Altruistic preferences of pre-service teachers: The mediating role of empathic concern and the moderating role of self-control

Maohao Li; Wei Li; Qun Yang; Lihui Huang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.999105

Altruistic preferences of pre-service teachers: The mediating role of empathic concern and the moderating role of self-control

Front Psychol. 2022 Oct 28:13:999105. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.999105. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Maohao Li¹, Wei Li^{2

3}, Qun Yang^{2

3}, Lihui Huang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Education, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.
² Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
³ Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Empathy and altruistic behavior are more crucial abilities for pre-service teachers to possess when compared with other study fields. The relationship between empathy and altruistic behavior in Chinese pre-service teachers and their underlying mechanisms, however, has received relatively little attention in the literature. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine the links between study fields (i.e., pre-service teachers whose study field is pedagogy and non-pre-service teachers whose study field is non-pedagogy), self-control, emotional empathy (i.e., empathic concern), and altruistic preferences among undergraduates and graduates in five Chinese universities (the age range of participants is 18-20 years; 58.4% women) with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index-C Questionnaire, the Self-Control Scale, and the Chinese Self-Report Altruism Scale tests. The results showed a significant difference between pre-service and non-pre-service teachers in empathic concern and self-control. Furthermore, empathic concern and altruistic behavior tendency of pre-service teachers were significantly higher than those of non-pre-service teachers. Moreover, mediation analyses indicated that empathic concern partially mediated the relationship between study fields and altruistic tendency. Moderated mediation analysis further revealed that self-control buffered the relation between empathic concern and altruistic behavior tendency. These results demonstrate that altruistic tendency of pre-service teachers is influenced by empathic concern and self-control.

Keywords: altruistic tendency; empathic concern; non-pre-service teachers; pre-service teachers; self-control.