The Influence Of Different Moral Priming Conditions On Prosocial Behavior:the Role Of Moral Elevation

With the new coronavirus pneumonia sweeping across the country,a large number of touching prosocial behaviors have emerged.There are more than 40000 medical workers in Wuhan and more than 20 billion donations from all walks of life.Countless volunteers play an important role in helping the people of the whole country tide over the difficulties hand in hand.This fully reflects the importance of prosocial behavior to the construction and development of a harmonious society.It has been proved that seeing other people’s moral behavior can lead to individual moral goodwill behavior.This process is considered to be prosocial.In the process of prosocial contagion,moral improvement is an important mechanism of progressive function.The sense of moral promotion refers to a kind of positive moral emotion produced by individuals who see other people’s moral behavior,appreciate other people’s virtue and feel their moral sentiment has been promoted.When we see other people’s moral behavior,it will cause the individual’s sense of moral improvement,and then promote prosocial behavior.Although it has been proved that seeing other people’s moral behavior can lead to moral promotion and subsequent prosocial intention,we know little about the influence of different types of moral behavior on moral promotion and prosocial behavior.This study is an empirical study to explore the influence of different starting conditions of moral behavior on the sense of moral promotion and prosocial behavior.In Study 1,video priming materials with different moral orientations were used to explore the influence of different moral priming conditions and upward social comparison tendency on moral promotion and prosocial behavior.In Study 2,the influence of upward social comparison on moral promotion and prosocial behavior was further explored by the way of upward social comparison arousal.The main results are as follows.Compared with neutral moral priming,individuals under the condition of moral priming(Justice/care)have more prosocial behaviors,which is due to the higher level of moral promotion caused by moral priming.The sense of moral promotion plays a mediating role in the relationship between different moral priming conditions and prosocial behavior;Under different moral priming conditions,the upward social comparison tendency of individuals can regulate the relationship between different moral priming conditions and prosocial behaviors;Compared with the situation without upward social comparison arousal,moral priming in upward social comparison arousal can induce more prosocial behaviors.This is because the moral priming in upward social comparison arousal leads to a higher level of moral promotion,which plays a mediating role in the relationship between different upward social comparison arousal situations and prosocial behaviors.The conclusion of this study shows that individuals exposed to different types of moral behaviors will trigger a sense of moral improvement and increase subsequent pro-social behaviors;Upward social comparison plays a promoting role in the process of prosocial infection.This conclusion verifies the applicability of prosocial transmission of Chinese traditional culture,broadens the mechanism of prosocial transmission,and provides a theoretical basis for the application and development of moral education from a scientific perspective.