The Effect Of Empathy On Prosocial Behavior Of Middle School Students

Prosocial behaviors can often promote interpersonal communication.Empathy is not only a stable personality trait,but also an instant emotional response state.Many researchers have put forward corresponding theories to illustrate the effect of empathy on prosocial behavior.Empathy is the main effect factor of prosocial behavior.The individuals social comparisons orientation varies from person to person,however,individuals almost always make social comparisons always.People with higher social comparison orientation generally have a strong interest in the feelings and a strong sympathy for others.At present,there are few studies on the relationship between social comparison and prosocial behavior,most of the conclusions point that prosocial behavior will be affected by social comparison orientation.With the development of social cognitive neuroscience,research on the psychophysiological mechanisms of these three has become more diversified,and many different paradigms,methods and applications have been developed.The relationship between empathy,social comparison,and prosocial behavior remains to be studied.This research aims to explore the effect of empathy on middle school students’ prosocial behavior and the moderating role of social comparison.This research includes 3 substudies.The study 1 explores the effect of trait empathy on the prosocial tendency of middle school students and the moderating effect of social comparison orientation.The research results prove that trait empathy,social comparison orientation and prosocial tendency are significantly positively correlated,and social comparison has a significant moderating effect.The study 2 explores the effect of trait empathy on middle school students’ prosocial behavior and the moderating effect of social comparison,this study contains two experiments.Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 both verify that the manipulation of social comparison is effective;The results of Experiment 1 show that the trait empathy and social comparison is positively predicting middle school students’ helping behavior;and social comparison has a significant moderating effect.The results of Experiment 2 show that the of trait empathy and social comparison negatively predicts middle school students’ helping behavior;and social comparison is not significant in the moderating effect.Study 3 explores the effect of state empathy on middle school students’ prosocial behavior and the moderating effect of social comparison.Experimental results show the effectiveness of state empathy induction and social comparison manipulation;state empathy and social comparison can positively predict middle school students’ helping behavior;social comparison has a significant moderating effect.This research draws these following conclusions:(1)Trait empathy positively predicts the prosocial behavior tendency of middle school students/helping behaviors that do not involve competence competition.Social comparison orientation has a significant moderating effect in the influence of trait empathy on the prosocial tendency of middle school students.Empathy can initiate and maintain prosocial behavior,and social comparison orientation promotes and induces prosocial tendency and behavior.When competency is not involved,social comparison also predicts higher prosocial orientation;in a competitive situation,individuals with high empathy/high social comparison tend to be more sensitive to the comparison of abilities.Then the focus of individual responses is not the prosocial behavioral orientation but more active participation in self-interested competition;(2)The state empathy and the social comparison can positively predict middle school students’ helping behavior,and the social comparison has a significant moderating effect.When state empathy is induced,the individual may better understand the situation of the recipient,and at this time may increase his willingness to help according to the needs of the recipient,thereby inspiring his helping behavior.