Abstract:

Previous research has primarily focused on the perspective of prosocial actors to address the question of why people perform good deeds without receiving a corresponding good reputation. Drawing from the dual process theory of moral judgment, this study employs three experiments to investigate the impact of prosocial motivation and recipient benefits on prosocial reputation, as well as the role of thinking styles in this process. First, the findings reveal that individuals perceive those with purely altruistic motives as exhibiting the highest level of altruism in their prosocial behavior. Additionally, in helping situations where an actor's motivation and the outcome of their behavior conflict, people take into account both the actor's intentions and the recipient's benefit when evaluating prosocial reputation. Finally, it is found that individuals with an analytical thinking style are more attuned to the motivations of prosocial actors compared to those with an intuitive thinking style.

Key words: prosocial reputation, prosocial motivation, recipients benefit, dual process theory