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The scientific study of love underscores the importance of dyadic reciprocity in laying the foundation for infants' social development. While research establishes links between early reciprocity and children's social capacities, some infants appear to benefit from reciprocity more than others. A central feature of reciprocity is its contingent structure, that is, the extent to which maternal behaviors are temporally associated with and contingent upon infants' dynamically changing cues. As such, infants' sensitivity to social contingencies may define the extent to which an infant benefits from maternal reciprocity. The current study examined the role of infants' sensitivity to social contingency (SC) in moderating associations between early maternal reciprocity and subsequent infants' social behavior. The study followed 157 children (47% females), across the first year of life (4, 10, and 12 months) and at preschool age (48 months). Infants' SC at 4 and 10 months moderated the link between early maternal reciprocity and infants' prosocial behavior observed at 12 months. SC at 10 months moderated the link between early reciprocity and reported peer problems at 48 months. Maternal reciprocity predicted more helping behavior in infancy and fewer peer problems at preschool, but only for infants who displayed high SC. Findings highlight the contingent nature of reciprocal mother‐infant interactions revealing that an infant's sensitivity to breaks in social‐contingency moderates the developmental benefit of reciprocity. Future research is necessary to directly test the underlying mechanisms of these processes and better understand the individual characteristics of infants' sensitivity to social contingency and its' role in typical and atypical development. Research Highlights: Individual differences in infants' sensitivity to breaks in social contingencies may moderate the extent to which infants benefit from contingent reciprocal maternal behavior (i.e., maternal reciprocity).Maternal reciprocity predicted more helping behavior in infancy and fewer peer problems at preschool, but only for infants who displayed high sensitivity to breaks in social contingency.Findings highlight the contingent nature of reciprocal mother‐infant interactions revealing that infants' sensitivity to breaks in social‐contingency moderates the developmental benefit of reciprocity.Findings emphasize the need to develop measurement methods and direct empirical attention to the important yet understudied individual characteristic of infants' sensitivity to social contingency and its role in shaping social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer status among preschool children has been associated with their roles in aggression‐related interactions. This study analyses the differences between aggressors, victims, aggressor‐victims and defenders on two measures of peer status (social impact and social preferences) whilst controlling for individual factors. The sample comprised 394 preschool children (184 girls, 210 boys) between the ages of 3–6 years old (M = 4.36, SD = 0.87) and their parents supplying information about socio‐demographic variables and children's emotion regulation. Teachers rated emotional competences for each child in their class. Analysis of covariance along with Bonferroni‐adjusted post‐hoc comparisons were conducted to compare mean scores between the aggression roles for social impact and social preference while controlling for significant individual factors. The results revealed that aggressors and aggressor‐victims exhibited higher social impact but lower social preference after controlling for individual factors. In contrast, defenders enjoyed higher social status among their peers, characterized by both higher social preference and social impact. Victims were associated with lower social preference and social impact. Uninvolved children consistently exhibited lower social impact. Results underscore the need for interventions that focus on promoting prosocial behaviors, addressing aggressive tendencies, and enhancing emotional competences to create a more positive and supportive peer environment. Practitioners points: Aggressive roles (e.g., aggressors, victims) in preschoolers are associated with higher social impact scores, indicating increased visibility within peer groups.Aggressors and aggressor‐victims exhibit lower social preference compared to other roles, underscoring the need to address aggressive behaviors and promote prosocial skills.Preschool victims may be as socially preferred as defenders and uninvolved children, suggesting the presence of positive characteristics or prosocial behaviors that counterbalance the negative effects of victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial consumer behaviours, or actions taken by consumers intended to benefit others, are essential for society's stability. Thus, marketers need to systematically develop strategies that promote such intentions among consumers. Influencer marketing is a particularly effective strategy. We systematically review and propose how to encourage prosocial consumer behaviour, depending on consumers' capability, opportunity, and motivation. In Study 1, a scoping review of 15 articles on influencer marketing encouraging prosocial consumer behaviour yields a research map that confirms the relevance of influencer marketing in encouraging such behaviour. In Study 2, a bibliometric review of 867 articles on prosocial consumer behaviour results in a keyword map that identifies critical factors influencing prosocial consumer behaviour. The findings offer future research directions on influencer marketing to encourage prosocial consumer behaviour. More importantly, we propose practical digital interventions for encouraging prosocial consumer behaviour. This research provides a state‐of‐the‐art overview of prosocial consumer behaviour and illustrates how influencer marketing can promote prosocial consumer behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Research Highlights This study examined whether grandparental support is a protective factor for children's socio‐emotional development in the context of adversity. Using longitudinal data from the Millennium Cohort Study, we investigated the effects of grandparental support across development in children with and without adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Socio‐emotional development was assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire when children were aged 3 years (N = 10,186), 5 years (N = 10,412) and 7 years (N = 10,551). Parent‐reported grandparental childcare, coresidence and financial help were assessed and parents reported on the occurrence of five ACEs: physical and emotional abuse assessed with the Straus’ Conflict Tactics Scale, parental mental illness assessed with the Kessler scale, domestic violence and parental separation. We found that children with relatively higher levels of ACEs showed more prosocial behaviour and less externalizing problems when they received grandparental care compared to non‐grandparental (in)formal care, but only at age 3. By age 7, children with higher levels of ACEs receiving grandparental care showed less prosocial behaviour and more externalizing problems. In addition, grandparental financial support at age 3 was related to more externalizing problems. Post‐hoc analyses showed that internalizing and externalizing behaviours at age 5 were related to an increased probability of grandparental childcare at age 7, indicating that children's socio‐emotional problems trigger grandparental support. Our findings point to a protective effect of grandparental care on children's socio‐emotional development at age 3. Our results highlight the importance of going beyond the nuclear family towards the impact of the wider family network when examining children's socio‐emotional development. Three‐year‐old children with high levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) show more prosocial behaviour and less externalizing behaviour when they receive grandparental care. Grandparental care has therefore protective effects on young children's socio‐emotional development in the context of family adversity. Grandparents respond to children's socio‐emotional problems and family adversity by increasing financial support and involvement in care. These findings underscore the importance of going beyond the nuclear family towards the impact of the wider family network when examining children's socio‐emotional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chimpanzees and other great apes seem to be much less cooperative than humans overall, yet they nevertheless reliably help others in many instrumental circumstances. Although in many contexts the helping behavior of chimpanzees is quite similar to that of human children, recent studies using both behavioral and psychophysiological paradigms have revealed