Different levels of negative emotions and their impact on prosocial behavior

106 Pages·2017·1.09 MB·English

by  Tsamchoe Dolma

UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff NNoorrtthheerrnn IIoowwaa
UUNNII SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss
Dissertations and Theses @ UNI Student Work
2015
DDiiffffeerreenntt lleevveellss ooff nneeggaattiivvee eemmoottiioonnss aanndd tthheeiirr iimmppaacctt oonn
pprroossoocciiaall bbeehhaavviioorr
Tsamchoe Dolma
University of Northern Iowa
Let us know how access to this document benefits you
Copyright ©2015 Tsamchoe Dolma
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd
Part of the Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, and the Cognitive Psychology Commons
RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn
Dolma, Tsamchoe, "Different levels of negative emotions and their impact on prosocial behavior" (2015).
Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 170.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/170
This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses @ UNI by an authorized administrator of UNI
ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected].
Copyright by

TSAMCHOE DOLMA

2015

All Rights Reserved
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

An Abstract of a Thesis
Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts

Tsamchoe Dolma
University of Northern Iowa
July, 2015
ABSTRACT

In this fast and competitive world, people are becoming less likely to help others.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014), the volunteerism rate reached the
lowest point in 2013 since 2002. This decrease in prosocial behavior makes the study of
prosocial behavior important, especially with the increasing numbers of charitable
organizations and their competition to attract more donors and volunteers. Public service
advertisements (PSA) are used as a common medium to garner help and support, and
many of them use emotional appeals to enhance persuasion. The literature on persuasion
shows that emotions have persuasive power to change people's behavior. For example,
participants induced with negative emotions are more careful and detailed as compared to
those who are induced with positive emotions (Bohner, Crow, Erb, & Schwarz, 1992).
Negative emotions can also increase helping behavior. The negative state relief model
(Cialdini, Darby, & Vincent, 1973) states that people help in order to alleviate the
discomfort caused by negative emotions. For example, guilty participants donate more
blood and report a significant reduction in their guilty feeling after the donation
(O’Malley & Andrews, 1983).
In this study, I expanded on Bagozzi and Moore (1994) to test whether different
levels of negative emotions influence empathy and prosocial behavior differently. I also
tested whether cognitive reappraisal moderated the relationship between negative
emotions and prosocial behavior. Participants (N= 163) recruited from mTurk completed
measures of cognitive reappraisal and social desirability and viewed one of three images
(i.e., image of a young girl photoshopped to have no bruises, a few bruises, or many
bruises) with a message to support anti-child abuse efforts. Participants self-reported the
negative emotions the advertisement made them feel. They also completed an empathy
measure and indicated how willing they would be to help the child abuse cause through
volunteer efforts and donation pledges.
Those who viewed the strong and medium negative emotional images (images of
a girl with few or more bruises) reported more negative emotions than those viewed the
image in the weak emotional condition (image without bruises). Participants who
reported more negative emotions also reported more empathy, but the images seen had no
effect on willingness to help or donation. Most people indicated a moderate level of
willingness to help, but only 20% pledged a donation. Cognitive reappraisal did not
moderate the relationship between negative emotions and helping behavior, but it
significantly correlated with both negative emotions and willingness to help. This finding
adds to research suggesting that individuals who better regulate their emotions are more
prosocial (Eisenberg et al., 1996). Overall, consistent with theories of prosocial behavior
(Batson, 1991; Cialdini et al., 1973), negative emotions were related to empathy, and both
related to greater self-reported intentions to help, but contrary to both those theories and
the research on persuasion, this did not translate into actual behavior.
Keywords: Prosocial behavior, empathy, persuasion, negative emotions, cognitive
reappraisal
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

A Thesis
Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts

Tsamchoe Dolma
University of Northern Iowa
July, 2015
ii

This Study by: Tsamchoe Dolma

Entitled: Different levels of negative emotions and their impact on prosocial behavior

has been approved as meeting the thesis requirement for the

Degree of Master of Arts

____________ ___________________________________________________
Date Dr. Helen Harton, Chair, Thesis Committee

____________ ___________________________________________________
Date Dr. Sundé Nesbit, Thesis Committee Member

____________ ___________________________________________________
Date Dr. Nicholas Terpstra-Schwab, Thesis Committee Member

____________ ___________________________________________________
Date Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter, Interim Dean, Graduate College
iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
One of the main reasons, why I feel a great sense of accomplishment with this
thesis is all because of my advisor, Dr. Helen C. Harton, I can’t thank her enough for her
eternal support and guidance throughout the program.
I would like to thank my committee members Nicholas Terpstra-Schwab and
Sunde Nesbit, for their constructive feedback and being supportive and understanding
especially, when I had visa issues.
I also want to thank my family and close friends for being an amazing social
support. I especially want to thank few special friends, Asha Ganesan, Manuel Salinas
and Tenzin Yangchen for standing right beside me all the time.
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1
Prosocial Behavior .........................................................................................................2
Role of Emotions in Prosocial Behavior ..................................................................4
Theories of Prosocial Behavior ................................................................................6
Empathy .........................................................................................................................8
Emotions and Persuasion .............................................................................................11
Emotion Regulation and Cognitive Reappraisal ..........................................................15
Emotions, Persuasion and Prosocial Behavior.............................................................16
Present Study ...............................................................................................................17
Hypotheses. ................................................................................................................. 19
CHAPTER 2. PILOT STUDY ...........................................................................................21
Method .........................................................................................................................21
Participants .............................................................................................................21
Measures ................................................................................................................22
Demographic questionnaire .............................................................................22
Negative emotions scale ..................................................................................22
PANAS ............................................................................................................22
Semantic differential scale ...............................................................................23
Procedure ...............................................................................................................23
v

Results and Discussion ................................................................................................24
Data Cleaning.........................................................................................................24
Statistical Analysis .................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 3. METHOD ...................................................................................................27
Participants ...................................................................................................................27
Measures. .....................................................................................................................27
Cognitive Reappraisal Questionnaire ....................................................................27
The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale ...................................................28
Negative Emotions Scale. ..................................................................................... 28
I-PANAS-SF ..........................................................................................................29
Affective Empathy .................................................................................................29
Willingness to Help................................................................................................30
Pledge to Donate ....................................................................................................30
Demographic ..........................................................................................................31
General Prosocial Behavior ...................................................................................31
Procedure .....................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS ...................................................................................................33
Data Management ........................................................................................................33
Missing Values.......................................................................................................33
Manipulation Check ...............................................................................................33
Negative emotions scale ..................................................................................33
PANAS-I-SF ....................................................................................................34