TY - JOUR
T1 - Daily Ups and Downs
T2 - An Event-Sampling Study of the Mediated Moderation of Prosocial Engagement on Well-Being
AU - Hui, Bryant P.H.
AU - Kogan, Aleksandr
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported in part by grant from the Economic and Social Research Council National Centre for Research Methods and the Economic and Social Research Council Future Research Leaders award.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Numerous studies have shown that acting prosocially promotes the altruist’s well-being. What has been less clear, however, is when the effect is the strongest and what mechanism is behind the well-being benefits of prosocial action. We asked a community sample (N = 383) to record their prosocial engagement, well-being levels, and autonomy, relatedness, and competence 4 times daily for 2 weeks using an app-based event-sampling method. We found that only one’s competence—and neither autonomy nor relatedness—at one time point (t − 1) moderated the effect of prosocial engagement on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being at a subsequent time point (t). Specifically, when participants reported lower competence levels at t − 1, the relationship between acting prosocially and well-being was stronger at t. We further demonstrated that this interaction was mediated by competence levels at t.
AB - Numerous studies have shown that acting prosocially promotes the altruist’s well-being. What has been less clear, however, is when the effect is the strongest and what mechanism is behind the well-being benefits of prosocial action. We asked a community sample (N = 383) to record their prosocial engagement, well-being levels, and autonomy, relatedness, and competence 4 times daily for 2 weeks using an app-based event-sampling method. We found that only one’s competence—and neither autonomy nor relatedness—at one time point (t − 1) moderated the effect of prosocial engagement on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being at a subsequent time point (t). Specifically, when participants reported lower competence levels at t − 1, the relationship between acting prosocially and well-being was stronger at t. We further demonstrated that this interaction was mediated by competence levels at t.
KW - event-sampling method
KW - prosociality
KW - self-determination theory
KW - two process model
KW - well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041282295&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1948550617722197
DO - 10.1177/1948550617722197
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85041282295
SN - 1948-5506
VL - 9
SP - 675
EP - 688
JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science
IS - 6
ER -