important differences, specifically, in the underlying motivations for prosocial behavior. Here, we provide both a synthesis of recent empirical work and an evolutionary hypothesis that can account for the differences in chimpanzee and human helping motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the dictator game, the evidence that giving is equivalent to taking is mixed. The purpose of this study was to investigate framing effects (giving/taking) on social‐discounting rates among young African adults from an informal settlement in South Africa. Employing a within‐participant design, these young adults completed a series of incentivized dictator games with an isomorphically equivalent giving and taking frame at each of eight social distances. Altruism was measured by the social‐discounting rate, and framing effects were assessed using generalized linear regression. The study provides empirical evidence that prosocial behavior among young South African adults is subject to framing because exponential, hyperbolic, and q‐exponential social‐discounting rates in all instances were lower in the taking than in the giving frame. This difference may be the result of greater “egalitarianism” and “selflessness” elicited by the taking frame, which likely is a product of the experiment's particular social and economic field context. More comparative research is required to establish the working of specific mechanics of morality that may operate differently in diverse socioeconomic contexts, thus contributing to elucidating the heterogeneous nature of findings in this area of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Intergroup contact has long been established as a prejudice‐reduction tool in divided societies, with contact being particularly effective during adolescence. A large proportion of evidence, however, draws on cross‐sectional surveys or analytical approaches that do not distinguish between‐ and within‐person effects. In the present research, we address this by exploring the potential of intergroup contact longitudinally on social cohesion–related outcomes amongst youth (aged 14–19) in Belfast (Study 1, N = 231) and Bradford (Study 2, N = 159). Measures included intergroup contact, outgroup attitudes, intergroup anxiety, outgroup empathy and outgroup prosocial behaviour across three time points. Using random‐intercept cross‐lagged panel models, results demonstrate between‐person associations of contact with our outcomes, but limited within‐person changes. Our findings demonstrate the potential and limitations of intergroup contact for social cohesion–related outcomes for youth growing up in divided societies, pointing to the need for developmental‐focused future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Although the presence of early helping behavior has been firmly established, it is unclear to what extent children are willing to adopt costs to help others, as well as how this willingness changes as children get older. Canadian 21‐ to 36‐month‐olds (N = 48) participated in four helping tasks varying in the type and degree of effort required to help (lifting force, cognitive load, the number of steps in a task, and pushing force). When costs were lower, toddlers were not only more likely to help but also provided help more readily and helped in ways that prioritized others’ needs. Importantly, we found that age and how costly helping was to individual children each uniquely predicted high‐cost helping, but not low‐cost helping. Overall, we demonstrate that toddlers’ helping is sensitive to a variety of effortful costs, while simultaneously demonstrating that maturation and individual costs appear to uniquely influence high‐cost helping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between narcissism and prosocial behavior, challenging the mainstream view that narcissism typically undermines prosocial actions. We argue that in collectivist cultures, where social harmony and interdependence are central, narcissistic traits can manifest as prosocial behavior, driven by the pursuit of social status. This dynamic is moderated by interdependent self‐construal, which ties personal identity to group relationships. To substantiate our claim, we conducted four comprehensive studies. Study 1 (N = 425) analyzed the cross‐cultural variance in the relationship between narcissism and prosocial behavior. Studies 2A (N = 244) and 2B (N = 295) accessed and manipulated the interdependent self‐construal individuals in both Eastern and Western cultural settings to explore the moderating role of cultural tendencies. Study 3 (N = 605) explored a moderated mediation model to explore the mechanisms underpinning the facilitated effect of narcissism on prosocial behavior through the social status pursuit. Our research shows that in collectivist settings, narcissism can fuel prosocial behaviors, moderated by interdependent self‐construal, which connects narcissism to prosocial behavior through the desire for social status. This breakthrough deepens our understanding of narcissism within cultural contexts, highlighting the importance of considering cultural factors in psychological research and offering new insights into the diverse expressions of personality traits across societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation, as a mutual collaboration, is a defining feature of human social life. Individual characteristics can influence cooperation. Recent studies have shown a quadratic relationship between cardiac vagal tone (CVT), an index of self‐regulation, and prosocial behaviors. Individual differences in cooperation might also vary as a function of people's environmental sensitivity (ES), i.e., may be influenced by individual differences in the perception and processing of inner and external stimuli. We tested the direct and interactive effect of CVT and ES on cooperative behaviors in two independent samples. We measured heart rate and engagement in cooperative acts in 80 young adults (M = 23.61; SD = 1.60) who were also asked to self‐report on ES. We found an inverted‐U relationship between CVT and cooperative behaviors. ES, on the other hand, did not predict differences in cooperative behaviors but moderated the relationships between CVT and cooperation, although the magnitude of this result was small. Specifically, only among individuals with higher ES cooperative behaviors change as a function of CVT. Highly sensitive individuals with lower or higher CVT, were less cooperative than low sensitive ones. Subsequently, we replicated the same study design in a second sample of 88 undergraduate students (M = 23.69; SD = 4.91). Once again, we found evidence supporting the presence of an inverted‐U relationship between CVT and cooperative behaviors, and we also found that ES moderated the relationships between the quadratic CVT term and cooperation. Our findings add new evidence on physiological self‐regulation as an underlying mechanism of prosocial behaviors, in particular cooperation. In two independent samples, our results showed a quadratic relationship between cardiac vagal tone (CVT) and cooperation. We found that this relationship is moderated by environmental sensitivity (ES). Specifically, only among individuals with higher ES, cooperative behaviors change as a function of CVT. To make the world more cooperative, people should learn how to regulate especially when they are highly sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have highlighted the critical role that the belief in a just world (BJW) plays in maintaining and promoting prosocial behaviors within individuals. Considered a stable personality trait, the crux of BJW lies in the conviction that individuals receive what they deserve, and deserve what they receive. Simultaneously, the relationship between BJW and prosocial behavior is impacted by an individual's sense of fairness or unfairness. However, past research has primarily focused on real‐life prosocial behavior, with limited exploration into the relationship between BJW and online prosocial behavior. This study, comprising a survey and an experiment, aimed to delve deeper into this relationship. The survey section randomly selected 4212 college students to examine how BJW correlates with online prosocial behavior. Findings predominantly revealed a significant positive correlation between online prosocial behavior and BJW. Additionally, the study explored how gender and place of origin influence these behaviors. Results showed that male students and those from urban areas exhibited significantly higher online prosocial behavior. The experimental research investigated the performance differences in online prosocial behaviors among college students under different fairness scenarios, revealing that the online prosocial behavior in an unfair situation was significantly higher than in fair or neutral situations. Furthermore, in unfair situations, a significant correlation was observed between BJW and online prosocial behavior. The findings from this study significantly advance our understanding of the dynamics between BJW and online prosocial behavior among college students, emphasizing that perceived injustices can markedly enhance prosocial behaviors in virtual settings. This study underscores the profound impact of fairness perceptions and highlights the modulating effects of gender and geographical background on online interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Methods Results Conclusion To compare trajectories of social functioning in peer problems and prosocial behavior from 5 to 13 years between individuals born very preterm (VPT) and full‐term (FT).Participants were from the Victorian Infant Brain Study (VIBeS) longitudinal cohort, consisting of 224 individuals born VPT and 77 born FT recruited at birth. Social functioning was measured using the parent‐rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) peer problems and prosocial behavior subscales at 5, 7, and 13 years' corrected age. Multilevel mixed effects models were fitted.Peer problems increased with age (adjusted mean difference per year = 0.