Why do people give and help others in face of their own mortality salience? The existential struggle with the awareness of death impacts the gamut of human cognition, emotion, and behavior. This multi-method research (∑N = 1,219) explains the psychosocial impact of COVID-19-related mortality salience on altruism. Drawing from terror management theory, two studies tested death-thought accessibility, mortality salience, and anxiety buffer hypotheses. Study 1 (cross-sectional survey), using structural equation modeling, confirms death anxiety and fear are predictors of powerlessness and materialism which, in turn, predict charitable donations. Study 2 (between-subjects experiment) confirms the causal effects of COVID-19-induced mortality salience on altruism. Controlling income and socioeconomic status, people in the mortality salience treatment condition indicate greater monetary donations ($), ratio of prosocial (altruistic) to proself (egocentric) spending (%), donation of time (hour), monetary valuation of time (hourly rate = $/hour), and economic value of donated time (hourly rate*hour) than the controls. These effects are mediated by powerlessness. Moderating effects of relevant individual difference factors are significant: the greedier, more selfish, narcissistic, materialistic, and system-justifying the donor is, the higher monetary donations, volunteer time, and perceived value of donated time are, only when the COVID-19-induced mortality is made salient but not in the controls. Environmental and dispositional factors jointly influence vulnerability to mortality salience. The paradox of egocentrism and altruism, as an evolutionarily adaptive protective buffer against existential insecurity for social and cultural animals, can help revitalize resilience, thus shedding some lights on the sociopsychological mechanism of consumers' subjective well-being. Implications for consumer affairs, social marketers, and policymakers are discussed.

中文翻译：

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“给予的贪婪”——自我中心主义和利他主义的悖论：关于 COVID-19 大流行期间死亡率显着性和慈善捐赠之间相互关系的恐怖管理和系统正当性观点

为什么人们面对自己的死亡显着性给予和帮助他人？与死亡意识的存在主义斗争影响了人类认知、情感和行为的方方面面。这种多方法研究（∑N = 1,219）解释了与 COVID-19 相关的死亡率显着性对利他主义的社会心理影响。从恐怖管理理论出发，两项研究测试了死亡思想的可及性、死亡显着性和焦虑缓冲假设。研究 1（横断面调查）使用结构方程模型确认死亡焦虑和恐惧是无力和唯物主义的预测因素，而这反过来又可以预测慈善捐赠。研究 2（受试者间实验）证实了 COVID-19 引起的死亡率显着性对利他主义的因果影响。控制收入和社会经济地位，死亡显着治疗条件下的人表示更多的金钱捐赠（$），亲社会（利他）与亲自己（自我中心）支出的比率（％），时间捐赠（小时），时间的货币估值（每小时费率 = $/小时），和捐赠时间的经济价值（小时费率*小时）比对照。这些影响是由无力感调节的。相关个体差异因素的调节作用显着：仅当 COVID-19诱导的死亡率变得显着，但在对照组中没有。环境和性格因素共同影响死亡率显着性的脆弱性。自我中心主义和利他主义的悖论，作为对社会和文化动物存在的不安全感的进化适应性保护缓冲，可以帮助恢复复原力，从而揭示消费者主观幸福感的社会心理机制。