Effects Of Vicarious Ostracism On The Prosocial Behavioral Intentions

Social exclusion is one of the sources of stimulation for prosocial behavior.Vicarious ostracism,which is part of the field of social exclusion studies,also affects an individual’s cognition,mood and behavior.However,current researches on vicarious ostracism and prosocial behaviors focused on compensatory behaviors of observers towards the excluded.The relationship between vicarious ostracism and the prosocial behavior has not been further explored.Clarifying the mechanism of role of vicarious ostracism on prosocial behavior can not only fill the research gaps,but also provide guidance and suggestions for guiding individuals to adopt prosocial behavior.Therefore,after reading the relevant literature,based on ostracism detection system theory,multiple motivation model theory,empathy theory and moral attribution theory,this study constructed a relationship model of vicarious ostracism,negative emotions,prosocial behavioral willingness and empathy.Through the experimental method,the experimental design was carried out by using the paradigm of Cyberball,the paradigm of Imagining vicarious ostracism and the scenario method.Measured an individual’s willingness to prosocial behavior in areas such as poverty alleviation through consumption,charitable donation charitable,altruistic compensatory behavior,and helping behavior.The theoretical models and hypotheses proposed in this study were verified by statistical analysis method.It has been found that in situations where the motivation for ostracism is ambiguous,vicarious ostracism increases an individual’s willingness to prosocial behavior(Study 1,Study 2),but sometimes reduces an individual’s willingness to prosocial behavior towards the excluded(Study 3).Negative emotions play a partial mediating role between vicarious ostracism and the willingness to prosocial behavior(Study 2,Study 3),and empathy moderates the relationship between negative emotions and the willingness to prosocial behavior(Study 3).This study enriches the theoretical research of vicarious ostracism and prosocial behavior,clarifies the influence mechanism of vicarious ostracism on the individual’s willingness to prosocial behavior under the situation of ambiguous ostracism motivation,and provides new thinking directions and design suggestions for cause-related marketing,charitable marketing and moral publicity in practice.