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Self-transcendence and the associated decrease in ego-centeredness are understood to foster altruistic and positive behaviors that promote prosociality and pro-environmental actions. However, the lack of an agreed valid and reliable measure of self-transcendence has posed difficulties in examining this subject. The main aim of this study was to use the recently developed Ontological Addiction Scale (OAS), which assesses dysfunctional ego-centeredness as an inhibiter of self-transcendent change, as a proxy measure to examine whether self-transcendence is indeed related to such "selfless" prosocial and pro-nature behaviors. Secondary aims were to examine ontological addiction (OA) and these behaviors in relation to competitiveness and ego-driven manifestations of prosociality. These relationships were examined via self-report measures in a cross-sectional cohort study of 287 UK adult participants. Findings revealed associations with competitiveness that broadly reflect its association with ego-centeredness through significant correlations with OA, and significant negative correlations with both prosociality and pro-nature behavior. They also supported earlier findings of a significant relationship between OA and measures of anxiety and depression. However, the expected negative correlations between OA and both prosociality and pro-nature behavior were not evidenced, which raises questions regarding the notion of OA as a conceptual antithesis of self-transcendence and/or whether measures of pro-sociality and pro-nature behavior adequately account for "selfish" or "impure" motivations that may underly these behaviors. Implications and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPCIT’s conjoint effect on child conduct problems and psychosocial competencies (i.e., prosociality, compliance, attention) was examined with 15 caregiver-child dyads (Mage = 4.9; SD = 1.2) who completed at least one phase of PCIT’s standard protocol. Caregiver-rated child competencies (Psychosocial Strengths Inventory for Children and Adolescents; PSICA) and conduct problems (Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory; ECBI) were assessed pre-, mid-, and post-treatment. PSICA and ECBI scores correlated negatively across all timepoints (r/ρs = −25, −.64, −.58), and child conduct problems and psychosocial competence (overall and domain-specific) significantly improved during PCIT (ηsp2 = .48–.93) and each phase (|d|s = 0.63–1.23). [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]

It has been suggested that having a reputation for being prosocial is a critical part of social status across all human societies. It has also been argued that prosocial behavior confers benefits, whether physiological, such as stress reduction, or social, such as building allies or becoming more popular. Here, we investigate the relationship between helping reputation (being named as someone others would go to for help), and hair-derived chronic stress (hair cortisol concentration). In a sample of 77 women and 62 men, we found that perceived helping reputation was not related to chronic stress. Overall, the results of our study suggest that, in an egalitarian society with fluid camp membership and widely practiced generosity such as the Hadza, helping reputation does not necessarily boost stress-related health benefits through prestige-signaling mechanisms observed in hierarchical, large-scale societies. [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]

Background: Emotional attention refers to the capacity to recognize and properly respond to one's and others' emotional states. On another note, family is a primary source of socialization that influences the development of various social skills. In another line, adolescence is a complex stage that has been associated with emotional difficulties that could be related to competences such as prosociability and inclusion. It is inferred that through the family context and the attention that is processed, a series of competencies are transmitted to the youngsters, but this relationship is still unclear. For this reason, the study's purpose was to examine the relationship between the emotional attention of mothers and fathers and the social and prosocial competencies of their children. Methods: To accomplish this, a cross-sectional study and ex post facto design were conducted. The Trait-Meta Mood Scale (TMMS-24)-to assess emotional attention-, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)-to determine the prosociality dimension-, and the Test on Passing Developmental Tasks in Adolescence (TCS-A)-to measure social inclusion-were administered. The participants were N = 228 families composed of n = 114 mothers/fathers (67.5% females) and n = 114 daughters/sons (38.5% females) selected through non-probabilistic sampling using a convenience sample in the Bari region of Italy. A descriptive and inferential analysis-Student's test and Pearson's correlation-was performed with the statistic package SPSS version 28 (significance level p < 0.05). Results: The findings showed that the families possessed an adequate background in emotional attention and that their daughters and sons were also generally well-adjusted in social inclusion and prosociality. It also found certain signs that the prosocial competence of the children could be related to the behavior of their mothers and fathers. Conclusion: In conclusion, social inclusion is related to prosocial behavior, and maybe primarily cultivated within families where parents' emotional self-regulation serves as a model for children although further research is necessary. Comparative studies between different cultures are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guardianship is a core tenet of routine activity theory and collective efficacy. At its outset, routine activity research assumed that the mere presence of