Frimer Jeremy A, Aquino Karl, Gebauer Jochen E, Zhu Luke Lei, Oakes Harrison
Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada;
Marketing and Behavioral Sciences Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 May 26;112(21):6591-4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500355112. Epub 2015 May 11.
Talking about helping others makes a person seem warm and leads to social approval. This work examines the real world consequences of this basic, social-cognitive phenomenon by examining whether record-low levels of public approval of the US Congress may, in part, be a product of declining use of prosocial language during Congressional debates. A text analysis of all 124 million words spoken in the House of Representatives between 1996 and 2014 found that declining levels of prosocial language strongly predicted public disapproval of Congress 6 mo later. Warm, prosocial language still predicted public approval when removing the effects of societal and global factors (e.g., the September 11 attacks) and Congressional efficacy (e.g., passing bills), suggesting that prosocial language has an independent, direct effect on social approval.
谈论帮助他人会让人显得热情，并获得社会认可。这项研究通过考察美国国会创历史新低的公众认可度是否部分源于国会辩论中亲社会语言使用的减少，来探究这一基本社会认知现象在现实世界中的影响。对1996年至2014年间众议院所有1.24亿字发言进行的文本分析发现，亲社会语言使用的减少有力地预示了6个月后公众对国会的不满。在消除社会和全球因素（如9·11袭击）以及国会效能（如通过法案）的影响后，温暖、亲社会的语言仍能预示公众认可，这表明亲社会语言对社会认可具有独立的直接影响。
