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. 2018 May 28:9:814.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00814. eCollection 2018.

How Can Prosocial Behavior Be Motivated? The Different Roles of Moral Judgment, Moral Elevation, and Moral Identity Among the Young Chinese

Wan Ding  1 , Yanhong Shao  1 , Binghai Sun  1 , Ruibo Xie  2 , Weijian Li  1 , Xiaozhen Wang  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

How Can Prosocial Behavior Be Motivated? The Different Roles of Moral Judgment, Moral Elevation, and Moral Identity Among the Young Chinese

Wan Ding et al. Front Psychol. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Prior research has shown that moral judgment, moral elevation, and moral identity contribute to prosocial behavior. However, how these three motivating factors interact in predicting prosocial behaviors is not yet clear. The current study proposed and examined a moderated mediation model to illustrate the specific process of how prosocial behavior is motivated by these factors. A total of 264 Chinese undergraduate and graduate students participated in the present study (140 females; age range 17-26, M = 20.25, SD = 1.57). Moral judgment competence, intensity of moral elevation, and moral identity were measured by self-reported scales, and the tendency to engage in prosocial behavior was assessed in a simulated "Ask for help" situation. The multiple regressive results showed that moral elevation mediated the effect of moral judgment on prosocial behavior, and moral identity moderated this mediation through interacting with moral elevation. However, within the proposed model, the mediating effect of moral elevation was stronger in women than in men, while the moderating role of moral identity appeared only in women. These findings imply different methods for men and women to enhance their prosocial behaviors, including the need to pay more attention to developing moral reasoning in men while putting more emphasis on evoking moral emotion and moral traits in women. Together, these results supported the assumptive model and provided a comprehensive framework to explain prosocial behaviors.

Keywords: moderated mediation; moral elevation; moral identity; moral judgment; prosocial behavior.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The moderated mediation models for total sample. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The relationship between moral elevation and helping time for high and low levels of moral identity.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The moderated mediation models for women. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The moderated mediation models for men. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01.
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