Effect of mortality salience on charitable donations: Evidence from a national sample

Are Older Adults More Prosocial Than Younger Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Prosociality refers to voluntary behaviors that intend to benefit others. Most of the existing literature suggests that older adults tend to act more prosocially compared to younger adults, whereas some studies show that older adults might not be that prosocial under certain conditions. The current study aimed to summarize the mixed findings and quantify the age difference in prosociality by conducting a qualitative systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Literature search was conducted based on 5 databases. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed and this review was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42022333373).

RESULTS

Based on the qualitative synthesis of 51 studies, older adults (n = 109,911) were more prosocial than younger adults (n = 68,501). The meta-analysis of 46 studies further supported this age effect (Hedges' g = 0.31, 95% confidence interval [0.24, 0.37]), and this age effect might be moderated by the types of prosociality. We discovered a moderate age effect in sharing (Hedges' g = 0.53), but a nonsignificant age effect in helping (Hedges' g = 0.11), comforting (Hedges' g = -0.20), or mixed prosociality (Hedges' g = 0.15). Additionally, the age effect was only significant when older adults had higher socioeconomic status than younger adults.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Future research should develop more comprehensive measures of prosociality, examine more variables that influence aging and prosociality, and investigate the neural mechanism(s) of prosociality to achieve a thorough understanding of the age difference in prosociality.

Exploring the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and donations during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating roles of emotions and risk perception

Objective

Public emergency events like the COVID-19 pandemic are special occasions that need immediate massive funding from public donations. Thus, understanding the determinants of donation behaviors under public emergencies is important for both researchers and practitioners. This study investigated the effect of personal and local exposure to incidences of COVID-19 on donation behaviors. Specifically, we examined the mediating effects of risk perception and emotions on the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and donation behaviors.

Methods

The data were from a survey distributed in China between March 20 and 30th, 2020. Participants' donation choice at the end of the survey was used to measure their donation behaviors. Participants' emotions, risk perception, and personal exposure were assessed in the questionnaire. Local exposure was the 30-day confirmed cases obtained from the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. A total of 8,720 participants (Mean age = 28.91, 43.6% females) completed the online survey.

Results

Based on the results from the mediation analysis, we found that people with stronger positive and negative emotions, higher risk perception, and more personal exposure to COVID-19 were more likely to donate. Furthermore, the effects of both personal and local exposure on donations are mediated by risk perception and negative emotion. Both higher personal and local exposure led to stronger negative emotions and higher risk perception, which in turn led to more donation behaviors.

Discussion

This study extends our knowledge of donation behaviors during public emergencies. Our results suggest that policymakers and charity organizations should elicit stronger emotions and risk perception by exposing the severity of the disaster in advertisements to promote donations.

Charitable Giving in Times of Covid-19: Do Crises Forward the Better or the Worse in Individuals?

Why did some individuals react to the Covid-19 crisis in a prosocial manner, whereas others withdrew from society? To shed light onto this question, we investigate changing patterns of charitable giving during the pandemic. The study analyzes survey data of 2000 individuals, representative of the populations of Germany and Austria. Logistic regressions reveal that personal affectedness by Covid-19 seems to play a crucial role: those who were personally affected either mentally, financially, or health-wise during the first 12 months of Covid-19 were most likely to have changed their giving behavior. The observed patterns fit psychological explanations of how human beings process existential threats. Our findings indicate that a profound societal crisis in itself mainly leads to changes in charitable giving if individuals are severely affected on a personal level. Thereby, we contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying individuals' charitable giving behavior in times of crisis.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11266-023-00558-y.

Investigating adult age differences in real-life empathy, prosociality, and well-being using experience sampling

While the importance of social affect and cognition is indisputable throughout the adult lifespan, findings of how empathy and prosociality develop and interact across adulthood are mixed and real-life data are scarce. Research using ecological momentary assessment recently demonstrated that adults commonly experience empathy in daily life. Furthermore, experiencing empathy was linked to higher prosocial behavior and subjective well-being. However, to date, it is not clear whether there are adult age differences in daily empathy and daily prosociality and whether age moderates the relationship between empathy and prosociality across adulthood. Here we analyzed experience-sampling data collected from participants across the adult lifespan to study age effects on empathy, prosocial behavior, and well-being under real-life circumstances. Linear and quadratic age effects were found for the experience of empathy, with increased empathy across the three younger age groups (18 to 45 years) and a slight decrease in the oldest group (55 years and older). Neither prosocial behavior nor well-being showed significant age-related differences. We discuss these findings with respect to (partially discrepant) results derived from lab-based and traditional survey studies. We conclude that studies linking in-lab experiments with real-life experience-sampling may be a promising venue for future lifespan studies.

Influence of Cost and Self-Control on Individual Donation Behavior: The Promoting Effect of Self-Affirmation

Purpose

Donation behavior plays a crucial role in promoting the development of social and public welfare undertakings. Previous studies have partially explored the influencing factors of donation behavior, but effective methods for boosting individuals' donation behavior remain unclear. Based on the resource dependence theory, our present study further explored the promoting effect of self-affirmation on the relationship among cost, self-control, and individuals' donation behavior, and provided empirical basis for boosting individuals' donation behavior.

Methods

In preliminary experiment, Carlson's real donation paradigm was conducted to examine the effect of cost on individuals' donation behavior. In experiment 1, we examined the effects of cost, self-control ability, and self-affirmation on individuals' donation behavior. Individuals with high or low self-control ability were assigned to complete the experimental induction of self-affirmation or non-affirmation. Subsequently, all participants completed the donation task under three cost conditions same as preliminary experiment. In experiment 2, we examined the effects of cost, self-control resource, and self-affirmation on individuals' donation behavior. Participants were assigned to complete the different Stroop task to induce the state of self-control resource exhaustion or non-exhaustion. Then, they completed the priming of self-affirmation or non-affirmation same as experiment 1. Finally, all participants completed the donation task under three cost conditions same as preliminary experiment.

Results

The results of preliminary experiment indicated that participants engaged in more donation behavior under low- and medium-cost conditions compared with high-cost condition. The results of experiment 1 demonstrated that self-affirmation exerted a promoting effect on the donation behavior for individuals with low self-control ability under low-, medium-, and high-cost conditions. The results of experiment 2 demonstrated that self-affirmation promoted the donation behavior of individuals with self-control resource exhaustion under low-, medium-, and high-cost conditions.

Conclusion

Self-affirmation could promote the donation behavior of individuals with low self-control ability and those with self-control resource exhaustion, whether donation's cost was high or low. Self-affirmation plays a crucial role for boosting individuals' donation behavior.