Who intervenes when Jews or Muslims are persecuted? : Replicating a profile pattern from Holocaust rescuers

Do the characteristics that motivated non-Jews to rescue Jews during the Holocaust also predict morally courageous intentions in today’s high school students? Swedish students (N = 231) completed a survey assessing parental role modelling, empathic concern, risk-taking, and identification with outgroups, indicating whether they would intervene to help persecuted Jews and Muslims in various scenarios. All factors significantly predicted intention to intervene, but parental role modelling became insignificant in a hierarchical regression. Risk-taking explained most variance, followed by empathic concern. There was also an interaction between parental role modelling and empathic concern. The findings suggest that Holocaust rescuers’ characteristics are generalizable to students facing situations requiring moral courage. More effort should be made to understand how ethical role models in childhood impact empathy