The Effect Of Negative Emotions On Children's Prosocial Behavior

The prosocial behavior is influenced by one's emotional state.Previous studies have some disagreement on the influence of negative emotions on prosocial behavior.Because different emotions of the same valence may have different impacts on the individual's behavior and decision making,this study selected the four basic negative emotions(i.e.,sad,anger,fear,and disgust),and examined their influence on children's prosocial behavior.180 fourth and fifth grade school children from one elementary school in Shanghai were participated in this study.The emotional video materials were used to arouse the target emotions,and the prosocial situational decision making task was used to assess children's prosocial behavior.This study utilized the one-factor between subject design to examine the influence of sad,anger,fear,and disgust on children's prosocial behavior.Moreover,this study examined the prediction of the arousal level on the prosocial behavior under different negative emotions,the mediation of the empathy state(the empathy trait as the covariate)for the relation of emotional arousal and the prosocial behavior,as well as the moderation of the emotion regulation competence for the relation of emotional arousal and prosocial behavior.The result showed: 1)children exhibited less prosocial behavior under sad,anger,fear and disgust;2)the emotional arousal level was the predictor of prosocial behavior under sad,anger,fear and disgust;3)the empathy state fully mediated the relation of emotional arousal and the prosocial behavior under anger,fear and disgust,and it partly mediated the relation of emotional arousal and the prosocial behavior under sad;4)the emotion regulation competence only moderated the relation of emotional arousal and prosocial behavior under sad and anger.