a guardian was sufficient to disrupt many forms of crime. More recent research, however, has taken as a starting point that would‐be‐guardians must take on an active role for a reduction in crime to occur. Integrating research on bystander intervention and guardianship‐in‐action, the current study elaborates the individual‐level motivations and decision processes of guardianship to answer the following questions: Who serves as a reactive guardian? How do they do so? And why? We tasked young adults (N = 1,032) included in the recent waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z‐proso) to assess a 70‐second video depicting a sexual harassment event. We examined participants' willingness to engage in a range of intervention options as a function of their prosocial attitudes, safety considerations, socioemotional motivations, and moral considerations. Results show a complex decision process leading to whether and how a would‐be guardian decides to intervene to disrupt sexual harassment, such that prosocial motivations and emotional reactions are weighed against perceptions of danger when deciding on a specific course of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In four preregistered studies (total N = 5,067), we investigated whether people use their own anticipated affective responses to a situation to make judgments about the praiseworthiness of helping and the moral character of helpers. We found that helpers in more affectively arousing scenarios were seen as more morally motivated, received greater praise, and were seen as having more positive moral character, even when controlling for the perceived benefits of helping. Describing helpers as unemotional reduced the effect of observers' anticipated affect on character judgments. These results suggest that when making praise and character judgments, people not only consider the consequences of a helper's actions but also the emotions they experience when engaging in them—and that they use their own anticipated emotional experience to do this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research provided strong evidence that positive family–school partnerships were not only beneficial for students' school success, but they also helped to promote parental involvement in schooling. However, relatively little is known about teachers' reasons for becoming engaged in family–school partnerships and the benefits of their engagement. In fact, the role of teachers in family–school partnerships requires prosocial actions (e.g., helping, sharing, feeling empathy). As guided by self-determination theory, previous studies suggest that prosocial-oriented persons tend to take prosocial actions and these actions tend to promote a social connection, thereby promoting well-being. To the best of our knowledge, this assumption has not been applied to research on family–school partnerships yet. The aim of this study was to examine whether teachers' prosociality would be associated with their well-being at work (i.e., job satisfaction, work-related self-esteem) and whether this connection would be mediated by teacher engagement in family–school partnerships. Using the framework of the Vodafone Foundation Germany, we focused on two important aspects of teacher engagement: effective communication and educational cooperation. A total of 190 teachers (72% females; mean age: 44.78 years) participated in an online-survey. In line with SDT, teachers' prosociality was associated with greater well-being at work even after controlling for teachers' background (age, gender, experience, school track). As expected, this connection was partially mediated by teacher engagement in family–school partnerships. The results and implications of the present study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It has been suggested that having a reputation for being prosocial is a critical part of social status across all human societies. It has also been argued that prosocial behavior confers benefits, whether physiological, such as stress reduction, or social, such as building allies or becoming more popular. Here, we investigate the relationship between helping reputation (being named as someone others would go to for help), and hair-derived chronic stress (hair cortisol concentration). In a sample of 77 women and 62 men, we found that perceived helping reputation was not related to chronic stress. Overall, the results of our study suggest that, in an egalitarian society with fluid camp membership and widely practiced generosity such as the Hadza, helping reputation does not necessarily boost stress-related health benefits through prestige-signaling mechanisms observed in hierarchical, large-scale societies.

How does prosocial behavior extend beyond in-group boundaries in multiethnic societies? The differentiation of Western societies presents an opportunity to understand the tension between societal pressures that push people outside the comfort zones of their familiar networks to constructively interact with unknown diverse others and the tendency toward homophily and in-group favoritism. We introduce a three-step model of out-group exposure that includes macrostructural conditions for intergroup encounters and microlevel dynamics of intergroup selection and interaction. Using lab-in-the-field experiments with a large representative sample of Italian natives and immigrants from the multiethnic city of Milan, we find that, when pushed to interact with non-coethnics, Italians generally treat them similarly to how they treat coethnics and value signs of social and market integration. However, when given the opportunity to select their interaction partners, Italians favor coethnics over immigrants. Taken together, these results help reconcile classical findings concerning the positive effects of intergroup contact with evidence documenting the persistence of out-group discrimination in selection processes.

