The impact of temporal perception orientation on interethnic intergroup helping behavior

Interethnic intergroup helping behavior is an important social behavior that promotes intergroup integration. This study initially expands the temporal perceptual orientation from the traditional three perspectives of the "small self" (self-past, self-present, self-future) to the five perspectives of the "large self," which includes "self-ancestors" and "self-descendants." Through four experiments (N=1159), it explores the effects and mechanisms of different temporal perceptual orientations on interethnic intergroup helping behavior. The results found that all five temporal perceptual orientations can enhance interethnic intergroup helping behavior, with the promoting effect of the self-ancestors orientation being particularly superior. Past self-continuity plays a mediating role in this process, and the direction of ethnic mutual assistance in...