关键词: 贫困, 区域性贫困信息, 贫困外归因, 贫困救助

Abstract:

Poverty is a global challenge, and encouraging public participation in poverty alleviation is crucial for reducing income inequality and achieving common prosperity. This research examines how the framing of poverty background information—specifically, whether poverty is presented as regional (“poor regions”) or individual (“poor people”)—affects individuals’ willingness to help and their actual poverty alleviation behaviors. We hypothesize that framing poverty regionally will lead to a greater tendency for external attribution of poverty, which in turn will result in greater intentions and behaviors toward poverty alleviation. Four experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. In Experiment 1, regional poverty information was manipulated by presenting participants with either a regional poverty map or a political-administrative map of China (as a control group). The results showed that individuals exposed to regional poverty information were more willing to engage in poverty alleviation compared to those in the control group. Experiment 2 extended these findings by manipulating regional poverty information in an anonymous area. Participants were also asked to report their tendencies for external attribution and their willingness to engage in poverty alleviation. The findings indicated that regional poverty information increased participants’ external attribution of poverty, which, in turn, enhanced their willingness to engage in poverty alleviation. Experiment 3 further tested the robustness of the findings by manipulating poverty information for regions of similar size and population and including measures of willingness to donate to poverty alleviation. The results showed that regional poverty information increased individuals' willingness to engage in poverty alleviation, and this effect was mediated by external attribution of poverty. Finally, Experiment 4 used a between-subjects design to manipulate external attribution of poverty, examining whether this external attribution is the mechanism that leads people exposed to regional poverty information to engage in poverty alleviation. The findings of Experiment 4 showed that the differences in poverty alleviation behavior were eliminated when external attribution of poverty was manipulated, thus revealing the mechanism of external attribution of poverty. In summary, our research shows that: (1) regional poverty information leads to greater willingness to engage in poverty alleviation and more actual poverty alleviation behaviors, and (2) external attribution of poverty mediates the effect of regional poverty information on poverty alleviation. Specifically, regional poverty information increases external attribution of poverty, which in turn leads to greater willingness and behaviors related to poverty alleviation. The results contribute to the literature on poverty attribution and poverty alleviation by highlighting how regional framing of poverty influences public willingness to engage in poverty alleviation.

Key words: poverty, regional poverty information, external attribution of poverty, poverty alleviation