Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Stress. 2021 Jul;24(4):468-473. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2020.1846029. Epub 2020 Nov 18.
There is increasing empirical evidence that social distance and timing affect prosocial behavior after acute stress exposure. The present study focused on everyday moral decision-making after acute psychosocial stress and how it is influenced by effects of social closeness and timing. We exposed 40 young healthy men to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, = 20) or its non-stressful placebo version (PTSST, = 20). Moral decision-making was assessed early (+10 until +30 min) and late (+75 until +95 min) after (P)TSST exposure by the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale. The EMCS Scale requests altruistic versus egoistic responses to everyday moral conflict situations with varying closeness of target persons. Results revealed significantly higher total percentages of altruistic decisions in the stress than in the control condition and for scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists, while the main effect of timing was nonsignificant. Only secondary analyses showed increased altruistic decision-making after acute stress exposure toward socially close but not toward distant protagonists at the early but not at the late point of measurement. Moreover, psychological stress responses and personality traits were significantly associated with EMCS scores. Positive correlations between cortisol levels and altruistic decision-making were descriptively observable, but did not reach statistical significance. In sum, our findings suggest increased altruistic decision-making toward socially close compared to socially distant protagonists and provide further evidence that acute stress influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict scenarios in a prosocial manner.Lay summaryIn order to investigate the effects of acute stress on everyday moral decision-making, 40 young healthy men were exposed to moderate psychosocial stress by the use of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or its non-stressful placebo version and then completed a hypothetical everyday moral decision-making paradigm. Our findings provide evidence that acute stress exposure influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations in a prosocial manner. Furthermore, participants decided more altruistically in scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists.
越来越多的经验证据表明，社交距离和时间会影响急性应激暴露后的亲社会行为。本研究关注急性心理社会应激后日常道德决策，以及社会亲近度和时间如何影响日常道德决策。我们让 40 名年轻健康男性接受特里尔社会应激测试（TSST，n=20）或其非应激安慰剂版本（PTSST，n=20）。在（P）TSST 暴露后 10 分钟到 30 分钟（早期）和 75 分钟到 95 分钟（晚期），使用日常道德冲突情况量表（EMCS）评估道德决策。EMCS 量表要求参与者对日常道德冲突情况做出利他主义与利己主义的反应，情况中涉及的目标人物与参与者的关系有远近之分。结果显示，在应激条件下，参与者做出利他主义决策的百分比明显高于对照条件下，而且涉及社会亲近（如母亲）的情况比涉及社会疏远（如陌生人）的情况中，做出利他主义决策的百分比更高，而时间的主要影响并不显著。仅在次要分析中发现，在早期而非晚期测量点，急性应激暴露后，参与者对社会亲近的目标人物更倾向于做出利他主义决策，而对社会疏远的目标人物则没有。此外，心理应激反应和人格特质与 EMCS 评分显著相关。皮质醇水平与利他主义决策之间存在正相关，这一关系具有描述性，但未达到统计学意义。总之，我们的研究结果表明，与社会疏远的目标人物相比，个体在面对社会亲近的目标人物时，更倾向于做出利他主义决策，这进一步证明了急性应激会以亲社会的方式影响日常道德冲突情景中的决策。
