个体冒着可能存在的生命危险，尝试给他人带来帮助与福祉的亲社会行为被定义为英雄行为。英雄行为通常被视为人类道德行为的顶峰，英雄行为在个人生活、人际关系和文化层面都发挥着非常重要的作用，英雄行为可以为人们提供心理资源，且不同类型的英雄行为具有不同的心理效用。对许多人来说，英雄行为是鼓舞人心的道德标杆，充满着非凡的勇气，意义深远。然而在自然情境下开展该类行为的研究受到诸多限制，同时还存在一定的风险。直到最近英雄行为才逐渐成为心理学实证研究的一个主题，然而英雄行为的心理机制依然是未知的，还有许多研究问题需要解答。例如：哪些因素可以预测英雄行为的发生，英雄行为与哪些因素存在关联？英雄行为是否存在性别差异？
本文创新性地将沉浸式虚拟现实技术应用于社会心理学研究中探究了英雄行为的内在心理机制。本文首先对英雄行为的定义与目前已有的英雄行为的心理学研究进行了较为系统的回顾与总结，其次对虚拟现实的定义进行了介绍，同时对虚拟现实技术固有的研究优势进行了较为系统的阐述，接着回顾了虚拟现实技术应用在社会心理学中的研究进展。本文的实验部分主要包含研究一与研究二两项研究，一共招募了401位健康大学生成年被试参与实验。本文主要从以下三个方面对英雄行为的心理机制进行了探讨：1）哪些因素可以预测英雄行为的发生；2）英雄行为的性别差异是否存在；3）如果存在性别差异，男生与女生不同行为表现的内在心理驱动机制是如何的。
研究一主要探究了普通危险系数情境中的英雄行为以及情境因素对英雄行为的影响，研究一表明在普通危险系数的情境中，男生相比于女生更可能采取英雄行为且有着更为迅速的行为反应。同时人们在有协助者、被鼓励的情况下，相比于既没有协助者也没有被鼓励的情况，更可能采取英雄行为且有着更为迅速的行为反应。在研究一的基础上，研究二主要探究了高危险系数情境中的英雄行为以及英雄行为性别差异的内在心理机制。研究二表明在高危险系数的情境中，男生相比于女生，依然更可能采取英雄行为且有着更为迅速的行为反应。英雄行为性别差异的驱动机制的研究表明：个体的冒险倾向对英雄行为不存在显著影响，不同性别之间也不存在显著差异；不同性别的疼痛共情能力对英雄行为的影响却存在显著差异，疼痛共情能力越高的女生越倾向于采取英雄行为，疼痛共情能力越低的男生越倾向于采取英雄行为。研究一与研究二都表明社会价值取向可以有效地预测英雄行为：个体的亲社会取向的程度越高，其越可能采取英雄行为。同时也发现个体事前积极情绪状态或事前消极情绪状态对个体采取英雄行为不存在显著影响。研究二的衍生部分探究英雄行为与遵守社会规范之间的联系，结果表明采取英雄行为的个体相比于未采取英雄行为的个体更可能遵守社会规范。
本文借助于沉浸式虚拟现实技术构建了一个真实的情境使得社会心理学研究具备了更高的生态效度。在很长一段时间内，英雄行为都停留在理论研究的阶段，本文可能也是目前为数极少的探究英雄行为的实证研究之一。总结起来，本文研究表明在其他因素相同的情况下，男生相比于女生，更可能采取英雄行为；个体的亲社会取向的程度越高，个体采取英雄行为的概率越高。研究还发现了英雄行为性别差异的内在心理机制：越有同情心的女生越可能采取英雄行为，然而，对于男生而言，越冷血的男生反而越可能采取英雄行为。本文为理解英雄行为的心理机制，特别是性别差异的内在驱动机制带来了新的研究观点和理论基础。

Heroic behavior is defined as prosocial behavior in which an individual risks his or her own life to bring help and well-being to others. Heroic behavior is usually regarded as the peak of human moral behaviors, and it plays an important role in personal lives, interpersonal relationships, and cultural history. Heroic behavior could provide people with psychological resources, and different types of heroic behaviors have different psychological effects. In many individuals’ views, heroic behaviors are filled with extraordinary courage and could be seen as inspiring moral standards. However, there are many restrictions and risks in the study of such behaviors in natural situations. Until recently, heroic behaviors have gradually become a topic of empirical research in social psychology. The psychological mechanisms of heroic behavior are still unknown, and many research questions remain to be answered. For example, what factors could predict the occurrence of heroic behavior, and what are the factors associated with heroic behavior? Are there gender differences in heroic behavior? 
The thesis creatively applies immersive virtual reality technology to social psychology experiments to explore the internal psychological mechanisms of heroic behavior. The thesis firstly reviews and summarizes the definitions of heroic behaviors and the existing psychological researches about heroic behaviors. Second, it introduces the definition of virtual reality and systematically analyses the inherent benefits of virtual reality technology. Third, it reviews the research progress of virtual reality technology in social psychology. The experimental part of this thesis mainly includes two studies, Study 1 and Study 2. There are 401 healthy adult students from universities who participated in the experiments. The thesis mainly discusses the psychological mechanisms of heroic behavior from the following three aspects: 1) What factors could predict the occurrence of heroic behavior; 2) Whether there are gender differences in heroic behavior; 3) If there are gender differences in heroic behavior, what are the internal psychological driving mechanisms of different behaviors of males and females.    
Study 1 mainly explores the heroic behavior in the situations combined with ordinary risk factors and the influences of situational factors on heroic behavior. Study 1 indicates that males are more likely to take heroic behaviors and have more rapid behavioral responses than females in situations combined with ordinary risk factors. And compared to when people are neither assisted nor encouraged, people are more likely to take heroic behaviors and have more rapid behavioral responses when they are assisted and encouraged. Based on Study 1, Study 2 mainly explores the heroic behavior in high-risk situations and the internal psychological driving mechanisms of gender differences in heroic behavior. Study 2 indicates that in high-risk situations, males are still more likely to take heroic behavior and have more rapid behavioral responses than females. Study 2 also indicates that the risk-taking degree of people have no significant effects on heroic behavior, and there is a significant difference in the effect of empathy of pain abilities on heroic behavior between different gender. Females with higher pain empathy abilities are more inclined to take heroic behavior, however, males with lower pain empathy abilities are more inclined to take heroic behavior. Study 1 and Study 2 both indicate that social value orientations could predict heroic behavior effectively. Individuals with higher prosocial orientations are more likely to take heroic behaviors. It is also found that the individuals’ prior positive affect states and prior negative affect states have no significant effects on the individuals’ heroic behaviors. A derivative of Study 2 explores the correlations between heroic behaviors and the compliance with social norms, and it indicates that individuals who take heroic behaviors are more likely to comply with social norms than those who don’t.
Virtual reality technology could construct a real situation so that social psychology experiments could have higher ecological validity. Heroic behavior has remained at the stage of theoretical research for a long time. The thesis may be one of the few empirical studies about heroic behavior, it indicates that in the same situation, males are more likely to take heroic behaviors than females, and the higher the degree of prosocial orientation, the more likely the individuals are to act heroically. A significant finding of the internal psychological mechanisms of heroic behaviors’ gender differences is that the more sympathetic the females are, the more likely they are to act heroically, however, for males, the more cold-blooded the males are, the more likely they are to act heroically. The thesis provides a new perspective and some theoretical basis for understanding the psychological mechanisms of heroic behavior, especially the internal driving mechanisms of gender differences.