TY - JOUR
T1 - Prosocial behavior increases well-being and vitality even without contact with the beneficiary
T2 - Causal and behavioral evidence
AU - Martela, Frank
AU - Ryan, Richard M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - A number of studies have shown that prosocial behavior is associated with enhanced well-being, but most prior experimental studies have involved actual or potential face-to-face contact with the beneficiary. To establish that it is prosocial behavior itself, and not only an increased sense of social relatedness to the recipient that improves well-being, participants (n = 76) were invited to play a simple computer game, where half were made aware of a chance to have an anonymous prosocial impact through gameplay. As compared to the control condition, this group experienced more positive affect, meaningfulness and marginally more vitality. Going beyond self-reported outcomes, they also demonstrated better post-game performance on a subsequent Stroop task, providing behavioral evidence for the positive effects of prosocial behavior. Also supported was the hypothesis that these positive effects of prosocial behavior on well-being were mediated by subjectively assessed autonomy and competence need satisfactions.
AB - A number of studies have shown that prosocial behavior is associated with enhanced well-being, but most prior experimental studies have involved actual or potential face-to-face contact with the beneficiary. To establish that it is prosocial behavior itself, and not only an increased sense of social relatedness to the recipient that improves well-being, participants (n = 76) were invited to play a simple computer game, where half were made aware of a chance to have an anonymous prosocial impact through gameplay. As compared to the control condition, this group experienced more positive affect, meaningfulness and marginally more vitality. Going beyond self-reported outcomes, they also demonstrated better post-game performance on a subsequent Stroop task, providing behavioral evidence for the positive effects of prosocial behavior. Also supported was the hypothesis that these positive effects of prosocial behavior on well-being were mediated by subjectively assessed autonomy and competence need satisfactions.
KW - Prosocial behavior
KW - Prosocial giving
KW - Prosocial impact
KW - Self-determination theory
KW - Well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961933278&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11031-016-9552-z
DO - 10.1007/s11031-016-9552-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84961933278
SN - 0146-7239
VL - 40
SP - 351
EP - 357
JO - Motivation and Emotion
JF - Motivation and Emotion
IS - 3
ER -