The Effect Of Sense Of Power On Prosocial Behavior:The Mediating Role Of Empathy And The Moderating Role Of Self-construal

Prosocial behavior plays an important role in the development of a harmonious society,and has been the subject of many scholars.Sense of power is one of the important influencing factors of prosocial behavior.At present,few people have systematically explored the internal mechanism of the relationship between the two,and the research results are inconsistent.After combing previous studies,it is found that the sense of power will lead to changes in the level of individual empathy,while many studies show that empathy will change the level of prosocial behavior,so empathy may play a mediating role in the influence of sense of power on prosocial behavior.In addition,studies have found that there are differences in the level of empathy among individuals of different types of self-construal.Therefore,self-construal may play a moderating role in the influence of sense of power on empathy,thus further affecting prosocial behavior.Therefore,this study will use empathy as the mediator variable and self-construal as the moderator variable to build a moderated mediated model to systematically explore the mechanism of the influence of sense of power on prosocial behavior.This study consists of two sub-studies to explore the impact of sense of power on prosocial behavior.Study 1 explored the mediating role of empathy in the influence of sense of power on prosocial behavior.128 college students were selected as subjects.Experimental design between subjects was taken.Situational recall method was used to manipulate the sense of power of the subjects,and the amount of donations was used as a measure of prosocial behavior.Study 2 systematically studied the moderating role of self-construal in the influence of sense of power on empathy and then on prosocial behavior on the basis of study1.122 college students were selected as subjects.2(the sense of power: high /low)× 2(self-construal: independent/interdependent)experimental design between subjects was used in the study.The time of helping others was used as a measure of prosocial behavior.The research conclusions are as follows:(1)Sense of power negatively affects prosocial behavior,and empathy plays a mediating role.Compared with people with low sense of power,people with high sense of power have lower levels of empathy and prosocial behavior.(2)The process that the sense of power influences on prosocial behavior through the empathy is moderated by self-construal.(3)In independent self-construal,the sense of power affects prosocial behavior through empathy.The level of empathic response and the level of prosocial behavior of the independent self-constructors with high sense of power are lower compared to independent self-constructors with low sense of power.However,in the interdependent self-construal,there is no significant difference in the level of empathic response and the level of prosocial behavior between those with high sense of power and those with low sense of power.