Scarcity mindset facilitates empathy for social pain and prosocial intention: behavioral and neural evidences.

ABSTRACT: Empathy for social pain encompasses both affective and cognitive responses to others' emotional reactions following negative social encounters, facilitating an understanding of their suffering and promoting prosocial behaviors. This study examined how a scarcity mindset affects empathy for social pain and prosocial intentions at behavioral and neural levels. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to either the scarcity or abundance mindset group. They viewed images of social exclusion or neutral scenarios and subsequently rated the perceived unpleasantness of the target person and their willingness to provide comfort during a stage-game paradigm. The results showed that participants in the scarcity mindset group demonstrated greater differentiation in their ratings of unpleasantness and

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11803631 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature