Abstract

In a previous study of moral pride carried out with adolescents, a paradoxical effect was observed: more costly imagined prosocial behaviors generated less pride. The aim of this study was to analyze whether this effect disappears in retrospect. Participants were 188 adolescents aged between 14 and 16 (96 girls) who were given diverse scenarios in which someone needed help. In some of the scenarios, providing this help required participants to either go against the majority or incur some other kind of personal cost. One group received scenarios set in the present (data from the previous study mentioned above) and the other received scenarios set in the past. Although participants were not randomly assigned to one of the two conditions, all came from the same social context. All participants were asked to state how proud they would feel if they helped. The hypothesis was confirmed: while in the present both imagined prosocial behaviors which involved going against the majority and those that involved other costs generated less pride, when the scenarios were presented in the past, they generated more pride. These results suggest that while moral pride may have a limited reinforcing effect in the present, its retrospective effect is greater.

摘要

在之前对青少年进行的道德自豪感的研究中，观察到了一种矛盾的效果：想象中的亲社会行为成本越高，产生的自豪感就越少。本研究的目的是分析这种影响是否在回顾中消失。参与者是 188 名年龄在 14 至 16 岁之间的青少年（96 名女孩），他们被提供了需要帮助的不同场景。在某些情况下，提供这种帮助要求参与者要么与大多数人相反，要么承担一些其他类型的个人成本。一组接收当前设置的场景（上述先前研究的数据），另一组接收过去设置的场景。尽管参与者没有被随机分配到这两种情况中的一种，但他们都来自相同的社会背景。所有参与者都被要求说明如果他们提供帮助，他们会感到多么自豪。假设得到了证实：虽然在现在，涉及与大多数人对抗的想象亲社会行为和涉及其他成本的亲社会行为产生的自豪感较少，但在过去呈现情景时，它们产生了更多的自豪感。这些结果表明，虽然道德自豪感在目前的强化作用有限，但其回顾性作用更大。