BackgroundThe pandemic of COVID-19 sets off public psychological crises and impacts social functioning. Prepandemic research has shown that as the mental resource wears out under long-term distress, empathy exhaustion will happen. While prosocial activities are positively linked to empathy, quantitative research on the pandemic's effect on empathy and prosocial willingness has been insu ciently examined.Prosocial behaviors are carried out during a life-threatening time to promote communication and encourage community members to survive emergencies such as food shortages and natural disasters. MethodsThis study examined the shifts in emotion, empathy and prosocial behaviors between the pre-pandemic and pandemic era in China. Before (N = 520, 11/21/2019-11/23/2019) and after (N = 570, 2/23/2020-2/24/2020) the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored an empathy-driven prosociality relationship through an online task and questionnaires with a total of 1,190 participants. Chi-square test, independent samples ttests, linear regression analysis and correlation analysis were used for the data characteristics comparisons between the pre-outbreak and outbreak peak era datasets. Mediation and moderation models were also computed.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, people may experience anxiety, empathy, and prosocial willingness. However, the relationship between emotions, empathy, and prosocial behaviour is unknown. It is said that empathy is affected by moods and influences pro-sociality. Thus, how does an emergency change people’s empathy and prosocial willingness? We conducted a study with 1,190 participants before (N=520) and after (N=570) the coronavirus outbreak. We found that prosocial willingness decreased post-outbreak, maybe by the decreased empathy levels, in accordance with compassion fatigue theory. Trait empathy could affect prosocial willingness indirectly through the empathy level. News discriminability and distance from the outbreak epicentre played a role in the trait empathy change. Given how emergency health events influence emotion and the effects of personal traits on prosocial willingness, social media users and providers should understand the negative effects of information over-exposure on mental health during the outbreak.