Mindfulness Promotes Online Prosocial Behavior via Cognitive Empathy

Yiqing Lv, Xiuqing Qiao, Jie Leng, Yuanhua Zheng and Qingke Guo
Additional contact information
Yiqing Lv: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
Xiuqing Qiao: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
Jie Leng: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
Yuanhua Zheng: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
Qingke Guo: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-9

Abstract: Mindfulness plays an important role in promoting prosocial behavior and well-being. With the spread of Internet usage, people’s online prosocial behavior (OPB) has garnered great attention. Based on the link between online and offline behaviors, we predict that mindfulness can also facilitate OPB. We examined the association of mindfulness and OPB and the mediating effect of empathy. A total of 674 Chinese undergraduate students completed self-report measures of these constructs. The results showed that different dimensions of mindfulness predicted empathy, which in turn predicted OPB. Perspective taking was the main mediator in the mindfulness-OPB link. Mindfulness improves receptiveness to others’ needs and feelings, thereby enhancing the willingness to help them, even in none-face-to-face situations.

Keywords: mindfulness; online prosocial behavior; empathy; mediating effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7017/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7017/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:7017-:d:585795

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().