The Association between Economic Inequality and Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from Brain Potentials and Genes

Abstract

The inherent neural mechanism in prosocial behavior and its developmental trajectory are inadequately understood. To address the above gaps, a two-pronged empirical approach, such as experimental approach (e.g., evidence from event-related potentials) and longitudinal questionnaire approach (e.g., latent growth model), is urgently needed to depict a more complete picture of this phenomenon. While both the experimental approach and the correlational approach have their strengths and limitations, they complement one another. In study 1, I sought to replicate prior research and reexamine the relation between SES and adolescents' prosocial behaviors in the ERPs experiment. In study 2, I intend to establish empirical support for the interaction between economic inequality and SES on adolescents' prosocial behavior and the underlying neural mechanism. In these studies, I manipulate the economic inequality and SES in the laboratory experiment to draw causal inferences. Considering the limited external validity of the experiment, study 3 aims to provide longitudinal support for the processing mechanism that explains how economic inequality and SES affect the developmental trajectory of adolescents' prosocial behavior.

How perceived income inequality affects charitable giving and volunteering: Assessing four mechanisms

“…For both charitable giving and volunteering, the inequality aversion hypothesis would predict that higher levels of inequality lead people to most strongly support non-profit organisations that serve redistributive purposes, such as social services (Duquette, 2018;Nair, 2018;Yang, 2022). Therefore, we formulate the further, more specific hypotheses:…”