Zhang Qionghan, Ma Jianhong, Wang Yuqi, Lu Xiqian, Fan Changcun
School of Business Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China.
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Oct 20;13:1005772. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005772. eCollection 2022.
Existing research has identified the importance of role models in the imitation of cooperative behaviors. This Pre-Study attempted to explore the contagion effects of cooperative models. Drawing on goal contagion theory, we proposed that encountering cooperative models could catalyze participants' cooperation when participants joined new groups without role models, and that moral elevation and calling would play a chain-mediating role in this process. To test the hypothesis, we designed a four-person public goods game consisting of two phases in which participants were formed into teams with different people in each phase. We randomly assigned 108 participants to either a consistent contributor (CC) or control condition. The only difference was that participants in the CC condition encountered a cooperative role model (i.e., CC) in the first phase, while those in the control group did not. The results moderately supported all hypotheses. Briefly, our findings provide empirical evidence supporting the two processes of goal contagion theory: when individuals encounter a CC, they first make inferences about the CC's goal, as reflected by moral elevation, and then adopt the model's prosocial goals (i.e., calling), resulting in increased cooperative behaviors in new groups. These findings could extend our understanding of the contagion effect of cooperative modeling, but require high-powered replication studies before such conclusions can be drawn.
现有研究已经确定了榜样在合作行为模仿中的重要性。这项预研究试图探索合作榜样的传染效应。借鉴目标传染理论，我们提出，当参与者加入没有榜样的新群体时，接触合作榜样能够促进他们的合作，并且道德提升和使命感会在这一过程中发挥连锁中介作用。为了验证这一假设，我们设计了一个由两个阶段组成的四人公共品博弈，在每个阶段，参与者与不同的人组成团队。我们将108名参与者随机分配到持续贡献者（CC）组或对照组。唯一的区别是，CC组的参与者在第一阶段遇到了一个合作榜样（即CC），而对照组的参与者没有。结果适度支持了所有假设。简而言之，我们的研究结果提供了实证证据，支持目标传染理论的两个过程：当个体遇到一个CC时，他们首先会对CC的目标进行推断，这表现为道德提升，然后采纳榜样的亲社会目标（即使命感），从而在新群体中增加合作行为。这些发现可以扩展我们对合作榜样传染效应的理解，但在得出此类结论之前，需要进行有足够效力的重复研究。
