Disadvantage and prosocial behavior: the effects of the Wenchuan earthquake

The May 12, 2008, Chinese earthquake of 8.0 magnitude on the Richter scale placed residents in devastated areas in a disadvantaged position. We conducted three sequential surveys in both devastated and non-devastated areas to test our hypothesis that residential devastation would evoke more prosocial behavior. As expected, the results revealed that the degree of prosocial behavior increased with an increasing level of residential devastation, but decreased with the passage of time. However, we also found evidence that a catastrophic disaster leaves a long-lasting effect on prosocial behavior. These findings should improve the conceptual understanding of the origin of prosocial behavior.