Why smarter individuals self-report being prosocial and more moral persons? A study on the mediating roles of empathy and moral identity

Why are smarter individuals more prosocial? A study on the mediating roles of empathy and moral identity. Qingke Guo et al. Intelligence, Volume 75, July–August 2019, Pages 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2019.02.006

Highlights
•    Intelligence is associated with self-reported prosocial behavior in daily life.
•    Higher intelligence is contributive to emotional sensitivity and a greater concern for others.
•    Highly intelligent individual is more likely to self-identify as a moral person.
•    The intelligence-prosociality association is mediated by perspective taking, empathic concern and moral identity.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is an association between intelligence and prosocial behavior (PSB), and whether this association is mediated by empathy and moral identity. Chinese version of the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, the Self-Report Altruism Scale Distinguished by the Recipient, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Internalization subscale of the Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale were administered to 518 (N female = 254, M age = 19.79) undergraduate students. The results showed that fluid intelligence was significantly correlated with self-reported PSB; moral identity, perspective taking, and empathic concern could account for the positive association between intelligence and PSB; the mediation effects of moral identity and empathy were consistent across gender.