The Effect of Perceived Duty and Desire to Be Kind on Expected Positive Affect

Kindness, if self-determined, improves the well-being of the benefactor. However, the importance of self-determination when performing kind acts depends on culture. Romanian (N=176) and Japanese (N=154) university students evaluated their duty and desire to engage in several kind behaviors. Romanians felt greater duty, regardless of the target, and greater desire and expected positive affect when the target was a friend or acquaintance, while Japanese expected more moral credit if they engaged in the kind behaviors. However, when predicting expected positive affect by controlled reasons (duty), autonomous reasons (desire) and expected moral credit, duty predicted positive affect only in Japan. Results suggest that, in Japan, having a controlled motivation does not inhibit the positive effect of kindness on well-being.