Connecting perceived economic threat and prosocial tendencies: The explanatory role of empathic concern

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 5; p. e0232608
• Main Authors: Alonso-Ferres, María, Navarro-Carrillo, Ginés, Garrido-Macías, Marta, Moreno-Bella, Eva, Valor-Segura, Inmaculada
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04-05-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Economic aspects; Economic conditions; Economic crisis; Economic growth; Economics; Empirical analysis; Finance; Financial crises; Foreclosure; GDP; Great Recession; Gross Domestic Product; Inequality; Mediation; Psychological aspects; Psychological effects; Psychological factors; Social psychology; Social research; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; Threats; Unemployment; Spain; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232608

Recent research suggests that perceived economic threat constitutes a valid predictor of people's attitudes and behaviors. While accumulated empirical evidence has mostly underlined the deleterious psychological effects (e.g., reduced psychological well-being) of perceived economic threat in times of economic strain, we postulate that individuals experiencing higher economic threat linked to the Spanish economic crisis are more prone to engage in other-beneficial prosocial behavior. Across two independently collected community samples, we tested this theoretical formulation and examined the potential mediating roles of empathic concern (Studies 1 & 2) and identification (Study 2). Study 1 (N = 306) revealed that participants who descended in the social scale due to the negative national economic context were engaged in a larger number of helping behaviors over the last three months compared to participants who did not descend the social ladder-independently of several sociodemographic and ideological factors. Moreover, our data indicated these effects were driven by increased empathic concern. Study 2 (N = 588), in which two hypothetical helping-behavior scenarios were randomly administered (crisis-related vs. control), showed that participants under high perceived financial threat exhibited an undifferentiated pattern of prosociality. However, moderated-mediation analyses indicated that empathic concern explained the perceived financial threat-helping behavior link in the hypothetical crisis-related scenario but not in the hypothetical control scenario. Together, these findings extend prior literature on the psychosocial effects of perceived economic threat and the determinants of other-oriented behavior. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.