Connections between prosociality and antisocial behaviors have been recognized; however, little research has studied their developmental links longitudinally. This is important to illuminate during early adolescence as a sensitive period for social development in which prosociality could protect against the development of later antisocial behaviors. This study investigates the within-person developmental links between prosociality and antisocial behaviors, as well as a potential mediating role of peer relationships, across ages 11, 13, and 15 (N = 1526; 51% male) using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models. Results indicated that neither self-reported nor teacher-reported prosociality was associated with reduced aggressive behaviors but suggested a direct protective ('promotive') effect of teacher-reported prosociality on bullying perpetration. These findings suggest that promoting prosociality in early adolescence may help reduce some antisocial behaviors over early to mid-adolescent development. Improving prosociality could be explored as a target in intervention approaches such as school-based anti-bullying interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the longitudinal associations of self-control and parental involvement with prosociality and internalizing problems from early to mid-to-late adolescence, within a risk and resilience and a developmental cascade framework. We used a panel design (i.e., four measurement times at 2-year intervals from 2008 onwards) to examine data on 1523 Swiss adolescents when they were aged about 11, 13, 15, and 17. A cross-lagged analytical approach was used to respond to our purpose. Results showed that parental involvement promotes later levels of prosociality from early to mid-to-late adolescence. Furthermore, we observed that parental involvement predicted later improvements in self-control and that prosociality and internalizing problems mutually and positively predicted each other during the same period. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting positive parental involvement with their offspring may contribute to later adolescent prosociality and self-control and that health professionals should consider encouraging a healthy balance between self-interest and concern for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Previous research suggests that sharing emotionally intense experiences with others, for example by undergoing dysphoric collective rituals together, can lead to “identity fusion,” a visceral feeling of oneness that predicts group cohesion and self-sacrifice for the group. In this pre-registered research, we provide the first quantitative investigation of identity fusion following participation in a national funeral, surveying 1632 members of the British public. As predicted, individuals reporting intense sadness during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral exhibited higher levels of identity fusion and pro-group commitment, as evidenced by generosity pledges to a British Monarchist charity. Also consistent with our hypotheses, feelings of unity in grief and emotional sharedness during the event mediated the relationship between sadness intensity and pro-group commitment. These findings shed light on importance of collective rituals in fostering group cohesion, cooperation, and the dynamics of shared emotional experiences within communities.

Previous research suggests that sharing emotionally intense experiences with others, for example by undergoing dysphoric collective rituals together, can lead to "identity fusion," a visceral feeling of oneness that predicts group cohesion and self-sacrifice for the group. In this pre-registered research, we provide the first quantitative investigation of identity fusion following participation in a national funeral, surveying 1632 members of the British public. As predicted, individuals reporting intense sadness during Queen Elizabeth II's funeral exhibited higher levels of identity fusion and pro-group commitment, as evidenced by generosity pledges to a British Monarchist charity. Also consistent with our hypotheses, feelings of unity in grief and emotional sharedness during the event mediated the relationship between sadness intensity and pro-group commitment. These findings shed light on importance of collective rituals in fostering group cohesion, cooperation, and the dynamics of shared emotional experiences within communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity fusion – a powerful form of group alignment – is a strong predictor of using violence to defend the ingroup. However, recent theorizing suggests, in the absence of outgroup threat, fusion may instead promote intergroup trust and cooperation. Across five studies we find evidence that fusion to a range of groups (e.g., country, football team) was consistently positively associated with a willingness to trust others generally, trust outgroup members, and social exploration. An internal meta‐analysis indicated that fusion was more strongly associated with trust and social exploration, compared to several measures of group identification. These findings provide support for the fusion‐secure base hypothesis (Personality and Social Psychology Review. 