Personality, Social Psychology, and Health (PSPH) Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Personality, Social Psychology, and Health (PSPH) Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Mar 28;285(1875). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0116.
The observation of behaviour is a key theoretical parameter underlying a number of models of prosociality. However, the empirical findings showing the effect of observability on prosociality are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we explore the boundary conditions that may account for this variability, by exploring key theoretical and methodological moderators of this link. We identified 117 papers yielding 134 study level effects (total = 788 164) and found a small but statistically significant, positive association between observability and prosociality ( = 0.141, 95% confidence interval = 0.106, 0.175). Moderator analysis showed that observability produced stronger effects on prosociality: (i) in the presence of passive observers (i.e. people whose role was to only observe participants) versus perceptions of being watched, (ii) when participants' decisions were consequential (versus non-consequential), (iii) when the studies were performed in the laboratory (as opposed to in the field/online), (iv) when the studies used repeated measures (instead of single games), and (v) when the studies involved social dilemmas (instead of bargaining games). These effects show the conditions under which observability effects on prosociality will be maximally observed. We describe the theoretical and practical significance of these results.
行为观察是许多亲社会行为模型的一个关键理论参数。然而，关于可观察性对亲社会行为影响的实证研究结果却存在差异。在这项元分析中，我们通过探索该关联的关键理论和方法学调节因素，来探究可能导致这种可变性的边界条件。我们确定了 117 篇论文，得出了 134 项研究水平的效应（总计=788164），发现可观察性和亲社会行为之间存在小但具有统计学意义的正相关（=0.141，95%置信区间=0.106，0.175）。调节分析表明，可观察性对亲社会行为的影响更大：（i）在存在被动观察者（即仅观察参与者的人）而不是被监视的感觉的情况下，（ii）当参与者的决策具有后果（而不是无后果）时，（iii）当研究在实验室中进行（而不是在现场/在线进行）时，（iv）当研究使用重复测量（而不是单次游戏）时，以及（v）当研究涉及社会困境（而不是讨价还价游戏）时。这些效果显示了在哪些条件下可以最大程度地观察到可观察性对亲社会行为的影响。我们描述了这些结果的理论和实际意义。
