioritize first their own needs in life while the poor

volunteer workers extend their hand on helping without

thinking about their situation. Even if the volunteer

workers have limited resources or financial capacity, they

still find ways to induce altruistic act. There was a time

that a poor volunteer worker was willing to give what she

has just to be able to lessen the suffering of the others.

Syempre kung may maitutulong ka edi itulong,pero tandaan mo kahit gusto mo tulungan yung alehindi naman lahat magagawa eh. Kailangan mo dinisipin sa sarili mo may pamilya ka din.


(Respondent 7, 42 years old, M, Rich, Volunteerfor 15 years)

Basta kaya mo tumulong. Kasi kagaya akoestudyante ako dati. May sunog, namomonitor ko.Gusto ko maging part ng effort na mag rescue ortumulong nga, ang problema nag aaral ka. Kayaminsan you choose not to help nalang muna. Nexttime nalang pag ano, kaya mo nalang parang maawaka nalang dahil nakunsensya ka dahil di monatulungan. (Respondent 6, 34 years old, Maale,Rich, Volunteer for 22 years)

Kasi ah, sa kagaya namin, ako, frankly speakinghindi din naman ako well off kaya lang yun bangano ba ang pwede kong gawin kasi nga nasanayako. Kung ano nalang meron ka kung ano lang yungkaya mo. Pasensya kana eto na lang yung kaya kopag ano ahh, hanap na lang tayo ng matatawag kopa na makakadagdag jan sa capacity mo kasi islimited. (Respondent 8, 61 years old, Female,Rich, Volunteer for 7 years)

Hindi ko sya pisikal mahawakan gagawa ako ngparaan para yung tulong ko makaabot sa kanila(Respondent 3, 46 years old F, Poor,10 years ofbeing a volunteer)

Gagawa ako ng ibang paraan ipupush paramatulungan yun taong yun. (Respondent 4, 23years old, Male, Poor, Volunteer for 5 years)

Isusubo mo nalang ibibigay mo padin sa iba diba?(Respondent 1, 60 years old, Female,Poor,Volunteer for 8 years)

Lower class individuals induce altruistic behavior more

than their upper class counterparts. Low class people show

more generosity on charitable support, more trust behavior

and more helping behavior to the people in need. They are


more inclined to increase other person’s welfare even though

it will be costly to them. The upper class individuals

prioritizes more their own welfare or before acting

altruistically while the lower class individuals act

immediately induce altruism to the people in distress (Piff

et. al. 2010). Who helps depend heavily on the nature of the

help required (Smith, 2006).

Theme 7: Career Related (Kaugnayan ng pagtulong sa trabaho)

Volunteer workers show altruism because it was part of

their profession. Being exposed in empathic situations where

a person’s profession is involved stimulates a person of

being more altruistic.

Yung profession kasi namin medyo malapit saganyang klasing work. Hindi mo kailangan nggrupo para makagawa ka ng isang volunteer work.yung nagiging desisyon ko kasi, ako angpinagpala so isshare ko lang ang pagpapala ko.”(Respondent 7, 42 years old, Male, Rich,Volunteer for 15 years)


Muthuveloo and Rose explained that volunteers’

commitment to their organizational activity was shaped by

instrumental attitude such as the appropriateness of the

activities to them, their keen interest in the activity,

their skills and knowledge in a particular activity and

their willingness to put extra effort in the activities that

get involved (as cited in Moorthy et al., 2011).

Conceptual Model

RichAndPoor

Volunteer

Worker

Volunteer WorkExperiences

Empathy Altruism No external reward (

Intentional volunteer

Satisfaction

Time managementand effort

Affectivesharing

Connectedness tospirituality

Automatic response of volunteer worker

Regardless of socio-economicstatus

Expectation Differences

Situation Confirmation

Attitude towards altruism


Career Related Volunteer

Table 1. The researchers formulated the following themes in

order to provide answers to the research questions in

this study.

Based on this model the rich and poor volunteer workers

have a concept of volunteer work. Their concept of volunteer

work has the themes of no external reward, intentional

voluntary, satisfaction, and time management & effort. in

empathy the theme in similarity is affective sharing. The

themes in altruism in terms of similarities are

connectedness to spirituality, automatic response of the

volunteer workers, socio economic status, while the themes

on their differences are expectation differences, situation

confirmation, attitude toward altruism and career related

volunteerism.

