Subsequent Prosocial Behavior Research Articles

EXPRESS: The Prosocial Ambassador Effect: Adopting an Ambassador Role Increases Sustainable Behavior

This research introduces the prosocial ambassador effect as a novel means to elicit prosocial behavior. Consumers adopt a prosocial ambassador role when they (a) personally commit to engage in a prosocial behavior and (b) interpersonally promote (i.e., encourage another person to engage in) the prosocial behavior. Four experiments, including two studies in the field, investigate prosocial ambassadorship behaviors and their impact on the ambassadors’ subsequent prosocial behavior. Results reveal the ambassador role activates a collective identity, which drives prosocial behavior. Findings also indicate the ambassador effect endures over time. Furthermore, the ambassador effect replicates via product giveaways and communications (e.g., text messages). This research offers novel implications for marketers on the ambassador role’s positive impact on prosociality, providing guidance to firms on how to leverage the ambassador effect in the marketplace.

The power of flattery: Enhancing prosocial behavior through virtual influencers

AbstractWhile prior work suggests the significant role virtual influencers (VIs) can play in addressing social and welfare issues, it remains unclear how they can increase social media users' engagement in prosocial behaviors. The current study examines the role of influencer flattery in driving the prosocial behavior of social media users. Specifically, the research investigates how flattery and humanlike appearance influence the perceived authenticity of VIs and the subsequent prosocial behavior of social media users (Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, the research substantiates these effects by exploring how flattery and anthropomorphism via humanlike traits impact perceived authenticity and prosocial behavior when social media users witness the influencer praising others (Study 3). Beyond intention to donate (Study 1), the study also investigated its impact on related prosocial behaviors, such as click‐through behavior (Study 2) and the willingness to pay for fundraising merchandise (Study 3). The findings of this research offer concrete implications for nonprofit organizations by demonstrating the persuasive impact of flattery, perceived authenticity, and anthropomorphism in mobilizing public support, donations, and merchandise purchases for social causes.

The development of self- and group orientations among Chinese young adolescents: Implications for social and behavioral adjustment.

Self- and group orientations represent distinct ways of perceiving the relations between the world and the self and are relevant to adolescents' development. Most of the existing studies in this area are cross-sectional, providing little information about how self- and group orientations develop. This 3-year longitudinal study examined the developmental patterns of self- and group orientations and their relations with adjustment among Chinese adolescents. The participants included 1,257 students (648 boys, initial Mage = 13.37 years, SD = 0.63 years). Data on self- and group orientations and social and behavioral adjustment were obtained from multiple sources, including self-reports, peer nominations, and teacher ratings. The results showed that self-orientation increased, and group orientation decreased during early adolescence. Moreover, an increase (slope) in self-orientation was positively associated with subsequent assertive behavior, whereas a slower decrease in group orientation was positively associated with subsequent prosocial behavior and peer preference. The initial level (intercept) of self-orientation was positively associated with later externalizing problems, and the initial level of group orientation was negatively associated with later internalizing problems. The intercepts of self- and group orientations were higher for boys than girls. No significant gender differences were found in the slopes of self- and group orientations or in the associations of intercepts and slopes with adjustment outcomes. The results indicated different developmental patterns of self- and group orientations and their different implications for adjustment in Chinese adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The moral license of a click: How social observability and impression management tendencies moderate the effects of online clicktivism on donation behavior

Token acts of online support, also known as clicktivism, have received much criticism in recent years for suppressing subsequent prosocial behavior. However, whether, when, and why individuals perform less prosocial behavior following these acts remains relatively unknown. To address these questions, we designed a lab experiment in which participants ( N = 193) were randomly assigned to engage in public, private, or no act of clicktivism. Consistent with moral self-licensing theory, those who signed an online petition were less likely to donate than those who did not sign any petition. Public clicktivism (compared to private clicktivism) increased donation intentions among those with high impression management tendencies (i.e. high self-monitors). Concerns about one’s moral self-image partially mediated these effects. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Exposure to loneliness cues reduces prosocial behavior: Evidence from N400 and P300.

