The role of emotions in the relationship between prosocial values and behaviors

Abstract

Willingness to contribute to society is a prosocial value that might be positively associated with prosocial behaviors, such as charitable giving. This study examined whether positive and negative emotions influence the relationship between willingness to contribute to society and charitable giving in older adults. I retrieved cross-sectional data from the Chinese General Social Survey 2012, which was completed by 2,688 Chinese adults aged between 60 and 104 years. The results show that willingness to contribute to society was positively associated with charitable giving. This relationship was moderated by selfreported feeling of depression, which had an inhibitory effect, and was partially mediated by subjective happiness. Further attention should be paid to the underlying mechanisms between prosocial values and prosocial behaviors.