The table illustrates that the volunteer workers help

people in need with their own free will. They are the person


who will not consider the idea of gaining any benefits in

doing the act; they do not hesitate to help. Also this

table illustrates the similarities and differences of the

rich and poor volunteer workers in empathy and altruism.

The similarities of rich and poor volunteer workers in

empathy both respondents feel the pain of the person’s

suffering and they relate to the situation of the person who

is in need for they’ve been to the same situation before.

In terms of altruism rich and poor volunteer workers are

influence by their spiritually, rich and poor volunteer

workers feel a sense of transcendent connectedness with

others that promotes their altruistic behavior. When

volunteer workers got empathize they took immediate action

to induce altruistic behavior into the person in need. While

the rich and poor volunteer workers do not have difference

in showing empathy, but the respondents only vary in

altruism, rich volunteer workers seek assurance before

taking an action, they help depending on what they can give

and do before they lend a help. Moreover poor volunteer

workers expect more on spiritual blessing from God and they


respond or act without any hesitations. In spite of the

financial insufficient of poor volunteer workers still have

the courage to help someone who is in need or suffering.


CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, SYNTHESIS, INSIGHTS AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter presents the summary, synthesis,

researcher’s insights including and findings of the study as

well as recommendations that could possibly give improvement

to the study of the future researchers. This study aimed to

determine the similarities and differences in empathy and

altruism of selected rich and poor volunteer workers. After

the data had been collated, the researchers determined the

similarities differences considering they come from opposite

socioeconomic status.


Summary

The study was supported by 2 theories: the Empathy-

Altruism Hypothesis by Batson (2011) and the Attachment

Theory by Bowlby (2005). These theories emphasized and gave

precision to the situations that arise when doing a

volunteer work. These theories are also essential for

justification of the behavior of rich and poor on

understanding volunteerism.

The study consisted of ten (10) respondents around

Metro Manila from the three (3) institutions: the Philippine

Foundation for Breast Care Inc., New Village Volunteer Fire

Prevention Unit Inc. and Caritas Manila. The respondents are

composed of five (5) rich and five (5) poor volunteer

workers, whose age are between 25 to 65 years old, and with

at least five (5) years of being a volunteer worker.

In this study the researchers used qualitative design

specifically phenomenological method. The researchers

created ten (10) open - ended questions and were validated

by professional that was used for the semi-structured


interviews. After the interviews the responses were

transcribed, collated, analyzed and categorized into themes.

The researcher’s interpret the data through thematic

analysis.

This study answered the following questions:

1. What is volunteer work for rich and poor volunteer

workers?

2. What are the similarities of rich and poor volunteer

workers in terms of

2.1. empathy

2.2. altruism

3. What are the differences of rich and poor volunteer

workers in terms of

3.1. empathy

3.2. altruism


Summary of Findings

This presents findings of the study that were collated

and analyzed. The findings are as follows:

Finding 1. The volunteer workers help people in need with

their own free will. They do not expect any kind of reward,

especially material things. In doing volunteer activities

still they experience unanticipated satisfaction deep inside

their hearts. Both the rich and the poor volunteer workers

do not consider the idea of gaining any benefits in doing

the act. They do not hesitate to help someone who is in

need. However doing volunteer work makes the respondents

finds happiness and fulfillment. The respondents have an

interest in doing volunteer work so they find ways to

contribute the needs or reliefs of the survivors and they do

devote necessary time to it.

Finding 2. As for the similarities of rich and poor

volunteer workers, in terms of empathy both rich and poor


volunteer workers feel the pain of the person’s suffering

and they can relate to the situation of the person who is in

need for they’ve been to the same situation before. They can

also recall and relate on their past base on the situation

of the person. The unhappiness of the person who is in need

soften the heart of the volunteer workers. Throughout the

interview, they share their experience in life they became

emotional. In terms of altruism the rich and poor

respondents are influenced by their spirituality. Moreover,

the volunteer workers do not perceive that financial

incapacity as a hindrance to be a volunteer worker. In

addition Social status is not a reason not to help people in

distress. However they stated that they can devote their

time and effort just to help others.

Finding 3. The rich and poor volunteer workers do not have

any differences in showing empathy but both respondents have

dissimilarities in terms of altruism. The rich volunteer

workers expect more on the results of how people they

respond to the help offered to them. They look forward on


how to strengthen the way of living of the person involved.