Loneliness is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality. However, the effect of loneliness on subsequent prosocial behavior is not well known. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying loneliness is necessary to address this research gap. We investigate the mechanism using a modified public goods game (PGG) wherein participants can choose to act for a collective or selfish interest after being exposed to loneliness cues. Both behavioral (Study 1) and event-related potential (ERP) (Study 2) measures were used to explore this relationship. In Study 1 (N = 131), we found that participants exhibited decreased prosocial actions under the loneliness priming condition as opposed to the control condition. In Study 2 (N = 17), frontal N400 and posterior P300 components were identified under the loneliness priming condition as opposed to the control condition. Increased (decreased) frontal N400 and posterior P300 lead to selfish (prosocial) choices. These results indicate that humans instinctively perceive loneliness as inconsistency with their desired social-relational life, which in turn stimulates coping strategies for self-preservation. This study contributes to our understanding of the neurobiological basis of loneliness associated with prosocial behavior.

Prosocial risk taking and interpersonal regret in children: An individual differences study

AbstractThe relations between prosocial risk taking (taking a risk to benefit another person; PSRT) and interpersonal regret (regret that one's choices have caused a poor outcome for another person) were examined in 192 children aged 7–9. PSRT was measured by children's choices within a gambling task in which one choice guaranteed participants a good prize whereas the other involved risking this prize to help a peer also win a good prize. Interpersonal regret was assessed within the same task by examining children's change in emotion when they learned they would have won a better prize for a peer had they chosen differently. Performance on this task was also examined in relation to sympathy and resource sharing. Findings indicated that the operationalizations of PSRT and interpersonal regret were meaningful. Children who took a prosocial risk were more generous in a resource sharing task. In some circumstances, children who took a prosocial risk were also more likely to experience interpersonal regret than those who did not take a prosocial risk, indicating that experiencing interpersonal regret may be related to individual differences in prosociality. However, experiencing interpersonal regret did not have a direct effect on subsequent prosocial behavior, when measured by resource sharing. We consider findings in relation to a possible distinction between outcome and process regret and the generalizability of the behavioral consequences of regret.

Will exposure to different consequences of prosocial behavior always lead to subsequent prosocial behavior among adolescents: An experimental study of short videos.

The relationship between exposure to prosocial media content and prosocial behavior has been extensively explored. However, previous studies mainly explore the effect of prosocial media content exposure by comparing an individual’s exposure to the different types of content (i.e., prosocial content or neutral content), and generally focus on traditional media and video games, with less attention given to the increasingly popular new media platforms. In this study, we explored new dimensions by considering individuals’ exposure to different consequences of the same prosocial behavior (i.e., reward, punishment, or no consequences) in the context of short videos. Drawing upon Social Cognitive Theory and the General Learning Model, this experimental study identified the effect of such exposure on subsequent prosocial behavior among adolescents. We found that compared to the no consequences group, exposure to the reward consequence did not significantly predict moral elevation and subsequent prosocial behavior. Meanwhile, exposure to the punishment consequence had a significantly negative effect on subsequent prosocial behavior via moral elevation. Furthermore, the results revealed that empathy moderated the relationship between moral elevation and prosocial behavior, and moral elevation only positively predicted prosocial behavior among those with low empathy. Theoretically, this study deepens our understanding of the impact of exposure to different consequences of prosocial behavior on adolescents’ subsequent prosocial behavior, and highlights the importance of moral elevation and empathy to understand the underlying mechanism. The study also provides some practical implications for parents and practitioners to nurture prosocial behavior among adolescents.

Can Sustainability Cues Make Us Worse People?

