The Effect Of Emotion?Psychological Distance On Altruistic Behavior

The altruism behavior has been the focus of psychologists and social psychologist,it is the highest form of prosocial behavior.Researches show that altruistic behavior is under the influence of multiple factors,but through an analysis of existing research,I found that previous studies of altruism behavior focus on the mechanism of values,few scholars research directly the effect of psychological distance on altruistic behavior and intentions,I also found,in the study of altruistic behavior's affecting factors,the effect of emotional state is different.This study will link emotion,psychological distance and altruistic behavior together to discuss and analyze in the different emotional states,psychological distance's mechanism for the individual altruistic behavior by behavioral experiments.Experiment1 are made of 3(emotions:positive,neutral and negative)×2(spatial distance:far and near)mixed design,the students from Hunan Normal University randomly are selected as subjects,45 students altogether,they are randomly divided into three groups,15 persons in each group,they will accept different moods induced.The experiment found:(1)the main effect of emotion categories is significant,the main effect of spatial distance is significant,while emotion categories andspatial distances have interaction;(2)the simple main effects of emotion categories in the different spatial distance are significant,the simple main effects of different spatial distances in different emotion categories are significant.Experiment2 are made of 3(emotions:positive,neutral and negative)×2(social distance:far and near)mixed design,the students from Hunan Normal University randomly are selected as subjects,45 students altogether,they are randomly divided into three groups,15 persons in each group,they will accept different moods induced.The experiment found:(1)the main effect of emotion categories is significant,the main effect of social distance is significant,while emotion categories and social distances have interaction;(2)the simple main effects of emotion categories in the different social distance are significant,the simple main effects of different social distances in different emotion categories are significant.Results show:(1)in a positive emotional state people are more prone to do altruistic behaviors,in a negative emotional state people are less prone to do altruistic behaviors;(2)the different dimensions of psychological distance exist similar mechanisms,close psychological distance than far distance is more likely to promote individual to do altruistic behavior;(3)when individuals in a positive emotion,close psychological distance is the most beneficial to altruistic behavior,and when theindividual is in a negative emotion,psychological distance on altruism behavior has produced different variations.