# The Effect of Impartial Beneficence on Bystander Cooperation Behavior: The Roles of Social Perception and Impartial Beneficence Personality

## TL;DR

This study explores how impartial beneficence affects whether people help others, focusing on perceptions of warmth and personality traits.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel focus on impartial beneficence and its psychological mechanisms in influencing bystander cooperation.

## Key findings

- Impartial agents reduce bystander cooperation behavior compared to partial agents.
- Impartial beneficence influences cooperation through perceptions of warmth, not competence.
- Impartial beneficence personality moderates the relationship between beneficence and cooperation.

## Abstract

Previous research on utilitarianism has focused predominantly on instrumental harm while neglecting the investigation of impartial beneficence. This study designed three progressive experiments (total n = 1378) to explore how impartial beneficence influences bystander cooperation behavior and to uncover the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions. The findings indicate that (1) compared with a partial agent, an impartial agent reduces bystander cooperation behavior; (2) impartial beneficence affects bystander cooperation behavior by influencing bystanders’ perception of warmth rather than competence; and (3) a bystander’s impartial beneficence personality plays a moderating role in the mediation model, and this moderating effect occurs in the pathways from impartial beneficence to bystander cooperation behavior, perception of warmth, and perception of competence.