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01, 0.07, p = 0.02), with higher peer problems in the VPT compared with the FT group (adjusted mean difference between groups = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.86, p = 0.02). Prosocial behavior increased from early to middle childhood and decreased approaching adolescence, but was similar between VPT and FT groups (adjusted mean difference between groups = −0.05, 95% CI = −0.50, 0.40, p = 0.82).Children born VPT are at greater risk for peer problems than FT peers and may benefit from receiving greater early social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between parental psychological wellbeing, parenting, children's psychological difficulties, and prosocial behavior in Kahramanmaraş earthquake‐affected families living in Türkiye in 2023. To this end, a mediation model was proposed for parental psychological distress that was hypothesized to exert an indirect effect on a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior through parenting. Participants were 358 preschoolers between 4 and 6 years old and their one parent (father or mother) who completed a set of validated self‐report surveys in a cross‐sectional design study. Results showed positive associations between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties but negative association with child's prosocial behavior. Furthermore, quality of parenting mediated the association between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior. Our findings suggest that positive parenting may serve as a protective mechanism that mediates the association between parental psychological distress and a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behaviors among families displaced by a natural disaster like an earthquake. These findings point to the need for supporting positive parent–child relationships in addition to decreasing the psychological distress of parents when exposed to potentially traumatizing events like this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined children's self‐assessment of their prosociality, relative to average peers, in situations where the recipient is described as “needy” versus “not needy” (at a school of average socioeconomic level in south Israel; N = 158; aged 6–12 years; 51% males, December–May 2021). The results show that older children exhibited the better‐than‐average (BTA) effect by seeing themselves as more generous than peers. In contrast, younger children displayed the worse‐than‐average effect by expecting peers to be more generous than themselves. However, both effects were attenuated (ηp2$$ {\eta}_{\mathrm{p}}^2 $$ = .16) when the recipient was described as “needy,” leading to higher expectations of sharing from oneself and others. This implies that besides children's motivational tendency to self‐evaluate as BTA, they also base their evaluations on actual environmental cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how individual differences in self‐focused and other‐focused orientations relate to prosocial (e.g., helping, volunteerism) and antisocial (e.g., theft, violence) behaviours/attitudes. Using four datasets (total N = 176,216; across 78 countries), we find that other‐focused orientations (e.g., socially focused values, intimacy motivation, compassionate/communal traits) generally relate positively to prosocial outcomes and negatively to antisocial outcomes. These effects are highly consistent cross‐nationally and across multiple ways of operationalizing constructs. In contrast, self‐focused orientations (e.g., personally focused values, power motivation, assertive/agentic traits) tend to relate positively to both antisocial and prosocial outcomes. However, associations with prosocial outcomes vary substantially across nations and construct operationalizations. Overall, the effects of other‐focused orientations are consistently larger than those of self‐focused orientations. We discuss the implications of these findings for interventions that target self‐focused and other‐focused motivations to influence prosocial and antisocial outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten studies (N = 4192) demonstrated that individuals depicted as prosocial were judged to be more physically beautiful. This evaluation of prosocial individuals as more beautiful is influenced by a motivation to be associated with prosocial others. This phenomenon was observed in real‐world settings (Study 1) and applied to both men and women, both as targets and observers (Studies 2a–2b). The effect persisted in scenarios where participants imagined the target without any visual aid (Study 2c) and extended beyond metaphorical interpretations of beauty (Study 3). The effect weakened when prosocial behaviour was an isolated incident, not indicative of the target's prosocial personality (Study 4). The influence of prosociality on beauty evaluations surpassed that of other positive traits such as intelligence or humour (Study 5) and remained significant despite physical imperfections in the target's appearance (Study 6). The effect diminished in situations where forming a relationship was not feasible, thus supporting the motivated cognition rationale (Studies 7–8). These findings highlight the substantial role of prosocial behaviour in influencing evaluations of physical beauty, a crucial element in social interactions and relationship formation, often outweighing other attributes typically linked to physical appearance evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has indicated a link between the moral circle and an individual's prosocial behaviour. However, it remains uncertain whether this relationship holds across a broader range of countries and is influenced by sociocultural contexts. Drawing from an international dataset encompassing 49,540 participants from 57 countries, this study examined the impact of the moral circle on an individual's generosity and the moderating role of cultural religiosity. The results revealed a significant positive association between moral circle and generosity in a cross‐national context. Notably, in religious cultures, the connection between the moral circle and generosity was found to be weaker. Three robustness checks further affirmed that these findings are robust. The research confirmed a positive relationship between the moral circle and generosity in a multinational context but also highlighted the moderating role of cultural religiosity. This finding suggested that future research should further investigate how cultural and religious frameworks influence ethical behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health research demonstrates that prosocial health behaviors, while typically voluntarily, can be influenced by dispositional empathy. However, the motivating circumstances regarding this link between empathy and prosocial health behavior have not been well understood. Self‐determination theory provides a framework for motivating voluntary behavior. Three preregistered studies (ntotal = 630) sought to integrate self‐determination's autonomous and controlled motivation to protect vulnerable populations from illness as potential mediators associated with dispositional empathy and face mask wearing behavior (Studies 1 and 2), and flu vaccination (Study 3). Results demonstrate that autonomous motivation positively mediates the empathy‐prosocial health behavior pathway whereas controlled motivation does not. Findings postulate the importance of identifying motivation in predicting face mask behavior and flu vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peers constitute an important developmental context for adolescent academic behaviour providing support and resources to either promote or discourage attitudes and behaviours that contribute to school success. When looking for