Zhang Cheng, Qian Lixian, Yu Wen, Hu Jian-Qiang, Lu Xiongwen
School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China.
Fundam Res. 2023 Aug 7;5(3):1233-1245. doi: 10.1016/j.fmre.2023.07.003. eCollection 2025 May.
The literature suggests inconsistent evidence regarding the influence of danger on prosocial behavior. We explore this issue through a nationwide survey of 8567 households in China during the COVID-19 Omicron variant outbreak in 2022. In a zero-COVID policy, China chose to quarantine all neighborhoods with viral infections. The almost random presence of infected cases provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between the proximity of danger (i.e. potential Omicron infection) and the prosocial behavior of residents in quarantine zones. For the first time, we find an inverted U-shape relationship: residents exhibit a stronger prosocial behavior when living closer to infected cases in the neighborhood, but this positive effect diminishes when they are too close to each other. Furthermore, such non-linear relationship is salient in residents' interpersonal helping but not in their cooperative behavior. Policymakers should be mindful of the different prosocial responses and target their efforts to help communities navigate quarantine periods more effectively.
关于危险对亲社会行为的影响，文献给出的证据并不一致。我们通过在2022年新冠病毒奥密克戎变异株疫情期间对中国8567户家庭进行的全国性调查来探究这一问题。在动态清零政策下，中国选择对所有出现病毒感染的小区进行封控。感染病例的近乎随机分布提供了一个机会，来检验危险的接近程度（即潜在的奥密克戎感染）与封控区居民亲社会行为之间的关系。我们首次发现了一种倒U形关系：当居民居住得离小区内的感染病例更近时，他们会表现出更强的亲社会行为，但当彼此距离过近时，这种积极影响就会减弱。此外，这种非线性关系在居民的人际帮助行为中很显著，但在他们的合作行为中则不然。政策制定者应注意到不同的亲社会反应，并针对性地努力，以更有效地帮助社区度过封控期。