2023, 27(2), 107–127) and suggest that fusion has the potential to increase a willingness to interact with, and trust, outgroup members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ample research has investigated the relationship between team cohesion and on‐field behaviour, while the association between the first and off‐field prosocial behaviour has been almost overlooked. To fill this gap, we conducted a study in a sample of Italian Rugby Union athletes to examine whether: (a) team cohesion is associated with off‐field prosocial behaviour; and (b) the underlying mechanisms of this association. We focused on the two dimensions of team cohesion, that is social and task cohesion, and hypothesized that social cohesion should be associated with off‐field individual prosocial behaviour via empathy, while the association between task cohesion and off‐field individual prosocial behaviour should be mediated by on‐field fairplay team norms. In total, 497 amateur, sub‐elite, and elite Italian Rugby Union players (128 females) took part in this study by filling out an online survey. Results revealed that social cohesion was associated with greater empathy, which in turn was associated with greater expression of off‐field prosocial behaviour. Task cohesion was associated with both greater on‐field fairplay team norms and greater empathy, which in turn was linked to more off‐field prosocial behaviour. Results are discussed with respect to the role of team cohesion in favouring the expression of prosocial behaviour off‐field, thus underlying the role of sport in fostering moral behaviour (also) in everyday community life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given its putative roles in mediating prosocial behavior, attachment bonds, and stress physiology, oxytocin modulation has been hypothesized to be a biological correlate of the salubrious effects of meditation practice. Here we investigated the effects of a month-long silent meditation retreat on changes in oxytocin, and the related hormone and vasopressin, in relation to psychosocial changes in attachment style, anxiety, personality measures, and feelings of social connectedness with fellow meditators. Methods: Plasma oxytocin and vasopressin and self-report questionnaires were measured in retreat participants (n = 28) at the beginning of, and 3 weeks into, a residential meditation retreat. Control participants (n = 34), who were similar in age, gender, and meditation experience, were also assessed across a 3-week interval. Linear mixed effects models were used to assess outcomes. Results: The retreat group showed a small but significant decrease in oxytocin compared to controls who showed no change. In the retreat group, higher openness to experience at Time 1 predicted greater reductions in oxytocin during the retreat, and lower oxytocin at Time 2 was related to stronger feelings of personal connection with fellow meditators. The changes in oxytocin were not related to attachment style or anxiety. Vasopressin decreased over time across both groups, suggesting no specific effect of retreat. Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that meditation training in the context of a silent residential retreat may reduce circulating levels of oxytocin. We interpret this finding from multiple theoretical perspectives, discussing key measurement limitations and proposing future study designs that may help to differentiate the effects of different meditation practices and contexts on oxytocin signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volunteering involves caring for the outcomes of others and typically long-term orientation so that one can achieve goals that are not always clearly visible in the short term. As with any activity, volunteering attracts people of different social value orientations—some rather individualistic, some rather altruistic. The aim of the study was to find out whether the future time perspective, which promotes thinking about future goals and planning, is linked to volunteers' declarations of the probability of them continuing volunteering in a month, year, and three years and whether this link is moderated by social value orientation. An online questionnaire-based study was performed on a sample of 245 volunteers. The results indicated that the higher the social value orientation, the greater the predicted probability of continuing volunteering. Future time perspective was related to the predicted probability of continuing volunteering in all investigated time horizons only when volunteers had a more individualistic than altruistic social value orientation. Younger age and longer experience with volunteering were also linked to the predicted probability of continuing volunteering in a year and three years (but not in one month). The results show the importance of social value orientation and future time perspective for more individualistic volunteers in their willingness to volunteer further. The study has practical implications for organizations' management, who should consider developing cooperation skills in their volunteers. For competitive volunteers, they may also highlight how challenges could make an impact in the future so that they intend to remain active. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Generativity, the desire and action to improve the well-being of younger generations, is associated with purpose in life among older adults. However, the neurobehavioral factors supporting the relationship between generativity and purpose in life remain unknown. This study aims to identify the functional neuroanatomy of generativity and mechanisms linking generativity with purpose in life in at-risk older adults. Methods Fifty-eight older adults (mean age = 70.8, SD =  5.03, 45 females) with a family history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were recruited from the PREVENT-AD cohort. Participants underwent brain imaging and completed questionnaires assessing generativity, social support, and purpose in life. Mediation models examined whether social support mediated the association between generativity and purpose in life. Seed-to-voxel analyses investigated the association between generativity and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum (VS), and whether this rsFC moderated the relationship between generativity and purpose in life. Results Affectionate social support mediated the association between generative desire and purpose in life. Generative desire was associated with rsFC between VS and precuneus, and, vmPFC and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC). The vmPFC–rdlPFC rsFC moderated the association between generative desire and purpose in life. Discussion These findings provide insight into how the brain supports complex social behavior and, separately, purpose in life in at-risk aging. Affectionate social support may be a putative target process to enhance purpose in life in older adults. This knowledge contributes to future developments of personalized interventions that promote healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year, over 99 percent of collegiate athletes within North America will end their sporting career. This major life transition usually involves changes in identity, routine, and social support, and athletes report struggling with feelings of loss, sadness, and anxiety during their transition to retirement. Given this, what strategies do athletes themselves engage within to ease the distress of transition? Through qualitative methods, over 120 retirement stories were collected and analyzed with athlete's play spanning the 1960s--2010s. This article will shed light on the experiences of athletes during their transition and present possible ways of support from athlete's own narratives--gratitude and prosociality. This research has the potential to assist the lives of many current collegiate athletes who will embark on the transition to retirement and inform institutional programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wealth‐based disparities in health care wherein the poor receive undertreatment in painful conditions are a prominent issue that requires immediate attention. Research with adults suggests that these disparities are partly rooted in stereotypes associating poor individuals with pain insensitivity. However, whether and how children consider a sufferer's wealth status in their pain perceptions remains unknown. The present work addressed this question by testing 4‐ to 9‐year‐olds from the US and China. In Study 1 (N = 108, 56 girls, 79% White), US participants saw rich and poor White children experiencing identical injuries and indicated who they thought felt more pain. Although 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds responded at chance, children aged seven and above attributed more pain to the poor than to the rich. Study 2 with a new sample of US children (N = 111, 56 girls, 69% White) extended this effect to judgments of White adults' pain. Pain judgments also informed children's prosocial behaviors, leading them to provide medical resources to the poor. Studies 3 (N = 118, 59 girls, 100% Asian) and 4 (N = 80, 40 girls, 100% Asian) found that, when evaluating White and Asian people's suffering, Chinese children began to attribute more pain to the poor than to the rich earlier than US children. Thus, unlike US adults, US children and Chinese children recognize the poor's pain from early on. These findings add to our knowledge of group‐based beliefs about pain sensitivity and have broad implications on ways to promote equitable health care. Research Highlights: Four studies examined whether 4‐ to 9‐year‐old children's pain perceptions were influenced by sufferers' wealth status.US children attributed more pain to White individuals of low wealth status than those of high wealth status by age seven.Chinese children demonstrated an earlier tendency to attribute more pain to the poor (versus the rich) compared to US children.Children's wealth‐based pain judgments underlied their tendency to provide healthcare resources to people of low wealth status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Witnessing altruistic behaviour can elicit moral elevation, an emotion that motivates prosocial cooperation. This emotion is evoked more strongly when the observer anticipates that other people will be reciprocally cooperative. Coalitionality should therefore moderate feelings of elevation, as whether the observer shares the coalitional affiliation of those observed should influence the observer's assessment of the likelihood that the latter will cooperate with the observer. We examined this thesis in studies contemporaneous with the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. Although BLM protests were predominantly peaceful, they were depicted by conservative media as destructive and antisocial. In two large-scale, pre-registered online studies (total N = 2172), political orientation strongly moderated feelings of state elevation elicited by a video of a peaceful BLM protest (Studies 1 and 2) or a peaceful Back the Blue (BtB) counter-protest (Study 2). Political conservatism predicted less elevation following the BLM video and more elevation following the BtB video. Elevation elicited by the BLM video correlated with preferences to defund police, whereas elevation elicited by the BtB video correlated with preferences to increase police funding. These findings extend prior work on elevation into the area of prosocial cooperation in the context of coalitional conflict.

Two capacities considered foundational in human cooperation are prosocial motivation and goal-reading abilities that enable helping. Children exhibit both proclivities by age 2 in interactions with other humans, but interactions with nonhuman species on whom we have been interdependent for millennia are unstudied. We tested the hypothesis that children’s goal-reading and prosocial propensities extend to other animals. We predicted children would help pet dogs access objects that dogs attempted to reach but could not reach themselves. We studied 97 children between 2 and 3 years of age living in a small mid-western US city, 44 of whom had dogs as household pets. In a quasi-naturalistic setting, we introduced children to 1 of 3 friendly pet dogs who remained within a small, porous enclosure while a treat or toy was placed outside it. Dogs reacted naturally, either showing interest in accessing the item (e.g., pawing, begging) or ignoring it. Measures of dog and child behavior during sessions were coded blindly with high reliability. Children provided dogs with out-of-reach items twice as often when dogs showed interest rather than ignored items, indicating sensitivity to the dog’s goals. Additionally, children were more generally likely to provide dogs with items if children lived with pet dogs, if dogs were more lively and engaged rather than subdued and if the item was a treat rather than a toy. These findings lend support to our hypothesis that children’s early-developing proclivities for goal-reading and prosociality extend beyond humans to other animals.

