The Effect Of Perceived Fake Emotion On Prosocial Behavior And Its Mechanism Of Action

Fake emotion refers to the process of emotional interaction that people show positive or negative emotions that do not exist in reality and amplify or suppress the original emotions.Fake emotion is the result of strategic choice,and the emotion displayed by the actor may not happen at the moment,but sometimes it can be persuasive.In many social situations,people strategically manage or express their emotions to achieve their goals.Emotion and pro-social behavior are closely linked.Emotions are motivators of pro-social,as well as the consequences of pro-social behavior.Pro-social emotion may be a genuine concern for another person,such as genuinely helping the person in need when feeling compassion for the other person’s suffering.In many situations,people are suspicious of the motives of others’ pro-social behavior.Firstly,impure pro-social behaviors do exist.People tend to react negatively to individuals with impure moral motives and dislike people who openly display moral behavior.Secondly,because of the existence of impure pro-social behavior,observers have reasons to doubt the real motivation of other’s pro-social behavior.This study relies on the Emotions as Social Information model,using Implicit Association Test(IAT),Dictator Game(DG)and adapted social decision-making situations to explore the perception of fake emotion,and the impact of such perception on the attitudes and behaviors of individuals.There are two studies on this project.Study 1 uses the moral evaluation questionnaire and Implicit Association Test to explore the effects of emotional expression on perceived morality and perceived fake emotion.This study is designed within a single factor.The independent variable is the emotional expression(with/without emotional expression),and the dependent variables are perceived fake emotion level and perceived moral level.The results of Study 1 show that objects with emotional expression are more likely to be perceived as having a higher level of fake emotion,as well as a higher level of perceived morality.In Study 2,the Dictator Game is used to test whether persons’ perception of varied relationships between emotions and situations would change their level of judging others’ fake emotion,and to explore how the change affects distribution behavior and pro-social behavior.The experiment is 2(Round:Round 1/Round 2)*3(Target Emotional Level:high/medium/low)*2(Individual Cognitive Differences:Individuals with high level of perceived fake emotion/Individuals with low level of perceived fake emotion)three-factor mixed experimental design,in which rounds and target emotional levels are variables within the group,and individual cognitive differences is the variable between groups.The dependent variable is the distribution behavior and pro-social behavior of the participants,and the donation rate is the indicator of pro-social behavior.The results of Study 2 show that:(1)When individuals believe that the emotions expressed by others are impure,they tend to reduce the distribution behavior.(2)Individuals with high level of perceived fake emotion are more likely to assign more coins to the target of higher emotional level,while Individuals with low level of perceived fake emotion were more likely to assign more coins to the target of lower emotional level.(3)Pro-social behavior is reduced when individuals believe that the emotional expression of others is impure.(4)Pro-social behavior is positively correlated with the emotional level of others.(5)When the emotional receiver believes that the emotion expressed by the others is faked,the overall defense mechanism will be increased and pro-social behaviors will be reduced.From the perspective of the emotional receiver,this paper explores the changes in people’s attitudes and behavior after emotional interaction with others.It can help people better understand emotions in real life and make rational use of emotional strategies.In addition,the interpersonal effect caused by "measuring others by oneself" has been confirmed in the experiment,which enables us to further understand the internal mechanism of people’s attitude and behavior changes,and to some extent enriches the research on the impacts of fake emotion on interpersonal relationship and social behavior.