Nook Erik C, Ong Desmond C, Morelli Sylvia A, Mitchell Jason P, Zaki Jamil
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2016 Aug;42(8):1045-62. doi: 10.1177/0146167216649932. Epub 2016 May 26.
Generosity is contagious: People imitate others' prosocial behaviors. However, research on such prosocial conformity focuses on cases in which people merely reproduce others' positive actions. Hence, we know little about the breadth of prosocial conformity. Can prosocial conformity cross behavior types or even jump from behavior to affect? Five studies address these questions. In Studies 1 to 3, participants decided how much to donate to charities before learning that others donated generously or stingily. Participants who observed generous donations donated more than those who observed stingy donations (Studies 1 and 2). Crucially, this generalized across behaviors: Participants who observed generous donations later wrote more supportive notes to another participant (Study 3). In Studies 4 and 5, participants observed empathic or non-empathic group responses to vignettes. Group empathy ratings not only shifted participants' own empathic feelings (Study 4), but they also influenced participants' donations to a homeless shelter (Study 5). These findings reveal the remarkable breadth of prosocial conformity.
人们会模仿他人的亲社会行为。然而，关于这种亲社会从众行为的研究主要集中在人们仅仅复制他人积极行为的案例上。因此，我们对亲社会从众行为的广度了解甚少。亲社会从众行为能否跨越行为类型，甚至从行为转变为情感呢？五项研究探讨了这些问题。在研究1至3中，参与者在得知他人慷慨或吝啬捐赠之前，决定自己向慈善机构捐赠多少。观察到慷慨捐赠的参与者比观察到吝啬捐赠的参与者捐赠得更多（研究1和2）。至关重要的是，这种现象在不同行为中普遍存在：观察到慷慨捐赠的参与者随后会给另一位参与者写更多支持性的便条（研究3）。在研究4和5中，参与者观察了小组对 vignettes 的共情或非共情反应。小组共情评分不仅改变了参与者自身的共情感受（研究4），还影响了参与者向无家可归者收容所的捐赠（研究5）。这些发现揭示了亲社会从众行为惊人的广度。
