Chan Chi Fung, Lim Hiu Ching, Lau Fung Yee, Ip Wing, Lui Chak Fong Shannon, Tam Katy Yuen Yan, Feldman Gilad
Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Apr 30;12(4):250508. doi: 10.1098/rsos.250508. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Gratitude and indebtedness are common emotions in response to a favour, yet research suggests that they are experienced differently depending on the situation. Tsang (Tsang JA. 2006 The effects of helper intention on gratitude and indebtedness. , 198-204. (doi:10.1007/s11031-006-9031-z)), found that gratitude for a favour depended on perceived helper intention, whereas indebtedness did not. Perceived benevolent helper intentions were associated with higher gratitude from beneficiaries compared to selfish ones, yet had no associations with indebtedness. In a registered report with a United States Prolific student sample ( = 759), we conducted a replication and extensions of studies 2 and 3 from Tsang, 2006. In the original studies, Tsang found support for the impact of the helper's intention on gratitude (study 2: = 0.20 [0.08, 0.32]; study 3: = 0.14 [0.03, 0.26]), but not for indebtedness (study 2: = 0.01 [0.00, 0.08]; study 3: = 0.00 [0.00, 0.03]). In our replications, we found support for the impact of helper's intention on gratitude (study 2: = 0.33 [0.28, 0.37]; study 3: = 0.16 [0.12, 0.20]), and-as expected-no support for an effect on indebtedness (study 2: = 0.00 [0.00, 0.01]; study 3: = 0.01 [0.00, 0.01]). We concluded a successful replication, that helping intent was more strongly associated with gratitude than with indebtedness. Extending the replication, we found evidence for the impact of helper intention on perceived expectations for reciprocity ( = 1.51 [1.31, 1.71]), and reciprocity inclination ( = 0.66 [0.48, 0.84]), and for opposite associations of perceived reciprocity expectations with gratitude ( = -0.28 [-0.35, -0.22]) and indebtedness ( = 0.17 [0.10, 0.24]). Materials, data and code are available on: https://osf.io/ghfy4/. This registered report has been officially endorsed by the Peer Community in Registered Reports: https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.rr.100788.
感恩和亏欠是因他人施惠而产生的常见情感，但研究表明，它们在不同情况下的体验有所不同。曾（曾杰A. 2006年 帮助者意图对感恩和亏欠的影响。 ，198 - 204。（doi:10.1007/s11031-006-9031-z））发现，对他人施惠的感恩取决于对帮助者意图的感知，而亏欠感则不然。与自私的帮助者意图相比，被感知到的善意帮助者意图会让受益者产生更高的感恩之情，但与亏欠感无关。在一项针对美国Prolific学生样本（ = 759）的预注册报告中，我们对曾2006年的研究2和研究3进行了重复和拓展。在原研究中，曾发现帮助者意图对感恩有影响（研究2： = 0.20 [0.08, 0.32]；研究3： = 0.14 [0.03, 0.26]），但对亏欠感没有影响（研究2： = 0.01 [0.00, 0.08]；研究3： = 0.00 [0.00, 0.03]）。在我们的重复研究中，我们发现帮助者意图对感恩有影响（研究2： = 0.33 [0.28, 0.37]；研究3： = 0.16 [0.12, 0.20]），并且——正如预期的那样——对亏欠感没有影响（研究2： = 0.00 [0.00, 0.01]；研究3： = 0.01 [0.00, 0.01]）。我们得出结论，重复研究成功，即帮助意图与感恩的关联比与亏欠感的关联更强。在拓展重复研究时，我们发现了帮助者意图对互惠预期感知（ = 1.51 [1.31, 1.71]）和互惠倾向（ = 0.66 [0.48, 0.84]）有影响的证据，以及互惠预期感知与感恩（ = -0.28 [-0.35, -0.22]）和亏欠感（ = 0.17 [0.10, 0.24]）呈相反关联的证据。材料、数据和代码可在以下网址获取：https://osf.io/ghfy4/。这份预注册报告已得到注册报告领域同行社区的正式认可：https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.rr.100788。
