The Effect Of Handedness On Prosocial Behavior:A Moderated Mediation Model

As the representative of harmonious social phenomenon,prosocial behavior has always been a key research hotspot in the field of social psychology.A large number of studies have explored various factors that affect prosocial behavior.From previous studies,it can be seen that subjective individual factors jointly affect prosocial behavior.This study explored the prosocial behavior of college students from personal perspectives.From the perspective of individual differences,handedness is an important individual variable.A growing body of evidence indicates systematic individual differences in a wide variety of domains as a function of degree of handedness.Forgiveness and altruism,like other prosocial behaviors,need empathy as the main promotion condition.It has been proved that empathy mediated the relationship between handedness and forgiveness.Although handedness is related to many factors affecting prosocial behavior,no research directly confirm what kind of influence handedness will have on prosocial behavior until now.This study preliminarily confirmed the relationship between handedness and prosocial behavior,and further explored the mediating effect of empathy in the relationship.From the perspective of circumstances,existing studies have shown that situational factors moderated prosocial behavior,and the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior is different under different conditions.On the other hand,There is no unified conclusion about the influence of ego-depletion on prosocial behavior so far.Different individuals may choose to make different behaviors under the state of ego-depletion.Therefore,this study explores the moderating effect of ego-depletion on prosocial behavior on the basis of the establishment of mediating effect.In this study,214 college students(M = 20.29,SD = 2.86)from the Jilin University were recruited,and two studies were carried out by combining experimental method and questionnaire method to study the relationship between handedness and prosocial behavior.The main results of two studies are as follows:(a)The level of prosocial behavior of individuals with inconsistent handedness was significantly higher than that of consistent handedness individuals;(b)The cognitive empathy of individuals with inconsistent handedness was significantly higher than that of consistent handedness individuals;(c)Cognitive empathy was significantly positively correlated with prosocial behavior.Specifically,with the increase of cognitive empathy,the level of prosocial behavior also improved;(d)Cognitive empathy plays a mediating role in the relationship between handedness and prosocial behavior;(e)Ego-depletion further moderates the above mediation model of handedness,cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior.