大学生亲社会倾向、亲社会推理以及它们的相关模式

采用《亲社会倾向测量》和《亲社会推理客观测量》研究了17至20岁大学生的六类亲社会倾向和亲社会推理的状况。发现大学生将利他的亲社会倾向列为六类倾向中的首位,接下来依次是紧急的、情绪性的、依从的、匿名的和公开的亲社会倾向;在亲社会推理五种类型中大学生选择比率最高的是内化价值定向的推理,接下来依次是刻板定向、需要定向和享乐主义定向的推理,所占比率最低的是赞扬定向的推理;六类亲社会倾向与亲社会推理之间具有特定的棚关模式．利他的和匿名的亲社会倾向与内化价值定向和刻板定向的推理正相关、与享乐主义定向及赞扬定向的推理负相关,公开的亲社会倾向与赞扬定向的推理正相关、与需要定向的推理负相关。跨文化比较证实,中美大学生的上述三个方面表现出一定的差异。     

Identity, Reasoning, and Emotion: An Empirical Comparison of Three Sources of Moral Motivation

Prior research on moral motivation has primarily emphasized moral reasoning and moral emotion; however, identity may also play an important role. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relative importance of prosocial identity, prosocial moral reasoning, and empathy in predicting prosocial behavior. The sample included 91 university students, ages 19–35 years (M=21.89; SD=3.01; 80% European American; 65% female). Prosocial identity and empathy, but not prosocial moral reasoning, were positively associated with overall prosocial behavior. Exploratory analyses examined how these three sources of prosocial motivation differentially related to six forms of prosocial behavior. Results suggest the importance of considering the roles of all three sources of moral motivation.     

Essentialist beliefs affect children's outgroup empathy,attitudes and prosocial behaviours in a setting of intergroup conflict

Empathy for salient outgroups can promote positive intergroup attitudes and prosocial behaviours. Less is known about which factors may promote empathy, particularly among children, in contexts of intergroup conflict. Empathy may depend on underlying cognitions, such as social essentialist beliefs, that is, believing that certain social categories have an underlying essence that causes members to share observable and non-observable properties. This study explored the influence of essentialist beliefs about ethno-religious categories on outgroup-directed empathy, attitudes and prosocial behaviours of children living in Northern Ireland (N = 88; M = 7.09, SD = 1.47 years old). Bootstrapped chain mediation found that lower essentialist beliefs predicted greater outgroup-directed empathy, which was positively related to outgroup attitudes, which in turn, predicted more outgroup prosocial behaviours. The findings highlight the importance of essentialist beliefs as an underlying factor promoting empathy, with links to prosocial behaviours in settings of intergroup conflict. The intervention implications are discussed.     

More than fantasy: Prosocial daydreams relate to prosocial dispositions and behaviour

The current studies examined the relationship between the penchant to daydream about helping others and prosocial traits and behaviour. We reasoned that fantasising about prosocial acts should be positively associated with a more prosocial disposition and real behaviour. Across both studies, the findings suggest that people who exhibit prosocial characteristics (e.g., empathic concern, fantasy/fictional empathy, moral reasoning) are more likely to fantasise about prosocial behaviour, and these characteristics are reliably associated with increased helping behaviours. From Study 1, the correlational results showed that people higher in agreeableness exhibited a stronger tendency to engage in prosocial fantasising, and empathy, in part, mediated the relationship. The experimental results from Study 2 conceptually support those from Study 1; when prompted to fantasise about prosocial behaviour, those higher in agreeableness and openness to experience engaged in more helping behaviour, whereas in a control condition, no helping differences emerged. Finding that empathic concern was most consistently related to daydreaming is consistent with the theory in that people are more intrinsically motivated to promote other's welfare at a personal cost when they feel empathy. Engaging in prosocial fantasising may increase empathy, which in turn, may enhance one's prosocial disposition and increase one's helping behaviour.     

Associations Between Sport Participation,Goal and Sportspersonship Orientations,and Moral Reasoning

This study examined associations between level of sport participation, goal and sportspersonship orientations, and moral reasoning in sport and nonsport situations and orientation by sport participation interactions. Participants were individuals with elite (n = 176), high school (n = 183), and youth sport (n = 78) participation. When judging sport situations, individuals who participated in elite sports demonstrated poorer moral reasoning than those who participated in high school and youth sports. At low levels of sportspersonship, individuals who participated in youth sports demonstrated higher moral reasoning than those who participated in high school and elite sports. When judging nonsport situations, moral reasoning was positively related to positive sportspersonship and negatively related to ego orientation but did not differ by sport participation. Within sport, sport participation and goal and sportspersonship orientations play a critical role in moral reasoning. However, these orientations may be more important than sport participation in moral reasoning beyond the sport context.     

