The Effect of the Family Self-Construal and the Individual Self-Construal on Altruistic Behavior and Egoistic Behavior in Chinese College Students

A self-construal is an important factor on social behavior, and for Chinese people, family is a very important part of their self-concept. The current study applied the method of correlation analysis and priming paradigm to explore the existence of a family self-construal for Chinese, and whether a family selfI-construal and an individual self-construal of college students had an impact on their altruistic and egoistic behaviors. The aim is to find a way to decrease their altruistic behaviors and increase their egoistic behaviors. Results revealed that: (1) The family self-construal was positively correlated with altruistic tendencies (r=.398, p<0.01), and negatively correlated with egoistic tendencies (r=-.162, p<0.01); Individual self-construal was positively correlated with egoistic tendencies (r=.298, p<0.01). (2) When the family self-construal was primed, participants reported more altruistic behaviors (t=2.377, p <0.05), and when the individual self-construal was primed caused more egoistic behavior (t=2.681, p <0.05).