The Influence Of Ego-depletion And Empathy On The Third Party Punishment Of High School Students

As an altruistic punishment,third-party punishment plays a pivotal role in maintaining social order.Ego-depletion and empathy can have an impact on individual behavior,while existing research on third-party punishment has paid less attention to ego-depletion and the role of both ego-depletion and empathy in it.In the past,research on third-party punishment mainly focused on college students,while there were few studies on the high school student group.Therefore,this study selected high school students as subjects and explored the impact of ego-depletion and empathy on third-party punishment based on the group characteristics of their learning and life.In study 1,65 senior high school students were selected as subjects,and 2(ego-depletion:high and low)×2(proponent group relationship: internal and external)two-factor mixed design,through the Stroop task to manipulate the level of self loss of the subjects,using the dictator game paradigm to measure the punishment behavior of the third party,and to explore the impact of ego-depletion on the punishment of the third party.The results showed that:(1)the punishment rate and punishment intensity of the high ego-depletion group were higher than that of the low ego-depletion group;(2)The punishment rate and punishment intensity of individual external group proposers are higher than those of internal group proposers.In study2,a total of 166 interpersonal response indicator questionnaires were collected,and 71 senior high school students who met the requirements were finally selected,using 2(trait empathy:high and low)×2(proponent group relationship: internal and external),using the dictator game method to measure the punishment behavior of the third party,and to explore the impact of trait empathy on the punishment of the third party.The results showed that:(1)the punishment intensity of the high trait empathy group was higher than that of the low trait empathy group,and there was no significant difference in the punishment rate between the two groups;(2)The punishment rate and punishment intensity of individual external group proposers are higher.In study 3,131 senior high school students were selected as subjects,and 2(ego-depletion: high and low)×2(state empathy: high,low)×2(proponent group relationship: internal and external)three-factor mixed design,after the Stroop task manipulated the level of ego-depletion of the subjects,the state empathy of the subjects was induced,and then the dictator game was used to measure the punishment behavior of the third party to explore the impact of ego-depletion and state empathy on the third party punishment.The results showed that:(1)the punishment rate and punishment intensity of the high ego-depletion group was higher than that of the low ego-depletion group;(2)The punishment rate and punishment intensity of the high state empathy group were higher than those of the low state empathy group;(3)The punishment rate and punishment intensity of individual external group proposers are higher;(4)Ego-depletion and state empathy have interaction on punishment rate and punishment intensity.Based on the three experimental studies,this study draws the following conclusions:(1)Ego-depletion promotes the third-party punishment of high school students.(2)Trait empathy promotes the third party punishment of high school students.(3)State empathy promotes the third party punishment of senior high school students(4)There is group preference in the third party punishment behavior of senior high school students,that is,individuals are more inclined to punish the outside group proposers.(5)Ego-depletion and state empathy have an interactive effect on the third party punishment of high school students.