The development of bystander intentions and social–moral reasoning about intergroup verbal aggression

A developmental intergroup approach was taken to examine the development of prosocial bystander intentions among children and adolescents. Participants as bystanders (N = 260) aged 8–10 and 13–15 years were presented with scenarios of direct aggression between individuals from different social groups (i.e., intergroup verbal aggression). These situations involved either an ingroup aggressor and an outgroup victim or an outgroup aggressor and an ingroup victim. This study focussed on the role of intergroup factors (group membership, ingroup identification, group norms, and social–moral reasoning) in the development of prosocial bystander intentions. Findings showed that prosocial bystander intentions declined with age. This effect was partially mediated by the ingroup norm to intervene and perceived severity of the verbal aggression. However, a moderated mediation analysis showed that only when the victim was an ingroup member and the aggressor an outgroup member did participants become more likely with age to report prosocial bystander intentions due to increased ingroup identification. Results also showed that younger children focussed on moral concerns and adolescents focussed more on psychological concerns when reasoning about their bystander intention. These novel findings help explain the developmental decline in prosocial bystander intentions from middle childhood into early adolescence when observing direct intergroup aggression.     

Mind Reading Skills and Empathy: Evidence for Nice and Nasty ToM Behaviours in School-Aged Children

We investigated the social use of theory of mind in school-aged children. The expressions Nice Theory of Mind and Nasty Theory of Mind are used to differentiate behaviours requiring a prosocial use and an antisocial use of ToM abilities respectively. Our goals was to investigate whether and how mind reading abilities and empathy affect nice and nasty ToM behaviours. One hundred and ninety-seven children who were fourth and fifth graders took part in this study. Participants were administered stories that assessed cognitive, affective or moral mental state reasoning abilities and they also completed a self-report measure of empathy. Teachers’ rating on children’s prosocial and antisocial behaviours that underpin ToM abilities led us to identify nice and nasty ToM behaviours. We found that children who engage in nasty ToM behaviour showed good abilities to understand others’ thoughts and beliefs. However, children with nice ToM behaviour showed more moral and emotional sensitivity as compared to children who engage in nasty ToM behaviour. Furthermore, the hot component of empathy is stronger in fostering prosocial behaviours and inhibiting antisocial acts than cognitive component.     

Feelings or cognitions? Moral cognitions and emotions as longitudinal predictors of prosocial and aggressive behaviors

There is debate regarding the roles of sociomoral cognitions and emotions in understanding moral development. The short-term longitudinal relations among perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors and aggression in adolescents were examined. Participants were 489 students (M age = 12.28 years, SD = .48; 232 boys) in public and private schools from predominantly middle class families in Valencia, Spain. Students completed measures of perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors, and aggressive behaviors. Overall, structural equation modeling analyses showed that moral reasoning and emotions were interrelated and predicted both prosocial behaviors and aggression. Discussion focuses on the relevance of both social cognitions and emotions in moral development.     

用典型相关进一步研究大学生亲社会倾向和亲社会推理的关系

本研究使用修订后的亲社会倾向量表(PTM)和亲社会客观推理量表(PROM),对大学生群体进行了测查,并采用简单相关和典型相关探讨亲社会倾向和亲社会推理的关系。结果表明:大学生的亲社会倾向由高到低依次为:紧急的、利他的、情绪的、依从的、匿名的和公开的;他们的亲社会推理由高到低依次是:需要定向、刻板定向、内化价值定向、享乐主义定向和赞扬定向。6种亲社会倾向都与刻板定向推理、内化价值定向推理正相关;紧急的、依从的亲社会倾向与需要定向推理正相关;匿名的亲社会倾向与享乐主义定向推理负相关。从典型相关分析结果来看,两者间的整体关联程度没有理论预期的高,典型变量所代表的亲社会倾向主要是紧急的、匿名的、依从的亲社会倾向,而这些亲社会倾向主要由内化价值定向推理、刻板定向推理、需要定向推理来解释。     

Can Hovering Hinder Helping? Examining the Joint Effects of Helicopter Parenting and Attachment on Prosocial Behaviors and Empathy in Emerging Adults

While previous research has established links among multiple aspects of parenting, empathy, and prosocial behaviors in youth, little is known regarding the relations between helicopter parenting, a particular type of parental over control, and empathy and prosocial behaviors (Padilla-Walker, 2014). Because helicopter parenting could undermine empathic and prosocial outcomes by negatively impacting self-regulatory behaviors and promoting narcissistic tendencies (Padilla-Walker, 2014; Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, Bauer, & Murphy, 2012; Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, & Montgomery, 2013), the author sought to examine potential relationships among these constructs. A battery of self-report measures was administered to an emerging adult sample (N = 187 college students; 49% women; M age = 18.81 years; 71% White). Hierarchical multiple regression model results indicated that both maternal and paternal helicopter parenting predicted fewer positive prosocial and empathic outcomes, and these relations depended on parental attachment, gender, and specific outcome assessed. Helicopter parenting appears to be a distinct type of parental overcontrol that especially contributes to moral development.     