In recent years, due to rising concerns with environmental issues, sustainability-related design or communication features have become ubiquitous. Many of these features are devoid of statements about the sustainability credentials of specific products or firms, and can be called sustainability cues in that they are contextual stimuli that could prompt sustainability-related thoughts and emotions in people’s minds. We find that these features, innocuous or well-intentioned as they might seem, negatively affect people’s moral behavior. Specifically, we theorize and find empirical evidence that the presence of these sustainability cues during purchase decisions has a negative influence on subsequent prosocial behavior – an effect we label as “pseudo-licensing” for its parallels to licensing effects on prosocial behavior due to prior moral actions. We empirically examine this effect in the three online experimental studies. The findings reveal that participants who make purchase decisions over products without explicit claims about sustainability benefits subsequently donate less to a charity, if features such as text in green or sustainability-related textual messages accompany the purchase decision. We also find that this negative effect is mitigated when the donation target is an environmental charity or when the participants are exposed to the sustainability cues without making purchase decisions.

Back to the future: A way to increase prosocial behavior.

Previous studies suggest a link between future thinking and prosocial behaviors. However, this association is not fully understood at state and trait level. The present study tested whether a brief future thinking induction promoted helping behavior in an unrelated task. In addition, the relation between mental time travel and prosocial behaviors in daily life was tested with questionnaire data. Forty-eight participants filled in questionnaires and were asked to think about the future for one minute or to name animals for one minute (control condition) before playing the Zurich Prosocial Game (a measure of helping behavior). Results revealed that participants in the future thinking condition helped significantly more than participants in the control condition. Moreover, questionnaire data showed that dispositional and positive orientation toward the future and the past was significantly associated with self-reported prosocial behaviors. The present findings suggest that thinking about the future in general has positive transfer effects on subsequent prosocial behavior and that people who think more about the past or future in a positive way engage more in prosocial behavior.

To Steal or Not to Steal: Self-Discrepancies as a Way to Promote Pro-social Behavior: The Moderating Role of Self-Interest.

Previous research showed that acting immorally on one occasion can determine a greater availability for pro-social behavior on a subsequent occasion. Nevertheless, moderating factors for this effect, such as financial interest remained largely unexplored. The present field experiment (N = 587) was organized in an urban setting, in a post-communist society (Romania), in a context of public anonymity and examined passersby’s pro-social behavior on two consecutive occasions. The procedure involved a confederate “losing” a banknote of different values (1, 10, 50, 100, or 500 RON), which invited passersby’s pro-social behavior to return it (or not). Participants who decided to steal the banknote were approached by a second confederate and asked politely to return the banknote. Our research was articulated mainly as a quantitative approach by measuring participants’ pro-social behavior toward the person who lost the banknote, their subsequent pro-social behavior toward the confederate who exposed their behavior and the number of words they produced during a post-experimental interview in which they could justify their behavior. At the same time, we also performed a qualitative approach, through which we explored the themes evoked in their justifications and their relation with their previous behavior. Results indicate a moderating effect of economic interest on pro-social behavior toward the confederate who lost the banknote, as well as on their subsequent pro-social behavior toward the second confederate. Participants who stole the banknote also used significantly more words to justify their behavior, and this tendency could be observed especially in the case for higher values of the banknote. Results are critically discussed in a context dominated by an inherited pattern of distrust and social cynicism.

Regret Now, Compensate It Later: The Benefits of Experienced Regret on Future Altruism.

This article explores how experienced regret and relief evoked in a risky gambling task influence subsequent intertemporal pro-social behavior. We apply a dictator game experiment with delayed rewards to investigate the effect on donating behavior by simultaneously the time delay when the recipient accepts the donation and the emotions experienced by the participant. We examine this effect using a choice titration procedure. The results reveal that independent of the prior experienced emotions, participants’ donations decrease as the time delay rises; the hyperbolic model provides a better explanation of this finding. Significantly, experienced regret impacts the shape of the social discount function with delayed rewards, which is reflected in notably different discount rates. Participants who experienced regret exhibit a lower discount rate than those in the relief condition. Note that this distinct type of generosity differs significantly at the 14-day delay but not at the shortest and longest. It follows that regret can promote future altruism and intertemporal pro-social behavior, depending on the delay.

