ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (11): 1786-1799.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2024.01786

• Original article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The effects of state power on prosocial behavior: A three-level meta-analysis

ZHU Yanhan(), HE Bin, SUN Lei   

  1. College of State Governance, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • Received:2024-03-12 Online:2024-11-15 Published:2024-09-05
  • Contact: ZHU Yanhan E-mail:zhuyh@swu.edu.cn

Abstract:

State power is temporary activated external power perception whose effects on prosocial behavior were not consistent in previous studies. Some studies have shown its constructive effects on prosocial behavior, while others have demonstrated its destructive effects on prosocial behavior. Thus, some factors may have a potential impact on the role of state power on prosocial behavior. In view of this, this study used the three-level meta-analysis to integrate relevant empirical studies to examine the effects of state power on prosocial behavior and the role of moderating variables in the relationship.

The study was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P).Three databases including CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), WFD (Wanfang Data) and CSTJD (China Science and Technology Journal Database) were selected for Chinese, and Web of Science、Elsevier、EBSCO、ProQuest、Google Scholar, databases were selected for foreign languages to search relevant studies The keywords for state power were “power”, “power sense”, “state power”, and for prosocial behavior were “prosocial behavior”, “helping behavior”, “altruistic behavior”, “cooperation”, “donation”, “share”, etc. Retrieved on 3 March 2024. In the end, 48 papers (23 in English and 25 in Chinese) with 106 effect sizes were included, with a total sample size of 14871 participants. The research used the metafor package in R to conduct three-level meta-analysis, which solves the problem that the effect size of traditional meta-analysis is not independent, preserves the integrity of information and improves the statistical efficiency.

The results of the publication bias test indicated that there was no significant publication bias in this study. Based on the main effect test, the effect size of the sense of state power on prosocial behavior showed that there was no significant difference in the influence of different levels of state power on prosocial behavior (g= -0.08, p = 0.359, 95%CI [-0.26, 0.11]). The heterogeneity test found significant differences in both within-study variance (levels 2) and between-study variance (levels 3), which indicates significant heterogeneity between studies. The moderating effect test revealed that the relationship between state power and prosocial behavior was moderated by the social visibility of behavior When behavioral society was visible, the state power positively predicted prosocial behavior. When behavioral society is not visible, the state power cannot predict prosocial behavior. In addition, the relationship between state power and prosocial behavior was moderated by behavioral appeal context. When in egoistic appeal, the state power significantly positively predicted prosocial behavior. When in altruistic appeal, the state power does not predict prosocial behavior. However, the moderating effects of age, gender, cultural background, inducing method of state power, type of state power, type of prosocial behavior, data source of prosocial behavior and publication status were not significant.

The study is the first to integrate the relevant empirical research on the relationship between state power and prosocial behavior by using a three-level meta-analysis method, which explore the influence of state power on prosocial behavior and its possible moderating factors. Moreover, for the first time, age, gender, cultural background, priming paradigm of state power, type of state power, type of prosocial behavior, social visibility of behavior, behavioral appeal context, data source of prosocial behavior and publication status were examined as moderating variables to investigate the relationship between the two, revealing the reasons for the heterogeneity of state power 's influence on prosocial behavior. It provides a new perspective or theoretical interpretation of the inconsistent conclusions of the existing studies on the relationship between two. This contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between state power and prosocial behavior and the moderating mechanisms.

Key words: power sense, state power, prosocial behavior, three-level meta-analysis

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