academic help, students may prefer specific partners based on their social goals regarding academic performance. Aims: Based on the social goals for wanting to achieve academically (e.g., studying to be with friends, increasing/maintaining their own social status), we examine the extent to which adolescents' selection of preferred academic partners (with whom they would like to study) is driven by peers' academic performance, prosocial behaviour and friendships. Moreover, as high‐achieving students play an important role in academic settings, whether they are more likely to prefer to study with similar high‐achieving peers and friends was examined. Sample: A total of 537 seventh‐grade students from 13 classes over three waves. Methods: Longitudinal social network analyses (RSiena). Results: Adolescents were more likely to select high achievers, friends and prosocial peers as preferred academic partners. Furthermore, high achievers were more likely to choose other high achievers and friends as preferred academic partners. Conclusions: Adolescents are likely to prefer as study partners someone they can learn from and who is more approachable, cooperative and friendly. Regarding high achievers, they would choose not only academic partners with similar academic interests and motivations to help them boost their academic achievement but also classmates with whom they like to spend time and share personal issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared parenting across four non‐Western cultures to test cross‐cultural commonality and specificity principles in three aspects: measurement properties, parenting normativeness, and their associations with child outcomes. Both mothers and fathers (N = 1509 dyads) with preschool‐aged children (M = 5.00 years; 48% girls) from urban areas of four countries (Malaysia, N = 372; China, N = 441; Turkey, N = 402; and Japan, N = 294) reported on four parenting constructs (authoritative, authoritarian, group harmony socialization, and intrusive control) and their sub‐dimensions using modified culturally relevant measures. Teachers reported on children's internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors. The commonality principle was supported by two sets of findings: (1) full measurement invariance was established for most parenting constructs and sub‐dimensions, except that intrusive control only reached partial scalar invariance, and (2) no variations were found in associations between parenting and any child outcomes across cultures or parent gender at the construct level for all four parenting constructs and at the sub‐dimensional level for authoritarian and intrusive control sub‐dimensions. The specificity principle was supported by the other two sets of findings: (1) cross‐cultural differences in parenting normativeness did not follow the pattern of economic development but yielded culture‐specific patterns, and (2) at the sub‐dimensional level, the authoritative parenting and group harmony socialization sub‐dimensions were differently associated with child outcomes across cultures and/or parent gender. The findings suggested that examining specific dimensions rather than broad parenting constructs is necessary to reflect cultural specificities and nuances. Our study provided a culturally‐invariant instrument and a three‐step guide for future parenting research to examine cross‐cultural commonalities/specificities. Research Highlights: This is the first study to use an instrument with measurement invariance across multiple non‐Western cultures to examine the commonality and specificity principles in parenting.Measurement invariance was achieved across cultures for authoritative and authoritarian parenting, group harmony socialization, intrusive control, and their sub‐dimensions, supporting the commonality principle.Cross‐cultural differences in parenting normativeness did not follow the pattern of economic development but yielded culture‐specific patterns, supporting the specificity principle.Both commonalities and specificities were manifested in associations between parenting and child outcomes across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper extends theories of gift giving behavior through identifying and defining the emerging phenomenon of Avenger Philanthropy. This manifests when people make individual monetary donations to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to achieve a collective sense of moral grandstanding, usually underpinned by humor. For the first time, the paper makes sense of this phenomenon theoretically through drawing on a wide range of literature including gift giving, game theory and consumer psychology, and as a result, identifies seven distinctive hallmarks. The paper maps the importance of public expression of personal values, amplified through social media, together with risks for the NPO that benefits from the donations. Emotion underpins the giving behavior, both moral outrage and humor. This investigation contributes to the gift giving literature by identifying, mapping and anchoring current actions that potentially have far reaching consequences for future research and for nonprofit practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heeding the rising popularity of virtual influencers on social media, many established brands are beginning to collaborate with them. Although virtual influencers are perceived as novel and exciting, their effectiveness in different areas of consumer behavior has not been examined. While previous research has compared several attributes of virtual and human influencers, our research is specifically motivated to answer: how can marketers increase the effectiveness of virtual influencers in promoting prosocial causes? Across four experiments employing different prosocial contexts, we compared the effectiveness of virtual and human influencers in increasing consumers' prosocial intentions and behaviors. Findings suggest that although human influencers are more persuasive in promoting prosocial behaviors, this effect only occurs when a virtual influencer is perceived as a standalone influencer (i.e., not affiliated with a brand). Overall, our results imply that marketers can substantially increase the effectiveness of virtual influencers by making the cues of brand affiliation salient in influencers' posts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial advertisements are intended to persuade consumers to purchase products, but their influence can often extend unintentionally and uninvitedly to noncommercial domains. Researchers have uncovered many such unintended ad effects—from lowered self‐esteem to increased empathy. This paper adds to the research on unintended ad effects by examining the variable of price in advertisements, and its influence on people's perceived (1) financial well‐being, (2) happiness, (3) time–money evaluations (4) proneness to prosocial behavior, and (5) calculative mindset. The first study was conducted on Swedish nationals through the Swedish national survey company, Nepa. The participants were exposed to advertisements with high versus low levels of prices. We find that those exposed to lower‐priced ads feel better off financially, and consequently happier, place relatively higher value on time over money, and are more likely to help a friend in need than those exposed to higher‐priced ads. The second study was conducted on a US sample using Prolific and further investigated the mechanism behind the effects found in the first study. In this study, we again find an effect of advertised prices on happiness, but not on the other dependent variables. The study results shed new light on the role of advertising and prices on consumer's appraisal of their own financial‐ and psychological well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does self‐governance, a hallmark of democratic societies, foster norms of generalized cooperation? Does this effect persist, and if so, why? I investigate these questions using a natural experiment in Switzerland. In the Middle Ages, the absence of an heir resulted in the extinction of a prominent noble dynasty. As a result, some Swiss municipalities became self‐governing, whereas the others remained under feudalism for another 600 years. Evidence from a behavioral experiment, the World Values Survey and the Swiss Household Panel consistently show that individuals from historically self‐governing municipalities exhibit stronger norms of cooperation today. Referenda data on voter‐turnout allow me to trace these effects on individually costly and socially beneficial actions for over 150 years. Furthermore, norms of cooperation map into prosocial behaviors like charitable giving and environmental protection. Uniquely, Switzerland tracks every family's place of origin in registration data, which I use to demonstrate persistence from cultural transmission in a context of historically low migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. Prosocial risk taking is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research about different types of prosocial risk taking and highlight examples, emphasizing a developmental perspective by examining change across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Research to date suggests that young people are more likely to engage in prosocial risk taking when they are more tolerant of uncertainty, have greater sensation‐seeking, perspective‐taking, and empathy, and when they are motivated by reputational concerns. Individual differences in prosocial risk‐taking behavior depend on youth's access to opportunities to explore, practice, and experience positive social feedback. Providing opportunities for youth to direct their risk‐taking tendencies toward prosocial outlets may help minimize risks to their psychosocial health and promote individual and community well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) plays a crucial role in understanding animal communication, particularly in the field of ethology and neuropharmacology. Communication is associated with social behaviour; so, USVs study is a valid assay in behavioural readout and monitoring in this context. This paper delved into an investigation of ultrasonic communication in mice treated with Cannabis sativa oil (CS mice), which has been demonstrated having a prosocial effect on behaviour of mice, versus control mice (vehicle‐treated, VH mice). To conduct this study, we created a dataset by recording audio‐video files and annotating the duration of time that test mice spent engaging in social activities, along with categorizing the types of emitted USVs. The analysis encompassed the frequency of individual sounds as well as more complex sequences of consecutive syllables (patterns). The primary goal was to examine the extent and nature of diversity in ultrasonic communication patterns emitted by these two groups of mice. As a result, we observed statistically significant differences for each considered pattern length between the two groups of mice. Additionally, the study extended its research by considering specific behaviours, aiming to ascertain whether dissimilarities in ultrasonic communication between CS and VH mice are more pronounced or subtle within distinct behavioural contexts. Our findings suggest that while there is variation in USV communication between the two groups of mice, the degree of this diversity may vary depending on the specific behaviour being observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the optimal gestational weight gain (GWG) thresholds for behavioral problems and prosocial behavior in 6‐ to 7‐year‐old children. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty study, including all first‐graders in public schools in Adachi, Tokyo, in 2017, 2019, and 2021 (n = 11 048, response rate = 80.1%). GWG was based on clinical records in the Mother and Child Health Handbook. Total difficulties and prosocial behavior were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Logistic regression models with restricted cubic splines, and quintile categories were employed to examine the association of GWG with the clinical range of total difficulties and prosocial behavior, controlling for covariates. Results: The association between GWG and total difficulties exhibited a reverse J‐shaped pattern, with low GWG, but not high GWG, increasing the risk (odds ratio [OR] 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.42, P = 0.039 for GWG < 7 kg; OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.85–1.24, P = 0.786 for GWG > 14 kg), referencing the median (10 kg). High GWG was associated with a lower risk of problems in prosocial behavior (OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.62–0.95, P = 0.017 for GWG > 14 kg; OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.88–1.27, P = 0.532 for GWG <7 kg). Conclusion: GWG less than 7 kg may increase the risk of total difficulties, whereas GWG over 14 kg may serve as a protective factor for prosocial behavior in 6‐ to 7‐year‐old children. Synopsis: Low gestational weight gain (<7 kg) increases risk of behavioral problems, while high gain (>14 kg) lowers risk of problems in prosocial behavior in 6‐ to 7‐year‐old Japanese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China's enduring historical connection with mindfulness and the growing recognition of mindfulness‐based interventions (MBIs) in Western education, mindfulness remains relatively underexplored in the Chinese education system. This study addresses the scarcity of resources and certified instructors in China by assessing the effectiveness of MBIs in both taught and self‐help forms in improving well‐being and prosocial behavior and regulating negative emotions and behaviors among Chinese adolescents. The analysis included 362 Chinese students (mean age = 13.03, SD = 0.50, 47.5% girls) from 12 classes, assigned to the taught MBI group (N = 129, post), self‐help MBI group (N = 116, post), or control group (N = 117, post). Paired‐sample t‐tests and multi‐level modeling were used, accounting for data nesting and incorporating gender, whether students live in school, and age as covariates. Results revealed a significantly greater improvement in well‐being in the taught group compared with the control, with both MBI groups demonstrating increased prosocial behavior. While the taught group showed a significant decrease in loneliness, it was accompanied by an increase in internalizing problems. Coping strategies varied across the groups, with no significant changes in depression, anxiety, and stress levels. These findings imply the potential value of integrating MBIs into the Chinese educational system, especially given the self‐help approach's favorable outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although empathy for pain plays an important role in positive interpersonal relationships and encourages engagement in prosocial behavior, it remains largely unknown whether empathy for pain could be effectively altered by psychophysiological techniques. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a single session of diaphragmatic breathing practice on empathy for pain and examine the potential mechanism involving interoceptive awareness. A total of 66 healthy participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group received a 15‐minute diaphragmatic breathing (DB) practice with real‐time biofeedback, while the control group was to gaze at a black screen at rest and not engaged in any other activities. Before and after the invention, all participants were instructed to evaluate the intensity and unpleasantness of empathy for pain while watching different pictures with pain or non‐pain conditions. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) was then administered to measure interoceptive awareness. The results indicated a significant interaction between group and time with regard to empathy for pain and MAIA. The DB group showed a statistically significant decrease in both pain intensity and unpleasantness during the pain picture condition, as well as a noteworthy increase in MAIA scores. The control group did not demonstrate any substantial changes. More importantly, the regulation of attention, a dimension of MAIA, had a significant mediating effect on the impact of diaphragmatic breathing on reported unpleasantness. Diaphragmatic breathing could serve as a simple, convenient, and practical strategy to optimize human empathy for pain that warrants further investigation, which has important implications not only for individuals with impaired empathy for pain but also for the improvement of interoceptive awareness. This is the first RCT study to adopt a single session of intervention to influence empathy for pain by using an experimental evaluation paradigm. The results showed that 15‐minute diaphragmatic breathing significantly decreased pain intensity and unpleasantness caused by empathy for pain, and interoceptive awareness mediated the effect of diaphragmatic breathing on the unpleasantness level of empathy for pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research shows that public (vs. anonymous) donations are viewed as a sign of egoistic motives, such as wanting to impress others. In addition, such public donations also are viewed as a sign of altruistic motives, such as wanting to encourage others to donate. These perceptions inform inferences of donors' communal traits, with egoistic motives suggesting weaker communal traits, and altruistic motives suggesting stronger ones. Inferences of communal traits impact behavior, with stronger communal traits predicting greater charitable donations. In sum, public modes of giving can decrease donations (through inferences of egoistic motives and weaker communal traits) and increase donations (through inferences of altruistic motives and stronger communal traits). These effects occur in the context of $100 and $10 donations (Study 1) and impact real