Previous research has suggested that emotions can influence people’s motivation to engage in prosocial behaviors. Even negatively-valenced emotions, like sadness, guilt, and shame, have been shown to motivate prosocial behaviors. Exploratory analyses of a previous study indicated that regret may also motivate increased prosocial intentions, but no research has been published to experimentally test whether feelings of regret may motivate prosocial behaviors. Therefore, the present research seeks to experimentally manipulate participants’ current emotional state to empirically examine whether regret motivates greater helping behavior than other, similar negative emotions that have already been demonstrated to motivate prosocial behaviors in humans. These studies will also use two separate samples to examine potential age differences in the effects of regret on prosocial behavior. Study 1 indicated that there were no differences in prosocial behavior between emotion conditions but there was a marginal difference between the undergraduate and Prolific samples. Study 2 replicated these results and further suggests that prosocial behavior may be motivated by altruism rather than egotism.
","abstract_html":"<p>Previous research has suggested that emotions can influence people’s motivation to engage in prosocial behaviors. Even negatively-valenced emotions, like sadness, guilt, and shame, have been shown to motivate prosocial behaviors. Exploratory analyses of a previous study indicated that regret may also motivate increased prosocial intentions, but no research has been published to experimentally test whether feelings of regret may motivate prosocial behaviors. Therefore, the present research seeks to experimentally manipulate participants’ current emotional state to empirically examine whether regret motivates greater helping behavior than other, similar negative emotions that have already been demonstrated to motivate prosocial behaviors in humans. These studies will also use two separate samples to examine potential age differences in the effects of regret on prosocial behavior. Study 1 indicated that there were no differences in prosocial behavior between emotion conditions but there was a marginal difference between the undergraduate and Prolific samples. Study 2 replicated these results and further suggests that prosocial behavior may be motivated by altruism rather than egotism. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Findley, Chandler Ann"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Veilleux, Jennifer C.","Makhanova, Anastasia"],"advisors":["Beike, Denise R."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:58Z","subjects":["Altruism","Guilt","Helping","Prosocial Behavior","Regret","Sadness","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Social Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4623","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Veilleux, Jennifer C.","Makhanova, Anastasia"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Beike, Denise R."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Findley, Chandler Ann"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-02-06T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Altruism","Guilt","Helping","Prosocial Behavior","Regret","Sadness","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Social Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4623"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Previous research has suggested that emotions can influence people’s motivation to engage in prosocial behaviors. Even negatively-valenced emotions, like sadness, guilt, and shame, have been shown to motivate prosocial behaviors. Exploratory analyses of a previous study indicated that regret may also motivate increased prosocial intentions, but no research has been published to experimentally test whether feelings of regret may motivate prosocial behaviors. Therefore, the present research seeks to experimentally manipulate participants’ current emotional state to empirically examine whether regret motivates greater helping behavior than other, similar negative emotions that have already been demonstrated to motivate prosocial behaviors in humans. These studies will also use two separate samples to examine potential age differences in the effects of regret on prosocial behavior. Study 1 indicated that there were no differences in prosocial behavior between emotion conditions but there was a marginal difference between the undergraduate and Prolific samples. Study 2 replicated these results and further suggests that prosocial behavior may be motivated by altruism rather than egotism.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Hurting to Helping: Regret as a Potential Motivator of Helping Behavior"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Veilleux, Jennifer C.","Makhanova, Anastasia"],"dc:contributor.advisor":["Beike, Denise R."],"dc:creator":["Findley, Chandler Ann"],"dc:date":["2022"],"dc:date.available":["2024-02-06T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Previous research has suggested that emotions can influence people’s motivation to engage in prosocial behaviors. Even negatively-valenced emotions, like sadness, guilt, and shame, have been shown to motivate prosocial behaviors. Exploratory analyses of a previous study indicated that regret may also motivate increased prosocial intentions, but no research has been published to experimentally test whether feelings of regret may motivate prosocial behaviors. Therefore, the present research seeks to experimentally manipulate participants’ current emotional state to empirically examine whether regret motivates greater helping behavior than other, similar negative emotions that have already been demonstrated to motivate prosocial behaviors in humans. These studies will also use two separate samples to examine potential age differences in the effects of regret on prosocial behavior. Study 1 indicated that there were no differences in prosocial behavior between emotion conditions but there was a marginal difference between the undergraduate and Prolific samples. Study 2 replicated these results and further suggests that prosocial behavior may be motivated by altruism rather than egotism.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4623"],"dc:subject":["Altruism","Guilt","Helping","Prosocial Behavior","Regret","Sadness","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Social Psychology"],"dc:title":["Hurting to Helping: Regret as a Potential Motivator of Helping Behavior"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:58Z"}