关键词: 负债感, 感激, 帮助动机, 焦点调节, 亲社会行为

Abstract: Indebtedness is defined as an emotion characterized by perceived obligation to repay when a person gets some help or benefits from others in interpersonal reciprocity. It has a lot in common with gratitude, but it differs from gratitude in three aspects including influencing factors, external responses, and psychological mechanisms Influencing factors include recipients characteristics, cost and benefit of help, helper intension, and relationship between donor and recipient. Different external responses between gratitude and indebtedness are reflected in perceptual judgments of the environment, prosocial behavior, and interpersonal relationship. Different external responses may result from different internal psychological mechanisms, especially the motivational orientation toward reciprocity. Gratitude with promotionfocus shows concern about relational value of symbolic effect of helping, while the indebtedness with preventionfocus shows concern about material value. Finally, future studies are needed to enhance the reliability of conclusion, emphasize positive social value of indebtedness, and advocate localized studies.

Key words: indebtedness, gratitude, helper intension, regulatory focus, prosocial behavior