Rich volunteer workers seek for an assurance before they

help someone who is in need. They tend to be sure and feel

the sincerity of the person. But rather they give more time

on their priorities in life before providing help to other

people. When volunteer workers got empathic about the

situation of the person in need, they took immediate action

to induce altruistic behavior into the person in need. Rich

volunteer workers’ altruistic behavior are developed though

profession. On the other hand, poor volunteer workers think

likely to have spiritual assistance from God when doing

altruistic actions. Whatever the person does and whatever

happens while doing altruistic deeds, poor volunteers

perceived that God is watching them. They tend to help

without thinking about their situations despite of limited

resources they still find ways to induce altruistic act.

Synthesis


For the first research questions of this study, the

researchers assumed that volunteer work for rich people is

helping people who are in need. Some rich volunteers apply

their professions in doing volunteer works while volunteer

work for poor people prefer to do volunteer work by spending

more time and efforts. The respondent’s responses were

affirmed that volunteer work for rich and poor volunteer

workers was helping people in need. Rich volunteer do

volunteer works prior to their professions. While the poor

since they have limited resources or financial incapacity

they devote time and effort.

The researchers affirmed assumption number two that the

rich and poor manifest empathy, both respondents feel the

pain of the person’s suffering and they relate to the

situation of the person who is in need for they’ve been to

the same situation before. In altruism, the rich and the

poor have the same goal and that is to help someone in need.


The responses of the respondent have denied the

assumption number three that the rich and poor volunteer

worker has no difference in empathy. Based on the data

gathered it shows that there’s no difference on the empathy

of the respondents. However the difference in altruism

affirmed that the poor respondents automatically help in

spite of the limited resources and financial capacity while

the rich help by seeking assurance before they lend a help.

Insights

Research 1

The researcher has learned so many things about the

process of researching on volunteering workers. She was

enlightened to the fact that people volunteer for many

different reasons. They were feel the same feelings to

someone’s through a difficult time, so they wanted to get

out of themselves and become involved in a different world

one in which they could help others. Volunteers often form

long-lasting friendships with the individuals they work

with. They had given an opportunity to form a very good

family relation with the life of our Almighty God and with


the person they work with as a volunteer. Volunteering is

simple things because it gives a feeling of community and

connectedness that they really value. They look forward to

the time and effort that they can spend and share to

volunteering. The researcher met and talked to lot of people

who volunteer. Volunteering never failed to make feel about

themselves after making others feel good first.

Researcher 2

While doing the study, the researcher has learned a lot

about the volunteer workers. Engaging in volunteer

activities is no joke for the volunteer workers. They

perceive it as a profession that is not payable by money but

gives intrinsic satisfaction to them. She realized the

blessings that she receive always that some people do not.

Unlike most of us, these volunteer workers have been very

sensitive about the sufferings of others. From little to

huge distress, they put effort in helping the others. As she

compared herself with the volunteer workers, she felt that

she have not done good enough to help others, even to just


lessen their distress. The researchers salute all the

volunteers for extending their time and effort in whatever

they do for the community. Honestly, before the researcher

had encounter with the rich, she thought they only do

altruistic behavior by giving monetary support and other

external support to the people in need and she was wrong

about that thought. As a citizen of the Philippines wherein

many of our countrymen are poor, she feel amazed with the

poor volunteer workers who chose to engage in volunteer

activities despite of their insufficient means of

livelihood. She can say that she is a spiritual person and

she agree with the rich and poor volunteer workers that

appreciating the blessings and having faith in God are also

factors why people help.

Researcher 3

It was a tough experience handling this kind of

research study. My patience was really tested on how to make

this research together with my group mates because


qualitative type of study is so hard specially on creating

themes for our chapter four. So far our set goals to know

the similarities and differences of rich and poor volunteer

workers in terms of their empathy and altruism have been

met. I have learned that when being involved in any kind of

volunteer work money or status in life is not that important

as long that your action of help came from the person in his

or her free will. It is not an obstruction for us to not

help people in need. The fact that hose poor volunteer

workers who lack I have seen our respondents being emotional

every time they share stories on different kind of

activities they have done. It was so amazing to know that

people do volunteer work helping others to lessen the

people’s agony or suffering in life. I also notice that most

of the poor volunteer workers do not think for themselves

but for others concern of problem and immediately provide

any kind of help they can provide while rich volunteer

workers make sure if the person really need help. Even me, I

don’t help the person immediately, I make sure if the person

really need help. Now days it is really hard to determine


those people asking for a kind of help. I salute volunteer

workers for being dedicated on what they really want to do

in life. Since here in our country we well know to be

religious, I think God is the center of this value of

helping. Our respondents never fail to let know that our

blessing must be share to others. Aside from making the

person strong able in life maybe our spirituality is one of

reason why more volunteer workers our greater than ever.

