An interdependence approach to empathic concern could transform the current societal environment for people with disability into a more accessible and equitable one. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate two possible factors influencing empathic concern, gender and ethnic culture, in specific helping scenarios. We first examined whether the female gender and collectivist culture of Japan were associated with higher levels of interdependence and empathic concern for disability than were the male gender and individualist culture of New Zealand. Empathic concern for people with impairment was assessed in accessible and inaccessible environments. Neither gender nor culture significantly influenced the level of interdependence, whereas gender and culture differentially moderated empathic concern. We also explored the possibility of altering self-construal and thus promoting prosocial behaviour by examining the correlation between self-construal and prosocial intention, and the effect of cultural priming on self-construal. The correlation was significant under inaccessible conditions in the Japanese sample, and the effect of interdependent priming was not significant on interdependent self-construal in both countries. Discussion centres on theoretical implications of the observed conditional support for the female-gender and collectivist-culture hypotheses, and on ways to promote prosocial behaviour, taking into account gender and cultural differences.

中文翻译：

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对残疾和可及性的移情关注的一种相互依赖的方法：在日本和新西兰的性别，文化和自我建构的影响

相互关怀的移情方法可以将当前的残疾人社会环境转变为更容易获得和公平的环境。据我们所知，这是第一个研究在特定帮助情况下影响移情关注，性别和种族文化的两个可能因素的研究。我们首先研究了日本的女性性别和集体主义文化是否比新西兰的男性性别和个人主义文化与更高程度的相互依存和对残疾的共情关注有关。在可及及不可及的环境中评估了对残障人士的共情关注。性别和文化都没有显着影响相互依存的程度，而性别和文化则不同地缓解了移情。我们还研究了自我建构与亲社会意图之间的相关性，以及文化启动对自我建构的影响，探讨了改变自我建构从而促进亲社会行为的可能性。在日本样本中不可访问的条件下，这种相关性很显着，并且在两个国家中，相互依存的启动对相互依存的自我建构的影响并不显着。讨论的重点是观察到的对女性性别和集体文化假设的条件支持的理论含义，以及在考虑到性别和文化差异的情况下促进亲社会行为的方式。在日本样本中不可访问的条件下，这种相关性很显着，并且在两个国家中，相互依存的启动对相互依存的自我建构的影响并不显着。讨论的重点是观察到的对女性性别和集体文化假设的条件支持的理论含义，以及在考虑到性别和文化差异的情况下促进亲社会行为的方式。在日本样本中不可访问的条件下，这种相关性很显着，并且在两个国家中，相互依存的启动对相互依存的自我建构的影响并不显着。讨论的重点是观察到的对女性性别和集体文化假设的条件支持的理论含义，以及在考虑到性别和文化差异的情况下促进亲社会行为的方式。