contributions of money (Study 2) and volunteer work (Study 3). Platform managers can strengthen inferences of altruistic motives by communicating that public donations can motivate others to give (Study 4). Together, these findings enhance understanding of how public forms of giving influence others to donate, which has practical implications for donation platform managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embarrassment plays a pivotal role in the consumer landscape by significantly influencing consumers' purchase and consumption experiences. While marketing scholarship has primarily focused on the undesirable facets of embarrassment, the present research examines the positive outcomes of embarrassment for consumers, firms, and the environment. Based on costly signaling theory, this research seeks to determine the effect of embarrassment on consumer preferences toward prosocial products. Using six experimental studies (including one in the Supporting Information: Appendix), we demonstrate that embarrassment positively influences the purchase intention for environment‐friendly and sustainable products. Using lab and consequential studies, we show that the motivation to repair the social image mediates the effect of embarrassment on prosocial product preference. We also identify that public self‐consciousness moderates this effect, such that embarrassed individuals with high (vs. low) public self‐consciousness exhibit higher prosocial product preference. We also show that our core predictions on the effect of embarrassment on prosocial products is contingent upon the social context, such that embarrassment leads to enhanced intentions to repair social image and prosocial product preference in public but not in private purchase context. The results hold for various product categories. The findings contribute to a greater theoretical understanding of embarrassment by revealing a prosocial facet of the phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropsychologists claim that exposure to a massive water scene triggers the feeling of Awe which causes more prosocial behavior. I find that coastal firms have significantly higher corporate social responsibility (CSR) scores than non‐coastal firms. The difference‐in‐difference test shows that CSR engagement erodes when firms relocate away from coasts. These results are robust to the use of propensity score matching and entropy balancing to address selection bias, Oster's test to address omitted variable bias, and control for institutional ownership, social capital, religiosity, CEO and local political orientation, and natural disaster risk. Further analysis shows that CSR creates value only for coastal firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have examined the relationship between social support and prosocial behavior and have concluded that social support is an important factor in generating prosocial behavior. However, different studies have produced different conclusions, and the moderating effect on the relationship is not entirely clear. The current study uses a three‐level meta‐analysis method to clarify the relationship between social support and prosocial behavior, and explores the moderating variables that affect the relationship between the two variables. Through a systematic literature search, a total of 92 studies, 418 effect sizes, and 74,378 participants were obtained. The main effects test found a significant positive correlation between social support and prosocial behavior. Tests of the moderating effects indicated that the relationship between social support and prosocial behavior was moderated by year of publication, source of social support, measurement of social support and measurement of prosocial behavior. In summary, social support plays an important role in prosocial behavior, and exploring their relationship is beneficial to families, schools and society in guiding individuals' prosocial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behaviour is a hallmark of social and emotional competence during childhood. Thus, promoting the development of children's prosocial behaviour can have important downstream benefits for individuals and society. Previous studies indicated that there is a positive effect of negative moral emotions on prosocial behaviour, but the influence of positive moral emotions on prosocial behaviour remains largely unknown. This study adopted three experiments to investigate the influence of positive moral emotions on three aspects of prosocial behaviour in 3–5‐year‐old children. After inducing positive moral emotions in children, they were observed either in helping (Experiment 1, N = 151, 75 boys), sharing (Experiment 2, N = 141, 69 boys) or comforting (Experiment 3, N = 132, 66 boys) scenarios. Results showed that: (1) children's helping, sharing and comforting behaviours in the moral emotions (experimental) group were significantly higher than those in the control group, suggesting that positive moral emotions could positively influence the examined prosocial behaviours; (2) there were age differences in children's helping, sharing and comforting, but the effect of positive moral emotions on the examined prosocial behaviours did not differ by age and gender. These findings point to the need for fostering positive moral emotions in early cultivation of children's prosocial behaviour during pre‐schooler education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Method Results Conclusion Does experiencing adversity engender kindness, and if so, for whom? Two studies tested the hypothesis that adversity predicts increased pro‐social outcomes, and that this relationship is strongest for individuals who view others as good and trustworthy, or benevolent.In Study 1, a cross‐sectional survey design was utilized, and in Study 2 a longitudinal survey was conducted.In Study 1 (N = 359), the number of lifetime adverse life events was associated with increased volunteering, empathic concern, and self‐reported altruism. The association of adversity and altruism was stronger for those with greater benevolence beliefs. In Study 2 (N = 1157), benevolence beliefs were assessed, and in subsequent years, adverse life events were reported. The number of past‐year adverse life events predicted more volunteering and charitable involvement, but only among people with high benevolence beliefs.Exposure to adversity may be associated with increased pro‐social behavior among those with higher benevolence beliefs. In part, this could be due to benevolence beliefs increasing the expectation that one's efforts will be appreciated and reciprocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective and Background Methods Results Conclusion According to a recently proposed theoretical framework, different personality traits should explain pro‐social behavior in different situations. We empirically tested the key proposition of this framework that each of four “core tendencies” (i.e., the shared variance of related traits) specifically predicts pro‐social behavior in the presence of a different situational affordance.We used a large‐scale dataset (N = 2479) including measures of various personality traits and six incentivized economic games assessing pro‐social behavior in different social situations. Using bifactor modeling, we extracted four latent core tendencies and tested their predictive validity for pro‐social behavior.We found mixed support for the theoretically derived, preregistered hypotheses. The core tendency of beliefs about others' pro‐sociality predicted pro‐social behavior in both games involving dependence under uncertainty, as expected. Unconditional concern for others' welfare predicted pro‐social behavior in only one of two games providing a possibility for exploitation. For conditional concern for others' welfare and self‐regulation, in turn, evidence relating them to pro‐social behavior in the presence of a possibility for reciprocity and temporal conflict was relatively weak.Different features of social situations may activate different personality traits to influence pro‐social behavior, but more research is needed to fully understand these person–situation interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although children exhibit curiosity regarding science, questions remain regarding how children evaluate others' curiosity and whether evaluations differ across domains that prioritize faith (e.g., religion) versus those that value questioning (e.g., science). In Study 1 (n = 115 5‐ to 8‐year‐olds; 49% female; 66% White), children evaluated actors who were curious, ignorant and non‐curious, or knowledgeable about religion or science; curiosity elicited relatively favorable moral evaluations (ds >.40). Study 2 (n = 62 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds; 48% female; 63% White) found that these evaluations generalized to behaviors, as children acted more pro‐socially and less punitively toward curious, versus