Indulge in self-admiration or offer help to others? The influence of employee narcissism on prosocial behavior

<p id=C2>Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by an inflated self-image, a strong sense of psychological superiority and entitlement, and a low level of empathy. As narcissism has a substantial impact on employees’ work quality, happiness, satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships, employee narcissism has become an important topic of research among scholars and management practitioners, who have called for further research on the behavior of narcissistic employees in the process of interpersonal interaction. However, research on the impact of employee narcissism on prosocial behavior has reached inconsistent conclusions; thus, the mechanisms by which employee narcissism affects prosocial behavior need to be further explored. To fill this theoretical gap, we drew on the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC), and hypothesized that employees’ narcissistic admiration has a positive impact on prosocial behavior via relational approach motivation and that narcissistic rivalry has a negative impact on prosocial behavior via relational avoidance motivation. We further expected task interdependence, as an important situational factor, to directly influence employees’ expression of different narcissistic traits and motivation and their subsequent prosocial behavior. <break/>We tested these hypotheses in a field sample of 235 employee-colleague dyads using a time-lag research design. The data were collected by administering the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Scale, the Approach and Avoidance Scale, the Task Interdependence Scale, and the Prosocial Behavior Scale. At Time 1, we collected the employees’ demographic variables (gender, age, and educational background) and asked them to rate their narcissistic admiration, narcissistic rivalry, and task interdependence. At Time 2 (approximately one month after Time 1), the employees rated their relational approach motivation and relational avoidance motivation, and their colleagues were asked to rate these employees’ prosocial behavior. We applied confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, path analysis, and bootstrap methods using SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 7.4 to analyze the data from the 235 employee-colleague pairs. <break/>Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the discriminant validity of the key variables (i.e., narcissistic admiration, narcissistic rivalry, task interdependence, relational approach motivation, relational avoidance motivation, and prosocial behavior), and the results confirmed discriminant validity. Next, we used path and bootstrap analyses to test the hypotheses. The results were as follows: (1) narcissistic admiration had a significant positive impact on employees’ prosocial behavior; (2) narcissistic rivalry had a significant negative impact on employees’ prosocial behavior; (3) relational approach motivation mediated the relationship between narcissistic admiration and prosocial behavior, however, relational avoidance motivation didn’t mediate the relationship between narcissistic rivalry and prosocial behavior; and (4) task interdependence played a moderating role in the relationship between narcissistic admiration and relational approach motivation and further moderated the indirect effect of narcissistic admiration on employees’ prosocial behavior via relational approach motivation. <break/>This study makes several contributions to the literature on narcissism. First, it explores the double-edged effects of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry on employees’ prosocial behavior, thereby helping scholars better understand these traits. It also explains the inconsistent results of previous studies on the relationship between employee narcissism and prosocial behavior. Second, based on the concepts of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry, this study explores the mechanisms of both traits on employees’ prosocial behavior. Although the mediating role of relational avoidance motivation was not significant, this gives us another important insight that future researches can try to independently examine the influence effects, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry without being overly tied to the NARC framework. Third, by integrating trait activation theory, this study investigates the important role of a situational factor (i.e., task interdependence) in the relationships between narcissistic admiration, narcissistic rivalry, and employees’ prosocial behavior, which can help organizational managers better understand the roles of narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry.

