The Effect Of Gratitude On Third-Party Altruistic Behavior

Third-party altruistic behavior plays a vital role in social cooperation and the development of social harmony as a type of fair maintenance behavior.When confronted with unfair circumstances,those who have nothing to do with the events are willing to put their personal interests aside in order to preserve social fairness norms.These behaviors can be classified as third-party punishment or third-party compensation depending on the behavior objectives.Third-party punishment entails a spectator sacrificing his own personal interests in order to punish perpetrators,and third-party compensation is compensating victims for their losses.Most prior research on the emotional elements that influence third-party altruistic acts has only looked at third-party punishment,disregarding third-party compensation.As a result of prior research,this study expanded on the impact of gratitude on third-party altruistic behavior by include third-party compensation.Meanwhile,this research looked into whether or not interpersonal gratitude has an effect on third-party altruistic conduct.The goal of this study is to learn more about the emotional elements that impact third-party altruistic conduct and to add to the body of knowledge about the relationship between appreciation and prosocial behavior.Experiment 1 was designed to investigate the impact of appreciation on a third-party altruistic behavior.First,the situational recall approach was used to activate the emotions of thankfulness and neutrality in two groups of individuals,after which they were instructed to play a third-party dictator game.The findings revealed that gratitude can increase third-party altruistic behavior,with thankful people preferring third-party compensation.The inequity of the allocations had an impact on third-party altruistic behavior as well.Individual penalty rates,penalty amounts,and compensation amounts grew as unfairness increased,whereas retention rates declined,although compensation rates increased first and subsequently decreased.Experiment 2 was designed to look at the impact of thankful individuals’ relationships with distributors on third-party altruistic behavior.The situational story method was used to generate the emotion of appreciation in all of the participants in this study.The relationship between the subjects and the distributor was then managed through instructions in the third-party dictator game.The findings revealed that the subjects’ penalty rate and penalty amounts were lower when the assignor was the helper,while their compensation rate and retention rate were higher.The identity of the assignor,however,had no bearing on the amount of compensation.Experiment 3 was designed to see how the relationship between thankful people and the recipients affects third-party altruistic behavior.The situational story method was used to generate the emotion of appreciation in all of the participants in this study.The relationship between the subjects and the recipient was then managed through instructions in the third-party dictator game.The findings revealed that when the helper is the recipient,the subjects’ penalty rate,retention rate,and penalty amounts are lower,while their compensation rate and compensation amount are higher.In general,the following findings may be drawn from this research:(1)Individuals’ third-party altruistic behavior was modified by different degrees of fairness.The greater the individual penalty rate,penalty amounts,and compensation amounts,and the lower the retention rate,the higher the degree of unfairness of allocations.In the meantime,the compensation rate rose at first,then fell.Individual third-party altruistic behavior was boosted by gratitude.People who were thankful had a propensity for compensating behavior.(2)The individual’s various ties with the assigner and the receiver can impact their third-party altruistic action under the emotions of thankfulness.The individual’s compensation rate is higher when the assigner is the helper,but the compensation amounts is the same;when the recipient is the helper,the individual’s compensation rate and compensation amounts are both higher.