The Psychological Mechanism Of Do-gooder Rejection:The Effect Of Perceived Excessive Self-sacrifice

A do-gooder is a person whose life is devoted to doing good,who does everything he possibly can to help others and commits himself wholly.With a devotion to moral ideals,such people consider it their duty to improve the welfare of others.But a number of studies have confirmed that people may sometimes put down and avoid do-gooders just because of their good deeds(e.g.,Monin,Sawyer,&Marquez.,2008;Tasimi,Dominguez,&Wynn,2015).Two distinct mechanisms have been proposed to explain this phenomenon:moral self-threat(Monin,2007)and group norm deviation(Irwin&Home,2013).However,the explanatory power of these mechanisms has been hampered by inconsistent definitions for do-gooder and flawed experimental designs.The current study attempted to address these deficiencies,re-examine the phenomenon and propose a new mechanism for do-gooder rejection.Three studies have been conducted.In Study 1,three between-subject experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that do-gooders are liked less than moderate altruists.Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions and directed to read a vignette describing either a do-gooder or a moderate altruist,after which they were asked to report their attitudes toward the protagonist of the vignette.Three sets of vignettes and different measures were used to test the generality of any effects observed and to demonstrate that findings were not specific to one particular scenario or measurement.In Study la,after reading a short passage describing a dog rescuer,participants reported their willingness to imitate him/her.The results showed that the do-gooder was rated as a less desirable role model compared to the moderate altruist.Study 1b used a different set of vignettes describing good deeds of a charitable donor and asked participants to rate his/her social attractiveness and report their wishful identification with him/her.When helping attitude was controlled,it's found that participants were less likely to identify with a do-gooder;moreover,they were also less willing to socialize with a do-gooder.In order to eliminate the influence of family responsibilities on the results,study 1c asked participants to read vignettes describing a single and childless pro bono attorney and used social attractiveness and impression evaluation as measurements for attraction.As expected,participants were less willing to make friends with a do-gooder and had a less favorable overall impression of him/her.Overall,Study 1 proved that do-gooders were viewed as less attractive than moderate altruists.Study 2 explored the psychological mechanism of do-gooder rejection with two experiments.Study 2a examined the mediating effect of perceived excessive self-sacrifice,and found that higher perceived excessive self-sacrifice helps to explain participants'lower willingness to take a do-gooder as a role model.In Study 2b,the two alternative mechanisms,moral self-threat(Monin,2007)and group norm deviation(Irwin&Home,2013)were also introduced into the mediation model,and a parallel multiple mediator model of do-gooder rejection was tested.Both the total effect of three mediators and the individual effect of perceived excessive self-sacrifice were significant.The results of these two studies indicated that perceived excessive self-sacrifice is an important psychological mechanism of do-gooder rejection.Based on Study 2,Study 3 manipulated participants' perception of the protagonist's level of self-sacrifice to see whether decreased perceived self-sacrifice could effectively alleviate do-gooder rejection.The results showed that participants were more attracted to a do-gooder who derives pleasure from helping others than to one who does good only out of a sense of duty,which can be explained by differences in the level of self-sacrificing orientation perceived in these two types of do-gooders.To sum up,the current study has proved that do-gooders are liked less than moderate altruists and perceived excessive self-sacrifice is an underlying mechanism of do-gooder rejection.As such,lowering perceived self-sacrifice can to some extent alleviate this phenomenon.The significance,limitations and future directions were also discussed.