Researcher 4

After months of hard work, the researcher appreciates

more the importance of volunteer workers in our society. The

researcher was grateful to all volunteers for making this

world a better place to live in. Truly the volunteer workers

deserve appraisal for the time, effort, love and care they

are sharing to everyone.


The researcher was thankful to all volunteers who share

a part of their time with us and also to all volunteers all

over the world for their sacrifices. It really feels good

listening and watching to the stories of someone who has a

golden heart that really seeks effort in order to lighten

the burden of other. Through this study the researcher was

encouraged to do volunteer acts in the future. The

researcher wants to touch the heart of many. Someday, the

researcher wants to become somebody, somebody who cares, and

somebody who devotes time without expecting anything in

return. Each one of us can make a difference in our own

little way because money or any material thing is not the

only thing that matter but it is the time, effort, love and

care that truly matter. I learned that socio economic status

is not a hindrance if someone really wants to help. We

should give some time to our fellow man. We should do

something good to others. I hope that more people will take

their time to volunteer and able to touch the heart of many

by putting a smile on everyone’s faces.


Researcher 5

In this study the researcher learned so many things

during the entire research. First and foremost the

researcher have no idea why volunteer workers devote their

time and effort to be an volunteer and why they do those

holy act , also why poor people still do help other even

though in themselves they have nothing . And why rich people

devote their time just to do volunteer act even if they are

busy. The researcher is so curious about that. While doing

the intake interview to the respondents the researcher

realizes what the reason behind why they volunteer is. It’s

not really about their desire to help someone who is in need

or suffering but they do volunteer works because of their

passion and commitment to it, even if that cause it cost

them a great deal of personal sacrifice and pain. But

according to them those sacrifices paid them back thru

happiness and fulfillment they fill within themselves by

helping others who is in need or suffering. The researcher

is so overwhelm while doing the intake interview because


their emotion is very intense when the researcher is asking

about their experience on doing volunteer act the researcher

felt their emotion, when you were there you feel that they

are so very sincere and devoted to be a volunteer and their

desire to help others who is in need or suffering. And the

researcher should say that she really respects and admire

the volunteer’s for doing those things. The researcher is

very thankful to have an opportunity to have an interaction

with them and the researcher learned that doing volunteer

work you find meaningful and interesting can be a relaxing,

energizing escape from your day-to-day routine of work,

school, or family commitments. Volunteering also provides

you with renewed creativity, motivation, and vision that can

carry over into your personal and professional life.

Recommendations


Based on the data obtained on the course of the study,

the following recommendations were suggested by the

researchers.

1. For the volunteer workers and social workers, it is

recommended that they continue their volunteer activities

for the others and the community to serve as an example to

other citizens that are unaware of the distress of others.

Also, to remind others that in doing volunteer actions,

money is not needed but what is important is the effort and

time they spend in showing altruistic behaviors.

2. Administrators of the charitable institutions and volunteer

organizations are recommended to take care of their

volunteer workers to inspire more in doing their activities.

They can also motivate their donors to engage in volunteer

works so that they can experience other kind of altruistic

deeds.


3. It is recommended for the beneficiaries of the voluntary

services to give importance on the help that are offered for

them because the volunteer workers spend time and effort to

lessen their sufferings. They are suggested to treat the

volunteer workers in a nice way and not to take advantage of

the volunteer workers.

4. The donors are suggested to try engaging in volunteer works

instead of just giving financial support and goods to

experience the value of what they give. Also, it will let

them encounter with the people they wanted to help.

5. Members of the community are advised to be aware of the

activities of the volunteer workers for them to realize and

appreciate their contributions to the community.

6. The readers are recommended to become aware of the

contributions of the volunteer workers to their benefactors

and reflect themselves with the volunteer workers. It will

help them realize their worth.


7. For the future researchers who wanted to replicate the

present study, it is suggested that they focus on the

differences of the perception of the rich and poor volunteer

workers in terms of altruism and especially the empathy.

Also the researchers suggest that they broaden their

subjects.

Emphaty and altruism of rich and poor volunteer workers

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