Prosocial behaviour mediates the relation between empathy and aggression in primary school children

ABSTRACT

The negative association between empathy and aggression has been widely investigated in the literature. However, the role of potential mediators and the extent to which their effects are gender-specific have been given considerably less attention. The present cross-sectional study was therefore aimed at examining the direct and indirect relations between empathy (differentiated into perspective taking and empathic concern), prosocial behaviour and aggression in a sample of 240 primary school children between 8 and 12 years of age. The results showed that perspective taking and empathic concern had indirect (rather than direct) negative effects on aggression by enhancing prosocial behaviour. These indirect paths applied equally well to boys and girls, although significant gender differences were observed in empathic concern, prosocial behaviour and aggression. Possible explanations and differences with previous studies are discussed.     

Positively versus negatively charged moral emotion expectancies in adolescence: The role of situational context and the developing moral self

The study analyses adolescents' positively charged versus negatively charged moral emotion expectancies. Two hundred and five students (M= 14.83 years, SD= 2.21) participated in an interview depicting various situations in which a moral norm was either regarded or transgressed. Emotion expectancies were assessed for specific emotions (pride, guilt) as well as for overall strength and valence. In addition, self‐importance of moral values was measured by a questionnaire. Results revealed that positively charged emotion expectancies were more pronounced in contexts of prosocial action than in the context of moral transgressions, whereas the opposite was true for negatively charged emotions. At the same time, expectations of guilt and pride were substantially related to the self‐importance of moral values.     

Empathy as a cognitive inhibitor of interpersonal aggression

The studies presented in this paper examined empathy, especially perspective taking, as a potential inhibitor of interpersonal aggression. The theoretical rationale for these investigations derived from Zillmann's [(1988): Aggressive Behavior 14: 51–64] cognitive excitation model. Study 1 revealed that dispositional empathy correlates negatively with self-reported aggression and with conflict responses that reflect little concern for the needs of the other party. Empathy also was positively related to constructive responses to interpersonal conflict (i. e., those that do involve concern for the needs of the other party). In Study 2, perspective taking was manipulated with instructions to subjects prior to participation in a reaction-time task designed to measure aggression. When threat was relatively low, subjects who were instructed to take the perspective of the target responded less aggressively than did those who had been instructed to focus on the task. Study 3 examined the effect of dispositional perspective taking on verbal aggression. Threat was manipulated in terms of the combination of provocation and gender of the interactants. As predicted, perspective taking related to aggression inhibition under conditions of moderate threat–for males under low provocation and females under high provocation. These effects were predicted and explained in the context of the cognitive-excitation model. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Empathy and values as predictors of care development

Juujärvi, S., Myyry, L. & Pesso, K. (2012). Empathy and values as predictors of care development. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 413–420. This study investigates values and affective empathy as predictors for care‐based moral development. Fifty‐three students from a university of applied sciences were interviewed with Skoe’s Ethic of Care Interview at the beginning of their studies and two years later. Value priorities were measured by Schwartz et al.’s Portrait Value Questionnaire, empathy variables by Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and feelings of sympathy were rated using a real‐life moral conflict. The results showed that students in care‐oriented fields progressed in care reasoning. Real‐life sympathy and the value of self‐direction positively predicted development in care reasoning, whereas personal distress was a negative predictor. The results indicate that care‐based moral development is more closely connected with affective empathy than personal values. Individuals who feel empathy for others, and who prefer independent thinking and action, achieve the greatest gains in care development. In conclusion, educators should encourage students’ empathy and moral reasoning in authentic moral conflicts.     

Prosocial development in early adulthood: a longitudinal study

Consistency of measures of a prosocial personality and prosocial moral judgment over time, and the interrelations among them, were examined. Participants and friends' reports of prosocial characteristics were obtained at ages 21-22, 23-24, and 25-26 years. In addition, participants' prosocial judgment was assessed with interviews and with an objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning at several ages. Reports of prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding in childhood and observations of prosocial behavior in preschool also were obtained. There was interindividual consistency in prosocial dispositions, and prosocial dispositions in adulthood related to empathy/sympathy and prosocial behavior at much younger ages. Interview and objective measures of moral reasoning were substantially interrelated in late adolescence/early adulthood and correlated with participants' and friends' reports of a prosocial disposition.     