not curious, individuals (ηp2 =.37). These findings (data collected 2020–2022) demonstrate children's positive moral evaluations of curiosity and contribute to debates regarding overlap between scientific and religious cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramos et al. (Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2024) explain the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) and discuss its applicability to explain marketing persuasion, consumer emotions, and prosocial behavior. We concur with Ramos et al. but suggest that the scope for MFT in consumer behavior is much broader – it can be used to investigate heterogeneity in consumers' moral utility. Specifically, we discuss how MFT can be used to investigate heterogeneity in product preferences, consumers' financial choices, consumer reactions to brand activism, and market regulation. We conclude by discussing three important challenges of using MFT in consumer research – causal identification, discriminant validity, and scientific objectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behaviors are central to individual and societal well‐being. Although the relationship between effort and prosocial behavior is increasingly studied, the impact of effort‐based self‐interested motivation on prosocial behavior has received less attention. In the current study, we carried out two experiments to examine the effect of motivation to obtain a reward for oneself on donation behavior and brain response. We observed that individuals who accumulated more money in the effort‐expenditure rewards task (EEfRT) donated a lower proportion of their earnings. The sigmoid model fitted participants' choices in the EEfRT task, and the effort‐reward bias and sigma parameters negatively correlated with the amount of money donated in the donation task. Additionally, the effort‐reward bias and sigma parameters negatively predicted N2 amplitude during processing of charitable donation‐related information. We propose that individuals who exhibit a lower level of effort‐based self‐interest motivation may allocate more cognitive control or attentional resources when processing information related to charitable donations. Our work adds weight to understanding the relationship between effort‐based self‐interest motivation and prosocial behavior and provides electrophysiological evidence. The current study found that effort‐based self‐interest motivation can influence donation behavior. Furthermore, motivation can predict N2 in processing donation information. Lower motivation levels may lead to increased cognitive control or attentional resources allocation when processing charitable donation information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While prior work suggests the significant role virtual influencers (VIs) can play in addressing social and welfare issues, it remains unclear how they can increase social media users' engagement in prosocial behaviors. The current study examines the role of influencer flattery in driving the prosocial behavior of social media users. Specifically, the research investigates how flattery and humanlike appearance influence the perceived authenticity of VIs and the subsequent prosocial behavior of social media users (Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, the research substantiates these effects by exploring how flattery and anthropomorphism via humanlike traits impact perceived authenticity and prosocial behavior when social media users witness the influencer praising others (Study 3). Beyond intention to donate (Study 1), the study also investigated its impact on related prosocial behaviors, such as click‐through behavior (Study 2) and the willingness to pay for fundraising merchandise (Study 3). The findings of this research offer concrete implications for nonprofit organizations by demonstrating the persuasive impact of flattery, perceived authenticity, and anthropomorphism in mobilizing public support, donations, and merchandise purchases for social causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the economic and psychological vulnerabilities that are intensified due to the effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on individuals' health, education and living standards. The deteriorating mental and financial conditions of individuals, called psychological and economic vulnerability, have made an impact on consumers' consumption patterns and habits. This study has proposed that when consumer vulnerabilities increase, consumers will be more likely to express prosocial behaviours and assume higher social capital change that may influence their consumption regulations. The findings are based on a panel survey of 786 individuals via CATI in two waves of data collection in Türkiye (Wave I: 20 July–10 August 2020; Wave II: 20 November–10 December 2020). In Wave I, it is found that when individuals face economic and psychological vulnerability, their tendency to show prosocial behaviour is negatively affected. In Wave II, when the COVID‐19 cases peaked, while economic vulnerability still leads to lower prosocial behaviour, psychological vulnerability gets reversed and results in higher prosocial behaviour. Interestingly, in both waves, when consumers perceive positive social capital change due to increased prosocial behaviour, they are less likely to show consumption regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of charities compete for charitable donations, yet the underlying factors influencing individuals' preferences for specific causes remain relatively poorly understood. Building upon the ongoing scholarly debate about whether charitable behaviors are more altruistically or egoistically motivated, this study employs a self and other orientation framework to explore the preferences captured in a community survey (N = 987) to identify the various motivations relevant to donors' decision‐making processes. Our study contributes significantly to our understanding of charitable cause selection. First, it uncovers diverse motives directly endorsed by donors, offering insight into the multifaceted factors influencing preferences. Second, it unveils distinctive constellations of motives related to self and other orientations, shedding light on the underlying drivers of charitable actions. Third, it delineates the impact of various identity motives on charitable preferences. Specifically, we find that self‐oriented motives are associated with preferences for environmental and research causes, while other‐oriented motives exhibit a strong link with preferences for housing and development causes. Additionally, a combination of self and other motives shapes preferences for health, social services, emergency, and international causes. This complex interplay highlights that prosocial behavior is susceptible to a plurality of motives and cannot be solely understood through a binary distinction of altruism versus egoism. The study also contributes to the broader understanding of the psychology of charitable giving and has implications for fundraising design in a competitive market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the conflict between financial interests and prosocial behavior in a new variant of a three‐person dictator game, which we refer to as "social exclusion game." In this game, one person, the dictator, decides whether all three players (the dictator and two receivers) receive the fair outcome (equal payoffs) or an unfair outcome, which excludes one of the receivers and raises the dictator's payoff. We elicit the minimal payment necessary to induce the dictator to exclude the third person and investigate how this is influenced by peer information and the Big Five personality factor agreeableness. The data support our hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We adopt a meta‐analytic approach to study the relationship between gender‐related institutional environments/logics at both organizational level and societal level on the one hand and gender heterogeneities in individual prosocial behaviors on the other. Analyzing data from 138 empirical studies covering 35 countries, we obtain evidence of gender heterogeneity in prosocial behaviors under different gender‐related institutional environments/logics. Our meta‐analysis helps obtain several important findings. For instance, a gender gap in pro‐environmental behaviors is more likely to be observed in societies/countries with low gender egalitarianism with women showing less prosocial behavior than their men counterparts. Moreover, women under the same institutional environments also show significantly more anti‐corruption behaviors than do their men counterparts, while this difference is much smaller (i.e., with smaller effect size) given the institutions of high gender egalitarianism. