Most theories of motivation and behavior (and lay intuitions alike) consider pain and effort to be deterrents. In contrast to this widely held view, we provide evidence that the prospect of enduring pain and exerting effort for a prosocial cause can promote contributions to the cause. Specifically, we show that willingness to contribute to a charitable or collective cause increases when the contribution process is expected to be painful and effortful rather than easy and enjoyable. Across five experiments, we document this “martyrdom effect,” show that the observed patterns defy standard economic and psychological accounts, and identify a mediator and moderator of the effect. Experiment 1 showed that people are willing to donate more to charity when they anticipate having to suffer to raise money. Experiment 2 extended these findings to a non-charity laboratory context that involved real money and actual pain. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the martyrdom effect is not the result of an attribute substitution strategy (whereby people use the amount of pain and effort involved in fundraising to determine donation worthiness). Experiment 4 showed that perceptions of meaningfulness partially mediate the martyrdom effect. Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrated that the nature of the prosocial cause moderates the martyrdom effect: the effect is strongest for causes associated with human suffering. We propose that anticipated pain and effort lead people to ascribe greater meaning to their contributions and to the experience of contributing, thereby motivating higher prosocial contributions. We conclude by considering some implications of this puzzling phenomenon. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

中文翻译：

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殉难效应：当痛苦和努力增加亲社会贡献时

大多数动机和行为理论（以及外行的直觉）都认为痛苦和努力是一种威慑。与这种广泛持有的观点相反，我们提供的证据表明，忍受痛苦和为亲社会事业付出努力的前景可以促进对事业的贡献。具体而言，我们表明，当捐款过程被认为是痛苦和费力的而不是轻松愉快的时候，为慈善或集体事业做出贡献的意愿会增加。在五个实验中，我们记录了这种“殉难效应”，表明观察到的模式违背了标准的经济和心理解释，并确定了这种效应的中介和调节者。实验 1 表明，当人们预计将不得不为筹集资金而受苦时，他们愿意向慈善机构捐赠更多。实验 2 将这些发现扩展到涉及真实金钱和实际痛苦的非慈善实验室环境。实验 3 表明，殉难效应不是属性替代策略的结果（即人们使用筹款所涉及的痛苦和努力来确定捐赠价值）。实验 4 表明，对意义的感知在一定程度上调节了殉难效应。最后，实验 5 表明，亲社会原因的性质可以缓和殉难效应：与人类痛苦相关的原因的效果最强。我们提出，预期的痛苦和努力会导致人们将更大的意义赋予他们的贡献和贡献的经验，从而激发更高的亲社会贡献。我们通过考虑这种令人费解的现象的一些含义来得出结论。版权所有 © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.