Effects Of Money Reminder And Status Differences On Empathy In Intergroup Context

Now we are in an era with rapid economic growth, and the psychological consequences of money on people is increasingly paid much attention to by researchers. The study of the psychological consequences of money on people can help people treat money reasonably, recognize money reasonably, avoid its negative consequences and use its positive consequences efficiently. The prior findings indicated, money can bring about a sense of self-efficacy, a self-sufficient orientation, a sense of strength, high self-esteem, a feeling of confidence, autonomy, and a sense of control. But at the same time, money also can undermine interpersonal harmony, and prevents people from developing empathizing, caring, and loving relationships.This study added three variables, that is, status differences, status changes and the relation between individuals and the subject of empathy, and extended the prior study. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of money reminder, status differences and status changes on empathy in intergroup contexts through four experimenal studies.The participants in this study were undergraduates and postgraduates, and computer screensaver and counting money and counting papers were adopted as money reminder methods, prior status differences materials was compiled and used, with status changes materials self-created, the prior measurement of empathy was also used to conduct four behavioral experimental studies.In experiment 1, the impacts of money reminder and status differences on empathy in intergroup contexts when the subject of empathy was a stranger were examined. The results showed that (a) the main effect of money reminder was found significant, that is RMB reminder can reduce interpersonal empathy significantly compared with fish reminder. (b) the main effect of status differences was not found significant, that is people will not be motivated to show different empathy toward others because of their different status. (c) the interaction of money reminder and status differences was found significant. Under the fish reminder condition, people showed the highest empathy levels towards people who are at the equal status with them; the next are people who are at higher status than them and people who are at lower status than them. But under RMB reminder condition, people showed the lowest empathy levels towards people who are at the equal status with them; the next are people who are at higher status than them and people who are at lower status than them. Under two money conditions, people reduced empathy significantly towards people who are at the equal status with them; and people showed the consistent empathy levels towards people who are at higher status than them; but people showed incresingly higher empathy towards people who are at lower status than them. (d) gender posed no effect on empathy.In experiment 2, the impacts of money reminder and status differences on empathy in intergroup contexts when the subject of empathy was significant others (such as, brothers or sisters and friends and so on) were examined. The results showed that (a) the main effect of money reminder was found significant, that is RMB reminder can reduce interpersonal empathy significantly compared with fish reminder. (b) the main effect of status differences was not found significant, that is people will not be motivated to show different empathy to others because of their different status. (c) the interaction of money reminder and status differences was found significant. Under the fish reminder condition, people showed the highest empathy levels towards people who are at the equal status with them; the next are people who are at higher status than them and people who are at lower status than them. But under RMB reminder condition, people showed the lowest empathy levels towards people who are at the equal status with them; the next are people who are at higher status than them and people who are at lower status than them. Under two money conditions, people reduced empathy significantly towards people who are at the equal status with them; and people showed the consistent empathy levels towards people who are at higher status than them; but people showed incresingly higher empathy towards people who are at lower status than them. (d) gender posed no effect on empathy.Compared with study (?) and study 2, two important findings were found:Firstly, compared with strangers, people showed intensive empathy towards their significant others evidently. Secondly, peoples'empathy towards strangers and significant others followed the same mode, no matter they are in RMB reminder condition or in fish reminder condition.In experiment 3, the impacts of money reminder and status changes on empathy in intergroup contexts when the subject of empathy was a stranger were examined. The results showed that (a) the main effect of money reminder was found significant, but it showed that counting money can increase interpersonal empathy significantly compared with counting paper. (b) the main effect of status changes was not found significant, that is people will not be motivated to show different empathy to others because of their different status changes. (c) the interaction effect of money reminder and status changes was not found significant.In experiment 4, the impacts of money reminder and status changes on empathy in intergroup contexts when the subject of empathy was significant others (such as, brothers or sisters and friends and so on) were examined. The results showed that (a) the main effect of money reminder was found significant, but it showed that counting money can increase interpersonal empathy significantly compared with counting paper. (b) the main effect of status changes was not found significant, that is people will not be motivated to show different empathy to others because of their different status changes. (c) the interaction of money reminder and status changes was not found significant.Compared with study 3 and study 4, two important findings were found:Firstly, for stranges, under the short term relationship influences, people pay much attention to the current benefit, so they showed more empathy toward those whose satus is changing from low to high compared with those whose status is changing from high to low. Second, for significant others, under the long term relationship influences, people pay much attention to the long benefit, so they show more empathy toward those whose status is changing from high to low compared with those whose satus is changing from low to high.The results of this study showed, under money reminder, people's empathy towards others was not an "all" mode, following the principle of social exchange theory and differential mode theory. Even, money will increase people's empathy toward others.