Mothers' Management of Adolescent Peer Relationships: Associations With Aggressive,Prosocial, and Playful Behavior

The authors examined the relation between adolescents' reports of mothers' management of peer relationships and adolescents' reports of their own aggressive, prosocial, and playful behaviors. The sample comprised 92 adolescents (M age = 15.41 years, SD = 1.81 years) enrolled in a residential summer camp. Higher levels of consulting were related to lower levels of adolescents' relational aggression, physical aggression, playful teasing, and rough-and-tumble play. Higher levels of consulting were related to higher levels of prosocial behavior. Higher levels of guiding were related to higher levels of adolescents' relational aggression and social inclusion. Higher levels of granting access to peers were related to higher levels of adolescents' prosocial behavior and social inclusion. Moderate levels of granting access to peers were related higher levels of playful teasing.     

Children's beliefs about the continuity of aggression

Elementary school students (N = 139) read vignettes describing aggressive peers and rated the extent to which they believed the peers' aggression would continue over time and in different contexts. Children also rated their social and moral acceptance of aggression, and how difficult it would be to help the vignette characters desist from aggression. Teachers rated participants' aggressive and prosocial behaviors. Results indicated that aggression is generally viewed as continuous across time and context, and likely to produce little acceptance. Beliefs about continuity were positively associated with perceived difficulty of changing aggression and negatively associated with social acceptance. Gender moderated the association between continuity beliefs and moral acceptance. Teacher‐rated behavior was associated with social perceptions. Findings are discussed with regard to their implications for future research as well as their potential application to the design of interventions for youth aggression. Aggress. Behav. 00:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Longitudinal relations among perceived parental warmth,self-esteem and social behaviours from middle childhood to early adolescence in China: Disentangling between- and within-person associations

Although several studies have addressed the relations between perceived parental warmth and social behaviours, few have distinguished their between- and within-person effects or explored their within-person mediating mechanisms. This study examined the transactional relations among perceived parental warmth (i.e. maternal warmth and paternal warmth), children's self-esteem and children's positive/negative social behaviours (i.e. prosocial behaviour and delinquent behaviour) along with the mediating role of self-esteem after disentangling between- and within-person effects. A total of 4315 Chinese elementary children (44.9% girls; M_age = 9.93 years, SD = 0.73) completed relevant measures on four occasions employing 6-month intervals. Results of random-intercept cross-lagged panel models showed that (a) perceived parental warmth reciprocally and positively predicted prosocial behaviour and self-esteem; (b) perceived paternal warmth reciprocally and negatively predicted delinquent behaviour; (c) self-esteem reciprocally predicted prosocial and delinquent behaviour; (d) perceived maternal warmth reciprocally and positively predicted prosocial behaviour through self-esteem; (e) perceived parental warmth reciprocally and negatively predicted delinquent behaviour through self-esteem; and (f) perceived maternal and paternal warmth differed in their relations with prosocial and delinquent behaviours through self-esteem. These findings illuminated the complicated longitudinal within-person interactions among perceived parental warmth, self-esteem, and social behaviours, the specific mediating mechanism of self-esteem, and the differing results associated with perceived maternal and paternal warmth, all of which yield significant implications for assessments and early interventions aimed to promote positive social behaviour.     

High cost helping scenario: The role of empathy,prosocial reasoning and moral disengagement on helping behavior

This study aimed to investigate the process that leads people to offer or omit help in response to an explicit request for assistance, taking into account both emotional and cognitive factors. Specifically, a hypothetical scenario methodology was used in a sample of 174 Italian youths (50% males) to examine whether and how factors such as empathy, prosocial moral reasoning and moral disengagement influence the propensity to help when providing assistance is not in the individual’s personal interest. While a few previous studies have included moral disengagement as an antecedent of prosocial decision making, we highlight the significance of this factor in the avoidance of moral responsibility towards others in need. The results highlight two ways in which differences in emotional tendencies and moral-cognitive processes may operate in prosocial decision making in high personal cost situations. First, high empathy levels could promote an altruistic response which in turn fosters mature prosocial moral reasoning. Second, personal distress may enhance moral disengagement mechanisms that may facilitate self-centred behaviors.     

Behavioral and sociocognitive correlates of ratings of prosocial behavior and sociometric status

Although peers' and teachers' evaluations of children's prosocial behavior and peers' sociometric ratings frequently have been used in studies of social development, the validity of young children's ratings of others has been questioned, as has that for teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior. In this study, preschoolers' ratings of peers' sociometric status and prosocial behavior, as well as teachers' ratings of children's prosocial dispositions, were obtained. These were correlated with children's naturally occurring prosocial or social behavior; ratings of prosocial behavior also were correlated with children's prosocial moral reasoning and prosocial self-attributions. Peers' sociometric ratings were positively related to children's sociability whereas prosocial ratings were related to helping (but not sharing) behavior. Teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior were not related to frequency of prosocial behaviors, but were positively related to developmentally mature moral judgments and self-reported motives.