When and why is helping others good for well-being? The role of belief in reciprocity and conformity to society's expectations
When and why is helping others good for well-being? The role of belief in reciprocity and conformity to society's expectations
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DOI：
10.1002/ejsp.2092
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发表时间：
2015-03
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Cristina Oarga;O. Stavrova;D. Fetchenhauer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cristina Oarga;O. Stavrova;D. Fetchenhauer
本研究从跨国角度探讨了非正式帮助与主观幸福感之间的关系及其潜在机制。我们重点关注源自自决理论和社会规范文献的两种潜在机制。从自我决定理论的角度来看，如果帮助他人是出于内在动机，而不是出于互惠期望的驱使，那么对福祉有益。另一方面，从整合文献的角度来看，当帮助他人与社会整合的好处（例如社会认可）联系起来时，就会与更高的幸福感联系在一起。我们使用来自 23 个国家的数据检验了这些假设。结果为这两种机制提供了支持。首先，我们发现个体对互惠的信念越低，自我报告的帮助行为对其幸福感的积极影响越强。其次，在提供帮助代表强烈社会规范（用两种不同的文化指标衡量）的国家，帮助行为与生活满意度的关系更为密切。我们的结论是，个人和文化层面的机制都解释了亲社会行为与福祉之间的关系。版权所有 © 2015 约翰·威利父子有限公司
This research investigates the relation between informal help and subjective well-being and its underlying mechanisms using a cross-national perspective. We focus on two potential mechanisms derived from the self-determination theory and conformity to the social norms literature. From the standpoint of self-determination theory, helping others is good for well-being if it is intrinsically motivated, rather than driven by the expectation of reciprocity. On the other hand, from the perspective of the conformity literature, helping others is associated with a higher well-being when it is linked to the benefits of social conformity, such as social approval. We tested these hypotheses using the data from a total of 23 countries. The results provided support for both mechanisms. First, we found that the lower individuals' beliefs in reciprocity are, the stronger is the positive effect of self-reported helping behavior on their well-being. Second, helping behavior was more strongly related to life satisfaction in countries where providing help represents a strong social norm (measured with two different cultural indicators). We conclude that both individual- and culture-level mechanisms account for the relation between prosocial behavior and well-being. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.