Pro-social personality traits, helping behavior, and ego-depletion: Is helping really easier for the dispositionally pro-social?

The relationship between belief in a just world and prosocial behavior: the role of psychological resilience and empathic capacity

Objective

This study investigated how belief in a just world (BJW) influences prosocial behavior tendency (PBT) through psychological resilience (PR), and examined how empathic capacity (EC) moderates this mediation process.

Method

Data were collected from 955 Chinese university students (Mage = 19.5 years, SD = 1.3; 65.6% female) using validated scales measuring BJW, PBT, PR, and EC.

Results

Three key findings emerged: (1) BJW positively predicted PBT both directly (β = 0.301, p < 0.001) and indirectly through PR; (2) EC moderated the relationship between BJW and PR, with the positive association being stronger for individuals with lower EC (b = 0.45, p < 0.001) compared to those with higher EC (b = 0.23, p < 0.01); (3) The indirect effect of BJW on PBT through PR was stronger for individuals with lower EC, indicating a moderated mediation effect.

Conclusion

These findings advance our understanding of prosocial behavior by identifying distinct pathways through which beliefs and emotional capacities interact. The results suggest that interventions to promote prosocial behavior should be tailored based on individual differences in empathic capacity, with different approaches needed for high versus low EC individuals.

An Ego Depletion Perspective Linking Political Behavior to Interpersonal Deviance

A political act is a typical self-serving behavior that works to promote or protect self-interest. However, limited research explores its relationship with daily downstream behavior. Based on the ego depletion theory, the present study attempts to clarify when and how daily political acts will be transformed into interpersonal deviance. We collected 760 cases nested in 152 full time workers in mainland China through the experience sampling method. Via a multilevel structural equation model and hierarchical linear model, we tested the mediated moderation model. The results showed that political acts correlated with interpersonal deviance on a daily basis. Moral self-efficacy buffers the relationship between political acts and interpersonal deviance, whereas chronic job strain amplifies the relationship. Furthermore, moral self-efficacy can mediate the moderating role of chronic job strain.

Do agreeableness and social value orientation predict altruistic behavior under time pressure?

Although time pressure is closely related to altruistic behavior, there is relatively little research on whether altruistic traits can predict altruistic behavior under time pressure. Using a modified dictator game paradigm, we investigated whether the altruistic traits of agreeableness and social value orientation could predict altruistic behavior under time pressure. We recruited 120 participants for the main study and used a one-factor within-subjects design in which respondents made decisions about allocation of 10 yuan and 100 yuan options under time pressure. Results show that although agreeableness negatively predicted altruistic behavior, and social value orientation positively predicted altruistic behavior under time pressure, these traits were not significantly related to real-life altruistic behavior. Thus, the two altruistic traits differed in their effects on altruistic behavior under intuitive processing, and there were different psychological mechanisms for the effects of the traits on altruistic behavior.

The Effect of Money Denomination on Prosocial Behavior: Through the Perspective of Metaphorical Cognitive Theory

Based on metaphorical cognitive theory, this research did four experiments to examine whether and how one important feature of money, denomination, could influence prosocial behavior. Study 1 was an experiment with a sample size of 209 undergraduates (M_age = 18.97) showed that a larger denomination enhanced the probability of participants engaging in prosocial behavior rather than with a smaller denomination. Study 2 collecting data from 269 undergraduates (M_age = 18.50) further showed that larger denominations condition inspired more prosocial behavior than the control condition; and the small denominations condition produced similar levels of prosocial behavior to the control condition. Study 3 used single factor design with a sample size of 192 undergraduates (M_age = 20.49) repeated the results of Study 2. Furthermore, Study 3 excluded an important alternative explanation that the value rather than the denomination influenced prosocial behavior. Last, Study 4 applied a factorial design experiment with a sample size of 132 undergraduates (M_age = 20.92) which demonstrated that generosity mediated the effect of denomination on prosocial behavior; the effect of denomination on prosocial behavior did not depend on money priming methods. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Honesty-humility and prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of perspective taking and guilt-proneness

The prosocial personality trait of honesty-humility has received extensive attention in the last decade. However, research on the mechanism underlying the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior is rather scarce. This study aims to explore the internal mechanism underlying this relationship to draw a complete picture of the honesty-humility trait. A sample of 458 Chinese young adults was obtained to complete self-report measures of honesty-humility, perspective taking, guilt-proneness, and prosocial behavior. The mediation model revealed that: (1) honesty-humility positively related to prosocial behavior; (2) perspective taking and guilt-proneness mediated the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior, separately; and (3) the effect of honesty-humility on prosocial behavior was mediated via perspective taking and then guilt-proneness. In conclusion, we provide an initial support for the mediating roles of perspective taking and guilt-proneness in the relationship between honesty-humility and prosocial behavior. Both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the psychological mechanisms of prosocial behavior are discussed.