The Role of Implicit Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between Empathy and Online Prosocial Behavior among Chinese College Students

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between empathy, online prosocial behavior, and implicit emotion regulation among college students. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, a strategy priming task and a donation-sharing paradigm were used to investigate how individuals with different levels of empathy varied in their willingness to engage in online prosocial behavior, and the moderating role of implicit emotion regulation. Experiment 2 employed an email-help-seeking paradigm to assess actual online helping behavior and to replicate the effect. The results indicated that participants with high empathy levels exhibited a higher willingness to engage in online prosocial behavior under goal priming conditions compared to those with low empathy levels. Implicit emotion regulation significantly moderated the relationship between empathy and prosociality. These findings suggest that the relevant interventions aimed at enhancing empathy and activating implicit emotion-regulation processes may promote prosocial behavior in digital contexts and a healthier online environment.