Swift trust development and prosocial behavior in time banking: A trust transfer and social support theory perspective

Time banking is deemed as a sustainable solution to meet the needs of social services in local communities. This is particularly so for elderly care related services as many countries are experiencing growth in the aged population. Due to the absence of trust, the participation rate in time banking activities has been relatively low, reducing the effectiveness of service exchange. An empirical understanding of how time banking organizers (e.g., NGOs) swiftly cultivate trust is absent in the literature. Within this study, an integrated framework based on trust transfer and social support theories explains how offline and online sources of trust affect individuals’ swift trust in NGOs and subsequent prosocial behavior after a brief exposure. PLS-SEM analysis indicated that online and offline sources of trust, except disposition to trust, significantly influenced swift trust belief, which in turn affected prosocial behavior. Our study provides managerial guidance for organizers promoting time banking programs.

Tablet applications as socializing platforms: The effects of prosocial touch screen applications on young children's prosocial behavior

The high prevalence of touch screen devices in the lives of preschool children has prompted increased research on the effects of tablets on children's learning and skills. However, to date, little empirical research has investigated how this technology can influence young children's socio-emotional learning. The present study reports two experiments that examined the effects of playing prosocial touch-screen applications on preschool children's subsequent prosocial behavior. In both experiments, 3- to 6-year-olds were randomly assigned to one of three game application conditions (prosocial, violent, or neutral). Prosocial behaviors after the game were examined with laboratory tasks and vignettes. Experiment 1 (N = 186) showed that playing the prosocial game application produced higher levels of helping behavior towards the experimenter than playing the violent and neutral games. Experiment 2 (N = 189) found a wider range of effects of the prosocial application play on children's prosocial behaviors towards same-aged actual and hypothetical peers compared to the violent and neutral game conditions. Low theory-of-mind and high empathic abilities moderated and enhanced the effects of prosocial application play on prosocial outcomes. These findings suggest that touch screen applications may contribute to fostering prosocial behavior in early childhood.

A prosocial manipulation produces increases in positive affect and prosocial behavior, including those high in borderline traits

This study examined the effects—on mood and subsequent prosocial behavior—of a prosocial behavioral manipulation in individuals who varied in levels of borderline personality disorder traits. Female undergraduate participants (n = 230) were randomly assigned to either write an encouraging letter to a person experiencing hardship (“prosocial” condition) or to write a letter describing their typical day (control condition). Baseline measurements of mood were taken and compared with those obtained postmanipulation. Subsequent prosocial behavior was measured in two laboratory tasks. As expected, participants in the prosocial condition experienced more positive mood and more prosocial behavior after the manipulation, compared to the control manipulation, regardless of their level of borderline traits.

The Fortnite social paradox: The effects of violent-cooperative multi-player video games on children's basic psychological needs and prosocial behavior

The current study examined the differential impact of playing a violent multiplayer online game in the co-player mode compared to the single mode on children's subsequent prosocial behavior. Satisfaction of the psychological needs of competence, relatedness, positive-emotions, and enjoyment was examined as possible mediator of the hypothesized effect of cooperative violent game on prosociality. The sample was composed of 845 nine to twelve-year-olds who were randomly allocated to a 2 (game content: violent versus neutral) X 2 (game mode: single-versus co-player) between-subjects design. After playing one type of video game, the participants were asked to engage in two types of prosocial tasks where they could provide assistance to the experimenter and donate money to charity. Compared to the single-player conditions, the participants in the cooperative conditions engaged in more prosocial behaviors. The violent co-player condition was associated with more helping behaviors than the neutral co-player condition. Increased satisfaction of psychological needs was shown to act as a mediator. The social context and the psychological experience influenced the participants' prosocial behavior more than the formal content of the game.

