Prosocial behavior is an indicator of adolescents' social well-being, moral character, harmony and cooperation. Thus, it is important to cultivate and improve the prosocial behavior of adolescents. Adolescence is an important period to develop moral identity and prosocial behavior. Increasing evidence has shown that moral identity can stimulate people to engage in prosocial behavior, but the mechanism underlying the relationship between moral identity and adolescent prosocial behavior remains to be further explored. Meanwhile, moral identity can be divided into two dimensions: internalization and symbolization; however, the relationship and mechanism between the dimension and prosocial behavior are ambiguous. In addition, an individual's emotional experience and interpersonal relationships influence prosocial behavior. Moral elevation is a positive emotion of "praising others" when an individual witnesses virtuous behavior, while social distance reflects closeness and distance between people. In this thesis, the relationship and mechanism between the two dimensions and prosocial behavior were discussed via questionnaires and experimental methods, that is, the mediating effect of elevation and the moderating effect of social distance.
Study 1 selected 1000 adolescents as subjects for a cross一sectional study. The questionnaire method was used to explore the relationship between moral identity and adolescents' prosocial behavior, as well as the mediating role of moral elevation. The results showed that both moral identity internalization and symbolization were significantly related to prosocial behavior, while moral elevation played a mediating role.
Study 2 further verified the causal mechanisms of study 1 by two between-subjects design experiments, and social distance was incorporated to investigate the moderation model. Experiment 1 was a causal chain design. Experiment 1 (a) used 2 (moral identity: high vs. low) X 2 (social distance: far vs. near) to examine the effect of moral identity internalization and symbolization on moral elevation, adding social distance to examine its moderating effect. Experiment 1 (b) used 2 (moral elevation: yes vs. no) X 2 (social distance: far vs. near) to examine the influence of moral elevation on helping behavior and the moderating mechanism of social distance. The results of experiment 1 showed that the causal chain in which moral identity internalization affected the willingness to help others through moral elevation was established, and social distance did not play a moderating role in the mediation path. In Experiment 2, a measurement-of-mediation design of 2 (moral identity: high vs. low) X 2 (social distance: far vs. near) was used to validate the findings of experiment 1 through hierarchical linear regression, and the results showed that moral identity internalization can affect willingness for help through the mediating role of moral elevation and that social distance played a moderating role in the direct pathway between moral identity internalization and willingness for help.
In summary, both cross-sectional and experimental designs demonstrated the psychological mechanism of the internalization and symbolization of moral identity affecting adolescent prosocial behavior. Under the theory of moral identity, the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and construal level theory, we examined the mediating role of moral identity and the moderating role of social distance. Both conclusions have important theoretical significance in enriching the field of adolescent prosocial behavior and practical significance in promoting adolescent prosocial behavior.
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