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the findings for academic research and managerial practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The development of a brief online program to improve prosocial parent behavior at children's sporting events is described. We provide an overview of the collaborative research and development process, the theoretical basis for program content, design features, and evaluation approach used to establish the feasibility of Play Well Triple P in Junior Rugby League. Background: Parents influence children's experience of sports, impacting their enjoyment and participation, motivation to play, behavior, and performance during sporting events. Parental expectations and behaviors can place pressure on children, decreasing their enjoyment and contributing to their desistance from playing sport. As sport is important for maintaining children's social and psychological well‐being, research is needed to investigate strategies for supporting children to retain positive involvement in sports throughout childhood and adolescence. Method: Codesign principles were applied across four phases of program development—surveying parents of junior players (Phase 1), which informed the development of program content and design (Phase 2), refining the program based on feedback from parents and sports officials (Phase 3), and concluding with a feasibility evaluation of the final program (Phase 4). Results: Parents who participated in Play Well Triple P reported improvements in positive sport parenting behavior, decreases in negative sport parenting behavior, and a high level of satisfaction with the program. Conclusions and implications: The codesign framework for the development of a parent program for rugby league produced a promising and well‐accepted sports parenting program that warrants further trialing, and application to other junior sporting contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In a diverse society, individuals often need to make prosocial decisions toward others who vary on a range of intertwined social identities. Adolescence is a prime time to promote intergroup prosociality due to identity salience during this developmental stage. In this study, our goal was to develop and provide initial validation, of a novel measure on intergroup prosocial behavior considering gender and race/ethnicity. Method: We used two independent samples of early adolescents (N1 = 118, Mage = 12.21 years, 55% boys, 59% White collected nationally in the United States.; N2 = 133, Mage = 12.77, 51.1% boys, 77% White collected locally in Arizona). Results: Using the data from Sample 1, Exploratory Factor Analyses revealed a two‐factor solution capturing intergroup prosociality and personal distress. Confirmatory Factor Analyses with data from Sample 2 confirmed the factor structure. The reliability of intergroup prosociality was acceptable. Prosociality subscale was positively correlated with adolescents' empathy, sympathy, compliant, emotional, dire, and anonymous prosocial behaviors indicating convergent validity and negatively correlated with adolescents' public prosocial behavior indicating discriminant validity. Further, we examined whether youth engage in differential intergroup prosocial behavior using both variable‐centered and person‐centered approaches, combining data from Samples 1 and 2. While adolescents did not engage in differential intergroup prosocial behavior, Latent Profile Analyses revealed five distinct profiles of early adolescents' intergroup prosociality. Overall, this study advances research on youth's intergroup prosociality across two intersectional social identities, moving beyond the conceptualization of single social identities in intergroup research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From becoming a teenager to starting university, life transitions are an inevitable part of human existence. While exciting, life transitions can be stressful because they involve changes in identity, routine, and expectations. What can support people during this period of change? Informed by past research demonstrating the emotional benefits of prosocial behavior, we examined whether everyday acts of prosociality might predict well‐being during a life transition using a pre‐registered 6‐week diary study conducted with students starting university (N = 193; 1544 observations). Consistent with pre‐registered hypotheses, participants experienced higher well‐being on scales capturing happiness, flourishing, thriving, optimism, resilience, anxiety and loneliness during weeks in which they completed more prosocial acts than their personal average. This research extends our understanding of the relationship between prosociality and well‐being to new theoretically relevant contexts, including extended, multi‐faceted personal stressors, and suggests that one potentially useful route to well‐being during life transitions could be helping others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Well‐being is a key aspect of children's education, yet measurement issues have limited studies in early primary school. Aims: The current 12‐month longitudinal study assesses the temporal stability of child‐ and parent‐reported school well‐being and examines developmental links with academic self‐concept and parent‐rated prosocial behaviour. Sample(s): We tracked a sample of 206 children across the transition from the first (T1) to the second (T2) year of primary school (T1 child Mage = 5.3, SD =.46, 54.3% girls) and gathered ratings of well‐being, prosocial behaviour and academic self‐concept at both timepoints. Methods: We used cross‐lagged analyses to investigate developmental links between these three constructs. Results: Parent and child reports of children's well‐being showed similar temporal stability and converged over time, such that informants' reports showed a modest but significant correlation at T2. Girls reported greater well‐being than boys at both timepoints and received higher parental ratings of well‐being than boys at T2. For both girls and boys, associations between the constructs were asymmetric: early well‐being predicted later self‐concept and prosocial behaviour, but the reciprocal associations were not significant. Conclusions: These findings support the validity of young children's self‐reported well‐being, highlight the early onset of gender differences in school well‐being and demonstrate that early well‐being heralds later prosocial behaviour and positive academic self‐concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion has been shown to have a positive impact for developing adolescents; however, the processes underlying this relation are not well known. In his almighty prosocial theory, Anazonwu (Conceptualizing and testing almighty prosociality theory for a more peaceful world, SCOA Heritage Nigeria, 2017) proposed that the activation of learnt prosocial moral reasoning through religion enabled performance of prosocial peace behavior that will benefit society. Thus, religion coping enhances the development of prosocial reasoning which in turn propagate prosocial acts while reducing delinquent behaviors. Similarly, developmental system theory (Lerner, Developmental science, developmental systems, and contemporary theories of human development, John Wiley & Sons, 2006) assumed that in every individual three mechanisms: plasticity (potential to change), context (environment), and developmental regulation (learnable principles) interact to describe the direction of the transactions between individuals and their various embedded sociocultural context of development which will also determine other developmental outcomes. Based on these two theoretical assumptions, the present study examined whether prosocial moral reasoning (developmental regulation) was the mechanism in the negative correlation between religious coping (plasticity) and delinquent behaviors (outcome), and if religious affiliation(context) (Christianity and Islam) moderated these paths. We hypothesized that the link from prosocial moral reasoning to lower delinquent behaviors would be stronger for Muslim compared with Christian youth. These questions were tested among Nigerian adolescence, an important sample because of high interreligious and interethnic tension among youth in the country. 298 adolescents (Mean age = 15.03 years, SD = 1.76; male = 176, female = 122; 46.3% Muslim, 53.7% Christian) were sampled using questionnaires in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Moderated mediation result shows that greater religious coping was linked with higher prosocial moral reasoning, which in turn predicted fewer delinquent behaviors. Religious coping interacted with religion affiliation to influence delinquent behavior; there was a stronger link between these two constructs for Muslim compared to Christian youth. Thus, interventions aiming to reduce youth delinquent behaviors should consider promoting prosocial moral reasoning, particularly among the various religions (i.e., Christian/Muslim) communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]