Abstract. Although offering gifts to encourage prosocial behaviors is a popular daily strategy, its underlying mechanism remains unknown. This study investigated the effect of thank-you gifts on charitable giving in laypeople’s beliefs ( N = 1,293). Study 1 showed that laypeople believe thank-you gifts increase charitable giving. Study 2 found that laypeople believe thank-you gifts increase both charitable giving and positive emotions of donors. Study 3 further showed that laypeople’s anticipation of donors’ emotional gain might play a mediating role in the effect of thank-you gifts on charitable giving. Study S1 found that participants’ donated amounts in the benefit-to-others thank-you gifts condition exceeded other conditions on actual donation behavior. These findings emphasize the emotional value of the gift in laypeople’s beliefs.

中文翻译：

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外行人对感谢礼物对慈善捐赠的影响的信念

摘要。尽管提供礼物以鼓励亲社会行为是一种流行的日常策略，但其潜在机制仍然未知。本研究调查了外行信仰中感谢礼物对慈善捐赠的影响（N = 1,293）。研究 1 表明，外行人相信感谢礼物会增加慈善捐赠。研究 2 发现，外行人相信感谢礼物会增加慈善捐赠和捐赠者的积极情绪。研究 3 进一步表明，外行对捐赠者情感收益的预期可能在感谢礼物对慈善捐赠的影响中起中介作用。研究 S1 发现，参与者在受益于他人的感谢礼物条件下的捐赠金额超过了实际捐赠行为的其他条件。这些发现强调了外行人信仰中礼物的情感价值。