Empathy can bridge the gap between self and other. Yet, people may not always be willing to cross this bridge: the motivation to view the self as moral may deter people from fostering self-other overlap with those they deem immoral. In Studies 1–3, participants selected between imagining the internal experiences of either immoral or morally neutral targets. In Studies 1–2, participants were randomly assigned to foster similarities or differences between themselves and the targets. In Study 3, similarity was contrasted against a no-instruction control. Participants in the similar condition avoided immoral targets more often than those in the comparison condition, preferring neutral targets. Participants in the different condition preferred immoral targets (Studies 1–2) while those in the control (Study 3) did not prefer either target. In Study 4, we tested whether people show similar avoidance for targets who explicitly oppose the self and compared choices between moral and non-moral targets. Participants instructed to foster similarities (vs. a no-instruction control) avoided targets who differed from themselves on moral traits as well as those who differed from themselves on non-moral traits, demonstrating that people avoid self-other overlap with dissimilar others in both moral and non-moral contexts. This avoidance effect was descriptively greater for morally dissimilar targets, suggesting that people may be particularly motivated to avoid fostering similarities to others who are morally dissimilar to themselves. These findings reveal that moral self-relevance plays a prominent role in empathic decisions, guiding whose minds people choose to imagine.

同理心可以弥合自我与他人之间的鸿沟。然而，人们可能并不总是愿意跨过这座桥：将自我视为道德的动机可能会阻止人们与他们认为不道德的人培养自我-他人的重叠。在研究 1-3 中，参与者在想象不道德或道德中立目标的内部体验之间做出选择。在研究 1-2 中，参与者被随机分配以培养他们与目标之间的异同。在研究 3 中，将相似性与无指令对照进行对比。与比较条件下的参与者相比，处于相似条件下的参与者更经常避免不道德的目标，更喜欢中立的目标。不同条件下的参与者更喜欢不道德的目标（研究 1-2），而对照组（研究 3）中的参与者不喜欢任何一个目标。在研究 4 中，我们测试了人们是否对明确反对自我的目标表现出类似的回避，并比较了道德和非道德目标之间的选择。被指示培养相似性的参与者（相对于无指示控制）避免了在道德特征上与自己不同的目标以及在非道德特征上与自己不同的目标，表明人们避免自我-他人与不同的他人重叠道德和非道德背景。对于道德上不同的目标，这种回避效应在描述上更大，这表明人们可能特别有动机避免培养与其他人的相似之处。无指令控制）避免在道德特征上与自己不同的目标以及在非道德特征上与自己不同的目标，表明人们避免在道德和非道德背景下与不同的他人重叠。对于道德上不同的目标，这种回避效应在描述上更大，这表明人们可能特别有动机避免培养与其他人的相似之处。无指令控制）避免在道德特征上与自己不同的目标以及在非道德特征上与自己不同的目标，表明人们避免在道德和非道德背景下与不同的他人重叠。对于道德上不同的目标，这种回避效应在描述上更大，这表明人们可能特别有动机避免培养与其他人的相似之处。在道德上与自己不同。这些发现表明，道德自我相关性在同理心决定中起着重要作用，指导人们选择想象谁的思想。