Research On The Conformity Effect Of Third-party Altruistic Behavior

Altruistic behavior is an act of volunteering to help others without expecting a reward later.When an unfair event occurs,the individual will make the corresponding altruistic behavior.According to the difference of the actor and the concrete measure,the altruistic behavior of the individual in the unfair event includes not only the second party(the victim in the unfair event),but also the form of punishing the perpetrator(the punishment of the second party),it also includes third parties(witnesses of unfair bystanders),who may punish the perpetrator or compensate the victim in two ways: third-party punishment and third-party compensation.In real life,compared with the second-party altruistic punishment,the third-party altruistic behavior can be carried out by a wider range of actors,more diverse forms,easier to maintain social norms and norms.Therefore,to study whether there is conformity effect in the third-party altruistic behavior,the role that conformity plays in the third-party altruistic behavior,and how to make people follow other people’s choice and make more third-party altruistic behavior,it is of great significance to promote social harmony and safeguard social equity.It has been found that conformity can promote prosocial behavior and the existence of conformity effect in second-party altruistic punishment.However,there are few studies on the herd effect of third-party altruistic behavior,and it is not clear whether the herd effect on Third-party altruistic behavior is positive or negative.Based on this,this paper takes the university student as the object,through two progressive research,carries on the discussion to the above question..Study 1: The study explores the conformity effect in the third party’s altruistic behavior.Using the third-party punishment and third-party compensation paradigm based on the dictator game,the study collected 62 subjects’ valid data by setting two variables: social influence and unfairness degree.The results show that:(1)the main effect of social influence is significant in third-party punishment and third-party compensation,but the main effect of unfair degree is not significant.This is demonstrated by the following: whether in the case of third-party punishment or third-party compensation,the individual has a higher change rate of choice when his or her behavior is inconsistent than when it is consistent,that is,a herd effect occurs;although the data show that the greater the degree of unfairness,the third-party altruistic punishment rate and the third-party altruistic compensation rate can be increased,but the change rate of individual choice is not affected by the degree of unfairness,but by the social influence;(2)the result of interaction effect analysis shows that the interaction between inequality degree and social influence is not significant.Study 2: This study explores the factors that influence the third party’s altruistic conformity,focusing on the cost of punishment(compensation)and self-construction in terms of the cost and individual characteristics.The research adopts two tasks of Situational third-party punishment and compensation game to collect 82 subjects’ valid data by setting up four kinds of factors,such as unfairness degree,social influence,cost of punishment(compensation)and self-construction.The results of study 2 are as follows:(1)in the situation of third-party altruistic punishment,firstly,the main effect analysis shows that the main effect of social influence and unfair degree is significant,but the main effect of punishment cost and self-construction is not significant.Whether the initial choice is punishment or not,when the individual behavior is inconsistent with others,the change rate of choice is higher than that of conformity,that is,the conformity effect occurs.At the same time,in the high unfair situation,the individual’s choice change rate is higher.In addition,although the main effect of penalty cost is not significant,when the individual’s initial choice is penalty,the change rate of choice is higher under high penalty cost than that under low penalty cost,the interaction between inequality degree and social influence and between inequality degree and punishment cost is significant,but the interaction between self-construction and all variables is not significant.The specific performance is: When the behavior is inconsistent with other people,in the high unfair situation,the individual’s choice change rate is higher.However,when consistent with the behavior of others,there was no difference in the rate of change of individual choice for any degree of inequality.Similarly,when the penalty cost condition is high,the individual’s choice change rate is higher under the high unfair condition.However,under the condition of low penalty cost and any degree of unfairness,there is no difference in individual choice change rate;(2)in the situation of third-party altruistic compensation,the results of the main effect analysis show that the main effect of social influence is significant,and the main effect of other variables is not significant,there was a higher rate of choice change when the behavior was inconsistent than when the behavior was consistent,that is,there was a herd effect,even though the data showed that the higher the level of inequality,the higher the individual’s third-party altruistic compensation rate,however,the change rate of individual choice is not affected by the degree of unfairness,but by the social influence,and the result of interaction effect analysis shows that the interaction among all variables is not significant.Conclusions:(1)There is a conformity effect in third-party altruistic behavior.Individuals are more likely to change their behavior when they are inconsistent with others’ behavior than when they are consistent,and conformity has both positive and negative effects on third-party altruistic behavior.It can promote the third-party altruistic behavior of individuals,and can also inhibit the third-party altruistic behavior of individuals.(2)The cost of punishment has certain influence on the conformity of the third party ’ s altruistic punishment,while the cost of compensation has no influence on the conformity of the third party’s altruistic compensation.(3)Self-construction has no effect on the conformity of third-party altruistic punishment and third-party altruistic compensation.