Prosocial values play a critical role in promoting care and concern for the well-being of others and prioritizing the common good of society. Evidence from population-based reports, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical studies suggests that these values depend on social cognition processes, such as empathy, deontological moral cognition, moral emotions, and social cooperation. Additionally, indirect evidence suggests that various forms of prosocial behaviors are associated with positive health outcomes at the behavioral, cardiovascular, immune, stress-related, and inflammatory pathways. However, it is unclear whether prosociality can positively influence brain health outcomes. In this perspective, we propose that prosocial values are not only influenced by brain conditions but could also potentially play a role in protecting brain health. We review studies from various fields that support this claim, including recent reports of prosociality-based interventions impacting brain health. We then explore potential multilevel mechanisms, based on the reduction of allostatic overload at behavioral, cardiovascular, immune, stress-related, and inflammatory levels. Finally, we propose potential prosociality-based interventions for improving brain health in at-risk populations, such as psychiatric and neurological patients, and individuals exposed to poverty or violence. Our perspective suggests that prosocial values may play a role in promoting and maintaining healthy brains.

We investigated children's positive emotions as an indicator of their underlying prosocial motivation. In Study 1, 2-, and 5-year-old children (N = 64) could either help an individual or watch as another person provided help. Following the helping event and using depth sensor imaging, we measured children's positive emotions through changes in postural elevation. For 2-year-olds, helping the individual and watching another person help was equally rewarding; 5-year-olds showed greater postural elevation after actively helping. In Study 2, 5-year-olds' (N = 59) positive emotions following helping were greater when an audience was watching. Together, these results suggest that 2-year-old children have an intrinsic concern that individuals be helped whereas 5-year-old children have an additional, strategic motivation to improve their reputation by helping.

Many studies argue that synchronized movement increases prosocial attitudes and behavior. We reviewed meta-analytic evidence that reported effects of synchrony may be driven by experimenter expectancy, leading to experimenter bias; and participant expectancy, otherwise known as placebo effects. We found that a majority of published studies do not adequately control for experimenter bias and that multiple independent replication attempts with added controls have failed to find the original effects. In a preregistered experiment, we measured participant expectancy directly, asking whether participants have a priori expectations about synchrony and prosociality that match the findings in published literature. Expectations about the effects of synchrony on prosocial attitudes directly mirrored previous experimental findings (including both positive and null effects)-despite the participants not actually engaging in synchrony. On the basis of this evidence, we propose an alternative account of the reported bottom-up effects of synchrony on prosociality: the effects of synchrony on prosociality may be explicable as the result of top-down expectations invoked by placebo and experimenter effects.

Background Methods Results Conclusions The objectives of this study were to (a) assess the associations between early behavioral problems and intergenerational income mobility (i.e., the degree to which income status is transmitted from one generation to the next), (b) verify whether these associations are moderated by child sex, and (c) explore indirect effects of early behavioral problems on income mobility via high school graduation.Data were drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children (n = 3,020; 49.17% girls). Participants were followed from age 6 to 37 years. Measures included parents' and teachers' ratings of behavioral problems at age 6 years as well as participants' (ages 30–35 years) and their parents' (when participants were aged 10–19 years) income data obtained from tax return records. Regression models were used to predict upward and downward mobility (i.e., increased or decreased income status from one generation to the next) from attention‐deficit/hyperactivity problems, conduct/opposition problems, depression/anxiety problems, prosociality, and the quality of children's relationship with their caregiver. Two‐way interaction effects between behavioral problems and child sex were examined and indirect effect models including high school graduation as a mediator of these associations were conducted.Despite their higher educational attainment, females had lower incomes and experienced lower upward (but higher downward) income mobility than males. For both females and males, higher levels of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity and conduct/opposition problems were associated with decreased odds of upward mobility, whereas higher levels of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity were associated with increased odds of downward mobility. Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity problems, conduct/opposition problems as well as low prosociality were associated with lower educational attainment (no high school diploma), which in turn was associated with increased odds of downward mobility.Results highlight the importance of providing intensive support to children with early behavioral problems as a means of improving educational attainment and intergenerational income mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the field of prosocial behavior has shown that the presence of others has a significant effect on individuals’ prosociality. However, no research has explored such an effect of romantic partner’s presence. Studies in evolutionary psychology have shown benevolence/prosociality as an important factor when choosing a romantic partner. Therefore, in the present study, we hypothesized that people will donate more in the presence of dating partners to maintain a positive impression on them. The research followed a mixed-method approach. The first study, a vignette-based experiment showed that people believed the presence of a dating partner significantly enhances the chances of donation. The second study was a between-subject experiment that confirmed the findings of study 1 from both donors’ and receivers’ perspectives. The third study was a qualitative investigation, where a semi-structured interview method was used to find out how and why the presence of a dating partner may influence donation. The interviews showed that the presence of dating partners increases prosociality mainly because donors want to make a good impression and project the right image of them in their partners’ eyes. The research overall suggests that the human need for self-presentation that projects them more socially likable shapes their willingness to extend a helping hand to others in the presence of their romantic partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behavior is crucial for the smooth functioning of the society. Yet, individuals differ vastly in the propensity to behave prosocially. Here, we try to explain these individual differences under normal sleep conditions without any experimental modulation of sleep. Using a portable high-density EEG, we measured the sleep data in 54 healthy adults (28 females) during a normal night's sleep at the participants' homes. To capture prosocial preferences, participants played an incentivized public goods game in which they faced real monetary consequences. The whole-brain analyses showed that a higher relative slow-wave activity (SWA, an indicator of sleep depth) in a cluster of electrodes over the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) was associated with increased prosocial preferences. Source localization and current source density analyses further support these findings. Recent sleep deprivation studies imply that sleeping enough makes us more prosocial; the present findings suggest that it is not only sleep duration, but particularly sufficient sleep depth in the TPJ that is positively related to prosociality. Because the TPJ plays a central role in social cognitive functions, we speculate that sleep depth in the TPJ, as reflected by relative SWA, might serve as a dispositional indicator of social cognition ability, which is reflected in prosocial preferences. These findings contribute to the emerging framework explaining the link between sleep and prosocial behavior by shedding light on the underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explain helping strangers in need in terms of reciprocal altruism, it is necessary to ensure that the help is reciprocated and that the costs of helping are thus compensated. Competence and willingness to make sacrifices for the benefactor of the person being helped are important cues for ensuring a return on help because reciprocity would not be possible if the person being helped had neither the competence nor the inclination to give back in the future. In this study, we used vignettes and manipulated the cause of suffering strangers' difficulties and prosociality to investigate participants' compassion for and willingness to help the stranger. In Study 1, we measured willingness to help by using hypothetical helping behaviors that were designed to vary in cost. In Study 2, we measured willingness to help by using the checkbox method in which participants were asked to sequentially check 10 × 10 checkboxes on a webpage, which asked the participants to pay a small but real cost. In both studies, the controllability of the cause and the prosociality were found to independently affect compassion. These two factors also independently affected willingness to help, as measured by both the hypothetical questions and the checkbox method. We consequently discussed the reasons for the independent processing of the competence and behavioral tendency cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does agnosticism versus atheism reflect only epistemic or deeper personality and other individual differences? Following a previous study in Belgium, we investigated this question among 537 UK adults, self-identified as Christian, agnostic, or atheist. Agnostics were midway between religionists and atheists on prosocial dispositions (agreeableness, belief in world's benevolence), outcomes of intuitive thinking (paranormal beliefs, religiosity), and non-theistic forms of spirituality; and showed greater openness to experience and weaker convictional self-identification than atheists. Personality uniquely, beyond religious socialization, predicted agnosticism versus atheism. Spirituality denoted, across all three groups, connectedness with the world, interest in the paranormal, and life satisfaction; among nonbelievers, personal belief in a just-world; and prosocial dispositions and openness to experience among agnostics and Christians but not atheists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behaviour (i.e. benefitting others without receiving a direct gain) has long been perceived as an evolutionary puzzle but is nevertheless relatively common among non‐human animals. Prosocial food provisioning has recently been documented in several large‐brained bird species, such as corvids and parrots. Yet, to date, little is known about which factors influence food provisioning in these species. Here, we investigated whether kinship, reciprocity and dominance affected food provisioning in the group service paradigm in three corvid species, namely azure‐winged magpies (Cyanopica cyana), carrion crows (Corvus corone) and common ravens (C. corax). In this paradigm, the subjects are tested in their regular social groups and can choose to make food available to their group members by landing on a simple seesaw apparatus. We found no evidence for an effect of kinship or reciprocity on food provisioning. Contrary to our predictions, the subjects' dominance was not positively correlated with their rate of food provisioning in any species. Among ravens, dominance was instead positively correlated with receiving food. We conclude that preferential provisioning for kin and direct reciprocity might have been impeded by the provider's inability to control who receives the food in the group service paradigm, but that