Is Unity or Selfishness More Prevalent? The Impact of Culture and Emotion on the Correlation Between Crisis Incidents and Prosocial Behavior

To investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on prosocial behavior and to explore the psychological mechanisms driving such behavior within the context of individualistic and collectivistic cultures. This study utilized search engine data to analyze the relation between the incidence of COVID-19 (measured by the number of new confirmed cases), collective emotions, and prosocial actions in China and the United States. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and prosocial behavior. Moreover, as the pandemic progressed, the United States experienced the phenomenon of “compassion collapse” earlier than China, and negative emotions in China during the outbreak stage could predict a higher level of prosocial behavior. The study's outcomes validated the regularity of prosocial behavior in the wake of a crisis. These findings suggest that by managing group emotional states, it may be possible to encourage prosocial behavior, which are crucial for maintaining mental health and enhancing emotional well-being during crisis situations across various cultural contexts.