Actions speak louder than looks: The effects of avatar appearance and in-game actions on subsequent prosocial behavior

Several experimental studies in recent years have shown an effect of the appearance of embodied avatars in a digital environment on subsequent behaviors in unrelated context. However, such studies often focus exclusively on the appearance of avatars, and do not consider the nature of the behavior carried out in-game. This article presents an experiment exploring the combined effects of avatar appearance and in-game behavior on subsequent prosocial behavior in an unrelated task. 120 undergraduate students from a medical and health sciences course traversed a digital environment in a roleplaying game, battling opponents (“mobs”) along the way. Using a factorial design, participants embodied either a heroic or a villainous avatar, and battled good or evil mobs. Results show that mob appearance, but not avatar appearance, affected prosocial behavior in a subsequent unrelated task. Participants having battled negative-looking mobs tended to exhibit more prosocial behavior than those having battled positive-looking mobs. These results, highlighting the potential of avatar’s behavior to influence user’s subsequent behavior, are discussed in terms of self-perception, theoretical insight and research on the Proteus effect.

The effect of contest participation and contest outcome on subsequent prosocial behavior.

Following previous research on various aspects of contests, we aim to explore how taking part in a contest affects subsequent behavior. We focus on whether the experience of having just competed in a contest, beyond its outcome, would have an impact on other-regarding decisions towards an individual who was not part of the preliminary contest. In addition, in light of inconclusive results in the existing literature regarding the effect of contest outcome on subsequent prosociality, we reexamine this effect. In line with our hypothesis, participation in a contest was found to reduce prosociality. Additionally, we found that winning a contest reduced prosociality only when decisions were framed as “giving” decisions and not as “dividing” decisions. This finding suggests that the effect of contest outcome may depend on specific elements of the presented situations.

Symbolic Moral Self-Completion - Social Recognition of Prosocial Behavior Reduces Subsequent Moral Striving.

According to theories on moral balancing, a prosocial act can decrease people’s motivation to engage in subsequent prosocial behavior, because people feel that they have already achieved a positive moral self-perception. However, there is also empirical evidence showing that people actually need to be recognized by others in order to establish and affirm their self-perception through their prosocial actions. Without social recognition, moral balancing could possibly fail. In this paper, we investigate in two laboratory experiments how social recognition of prosocial behavior influences subsequent moral striving. Building on self-completion theory, we hypothesize that social recognition of prosocial behavior (self-serving behavior) weakens (strengthens) subsequent moral striving. In Study 1, we show that a prosocial act leads to less subsequent helpfulness when it was socially recognized as compared to a situation without social recognition. Conversely, when a self-serving act is socially recognized, it encourages subsequent helpfulness. In Study 2, we replicate the effect of social recognition on moral striving in a more elaborated experimental setting and with a larger participant sample. We again find that a socially recognized prosocial act leads to less subsequent helpfulness compared to an unrecognized prosocial act. Our results shed new light on the boundary conditions of moral balancing effects and underscore the view that these effects can be conceptualized as a dynamic of self-completion.

Digit ratio and prosocial behavior: the role of innate aggression in public goods and trust games

Following previous studies that found individuals with shorter index fingers relative to ring fingers (low digit ratio) exhibit aggressive behavior in adulthood, in this study we use the left digit ratio, a putative marker for in-utero testosterone exposure [Manning et al. 1998], as an indicator of predisposition towards aggression to investigate its relation to prosocial behavior in the context of economic games. First, we ask if aggressive individuals and not-aggressive ones inherently differ in their prosocial behavior, independent of the features of the game. Second, we ask if the differences in their initial or subsequent prosocial behavior, if any, are conditioned by their respective experiences as the game progresses. Applying regression analyses on sample observations from two classroom experiments of modified public-goods games and trust games (by Carlos and Marasigan [2017] and Amante and Daro [2018], respectively), our results show that innate aggression per se is not associated with prosocial behavior. We find some evidence that innately aggressive, prosocial players who have experienced unfavourable or unfair outcomes in previous rounds tend to punish more intensely the non-cooperative players in public goods games, but continue to be generous towards selfish co-players in trust games. Thus, we posit that aggressive individuals who want to establish their perceived dominance (status) in a team behave prosocially initially, then later either elicit the cooperation of other players through aggressive punishment in the public goods game or unilaterally improve social welfare even at a personal cost to them in the trust game. JEL classification: C71, C91, C92, D91