Physiological Effects of Helping Others

最近的证据表明，帮助他人预示着帮助者身体和心理健康的改善。拟议的研究调查了帮助在多大程度上隔离了帮助者在帮助事件发生后遇到的压力。这项研究源于照顾动机和压力调节的动物模型，通过对人类参与者的实验探索了帮助和减轻压力之间的关系，取得了新的进展。特别是，这项研究考察了帮助他人是否有助于从心血管压力中恢复，以及可能在帮助和压力恢复之间中介或适度联系的情绪和荷尔蒙相关性。针对助人为乐对应激反应的影响进行实验研究方面的空白，提出了七项研究。这项研究涉及操作成人的帮助(以及应该影响帮助的因素)，并检查这些操作的生理(心血管和神经内分泌)先兆和结果。具体地说，这项研究将检验这样一种假设，即帮助他人有助于帮助者心血管压力的恢复。此外，这项拟议的工作将试图澄清荷尔蒙和情绪机制，通过这些机制，帮助可能会影响这种恢复。

Recent evidence indicates that helping others predicts improvements in the helper's physical and psychological well-being. The proposed studies investigate the extent to which helping insulates the helper against stressors encountered after the helping episode. This research, generated from animal models of caregiving motivation and stress regulation, breaks new ground by exploring the relationship between helping and stress reduction experimentally with human participants. In particular, this research examines whether helping another facilitates recovery from cardiovascular stress as well as the emotional and hormonal correlates that may mediate or moderate links between helping and stress recovery. Seven studies are proposed to address the gap in research on experimental investigations of effects of helping others on the helper's stress response. This research involves manipulating helping (and factors that should affect helping) in human adults, and examining the physiological (cardiovascular and neuroendocrine) antecedents and consequences of these manipulations. Specifically, this research will test the hypothesis that helping others facilitates cardiovascular stress recovery in the helper. In addition, the proposed work will attempt to clarify hormonal and emotional mechanisms through which helping might influence such recovery.