Abstract: Interethnic helping behavior plays a critical role in promoting interethnic interactions, exchanges, and integration, as well as in fostering a stronger sense of community for the Chinese nation. However, despite the fundamental role of time in shaping social cognition and decision making, little is known about how individuals’ time orientation affects interethnic helping. Time orientation refers to individuals’ relative attention to and preference for the past, present, and future. Previous research has largely focused on a “small-self” three-perspective model, conceptualizing time orientation in terms of the past-self, present-self, and future-self. Extending this perspective, the present research advances a “large-self” five-perspective model that incorporates two additional temporal perspectives: the ancestral-self and descendant-self. Across four experiments (N = 1, 159), we investigated how different time orientations influence interethnic helping behavior, identified the time orientation most conducive to such helping, and further examined the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions of this effect.
In Studies 1a and 1b, we used a writing task and an imagination task, respectively, to examine whether time orientation promotes interethnic helping behavior. By systematically comparing the effects of five time orientations—ancestral-self, past-self, present-self, future-self, and descendant-self—on interethnic helping behavior, we identified the orientation with the strongest promotive effect. Study 2 investigated whether self-continuity mediates the relationship between ancestral-self orientation and interethnic helping behavior. Finally, Study 3 examined whether the direction of interethnic helping (i.e., Han individuals helping ethnic minority members vs. ethnic minority members helping Han individuals) moderates the effect of ancestral-self orientation on interethnic helping behavior.
The results showed that participants in all five time-orientation groups (ancestral-self, past-self, present-self, future-self, descendant-self) reported significantly greater intentions to engage in interethnic helping, monetary helping, and time-based helping than those in the control group. Among the five orientations, ancestral-self orientation exerted the strongest promotive effects across all three dependent outcomes. Furthermore, ancestral-self orientation promoted interethnic helping behavior by enhancing individuals’ sense of past self-continuity. The direction of interethnic helping significantly moderated this mediation process. Specifically, the mediating effect of past self-continuity emerged when Han individuals helped ethnic minority individuals, but not when ethnic minority individuals helped Han individuals. In contrast, the direction of interethnic helping did not significantly moderate the direct effect of ancestral-self orientation on interethnic helping behavior.
This research has the following contributions. First, by extending the conceptualization of time orientation from the traditional “small-self” three-perspective model to a “large-self” five-perspective model, we provide a more culturally adaptive framework for understanding the multidimensional structure of time orientation. Second, by systematically comparing the effects of five time orientations, we demonstrate the unique advantage of ancestral-self orientation in promoting interethnic helping behavior. Third, drawing on continuity motivation theory, we reveal past self-continuity as a mediator of the relationship between ancestral-self orientation and interethnic helping behavior, thereby advancing our understanding of how time orientation influences interethnic helping behavior. Fourth, we identify the direction of interethnic helping as an important boundary condition: the mediating effect of past self-continuity emerges when Han individuals help ethnic minority individuals but not when ethnic minority individuals help Han individuals. In summary, these findings extend the psychological study of time orientation and offer theoretical and practical insights into promoting ethnic unity and strengthening a sense of community for the Chinese nation.

Key words: time orientation, ancestral-self, self-continuity, inter-ethnic helping behavior, direction of interethnic helping