Are Empathy and Prosocial Behavior Consistently Positively Correlated? Effects of Mediator or Moderator Variables based on Emotional and Cognitive Perspectives
Abstract:
Empathy is the ability of an individual to understand and appreciate the psychological feelings
of others in interpersonal interactions, and has an impact on the individual’s psychological and behavioral
development. Empathy is positively correlated with prosocial behavior and has a predictive effect on
prosocial behavior. However, the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior is also affected
by a third variable, which is mainly mediating or moderating. The dual-path model theory of empathy
provides a rationale for the rationale that third variables affect prosocial behavior from both affective
and cognitive perspectives. Future research should pay more attention to the exploration of the influence
mechanism of empathy and pro-social behavior from the third variable from this perspective, so that it
has practical application value.
共情是个体在人际互动中理解并体会他人心理感受的能力,并对个体的心理与行为发展产生影响。共情与亲社会行为呈正相关,且对亲社会行为具有预测作用。但是共情与亲社会行为之间的关系也会受到第三变量的影响,其中以中介或调节作用为主。共情的双重路径模型理论为第三变量在情感和认知角度影响亲社会行为的合理性提供了理论依据。未来的研究中应该更加注重以此角度的第三变量对共情和亲社会行为影响机制的探索,使其具有实际应用价值。