our findings provide another piece of evidence that dominance is a highly important factor in the social interactions of common ravens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Guilt proneness is associated with both high motivation to succeed and enhanced concern for others. However, in competition, achieving success requires harming others' interests, which demotivates guilt‐prone individuals. Given the prevalence of competition in social and professional life, we examine the relation between guilt proneness, general motivation, and competitive motivation. Method: Two experiments and two laboratory studies (N = 1735) measured guilt proneness, general motivation, and competitive motivation, and their effects on competitive preferences and choices. Study settings included students' choice of playing a game individually vs. competitively (Study 1), physicians' likelihood to seek residency in medical fields characterized by high competitiveness (Study 2), amateur athletes' preferences between inclusive and win‐oriented team strategies (Study 3), and online workers' evaluations of a hypothetical scenario (Study 4). Results: Guilt proneness was related positively to general motivation, but negatively to competitive motivation. Guilt proneness, indirectly through lower competitive motivation, predicted a lower likelihood of pursuing competitive paths and preference for non‐competitive strategies. Emphasizing prosocial aspects of competitiveness attenuated these effects. Conclusions: Guilt proneness is related to high general motivation but to a lower desire to win. Guilt‐prone individuals strive for excellence, but through non‐competitive paths, whereas people with lower guilt proneness prefer competing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent global crisis has had a profound and widespread impact on humanity, eliciting a heightened appreciation for the importance of prosociality. In response, interdisciplinary scholars have called for further research to investigate strategies for cultivating kindness, generosity, and cooperation. To answer this call, we conducted a study examining the potential prosocial impact of online social interactions (OSIs) in two distinct cultures. Through a survey of 644 emerging adults from China and the United States, we found that OSIs positively led to prosocial tendencies in both samples, with social connectedness and trust serving as significant mediating factors. Nevertheless, among the American sample, trust can serve as the sole mediator linking OSIs and prosocial tendencies. Conversely, among the Chinese sample, the development of prosociality stemming from OSIs requires the intervening facilitation of social connectedness. This divergence may speak to cultural research regarding the essential role of interpersonal relationships in fostering trust and prosociality in collectivist societies. This study contributes to prosociality scholarship by highlighting the role of OSIs as a crucial enhancer across two distinct cultures, clarifying the underlying mechanisms, and identifying cultural differences in the process of prosocial development. The results have implications for both prosocial theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal objectification, treating people as tools and neglecting their essential humanness, is a pervasive and enduring phenomenon. Across five studies (N = 1183), we examined whether subjective economic inequality increases objectification through a calculative mindset. Study 1 revealed that the perceptions of economic inequality at the national level and in daily life were positively associated with objectification. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated a causal relationship between subjective economic inequality and objectification in a fictitious organization and society, respectively. Moreover, the effect was mediated by a calculative mindset (Studies 3–4). In addition, lowering a calculative mindset weakened the effect of subjective inequality on objectification (Study 4). Finally, increased objectification due to subjective inequality further decreased prosociality and enhanced exploitative intentions (Study 5). Taken together, our findings suggest that subjective economic inequality increases objectification, which further causes adverse interpersonal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectification is a daily experience with various negative consequences. In four studies (N = 877), we tested whether and how objectification experience contributes to decreased prosociality. Using correlational designs (Studies 1 and 2), we found that participants' objectification experience negatively predicted their prosocial intention and that self-dehumanization could account for the negative association between objectification and prosocial intention. Next, by manipulating participants' objectification experience, we found the negative effect of objectification on prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of self-dehumanization (Studies 3 and 4). Additionally, we tested the mediating role of self-dehumanization in comparison with relative deprivation (another potential mediator), and consistently found that self-dehumanization was a stronger mediator in accounting for the effect of objectification on prosocial intention (Studies 1, 2, and 4). Together, our findings support the process of self-dehumanization following objectification and offer new insights into the relationship between objectification and prosociality. The implications and limitations of the research were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies suggest that leisure activities enhance well-being. In line with this perspective, a recent study indicates that augmenting indoor leisure activities to compensate for diminished outdoor pursuits could sustain or enhance wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study was designed to identify personality traits that predict such behavioral shifts in indoor versus outdoor leisure activities during the pandemic. The present study included 657 participants (Mage = 41.08) and measured 12 personality traits that a previous study reported were associated with health-protective behaviors during COVID-19. Our findings indicate that the rise in indoor leisure activities correlated with prosocial tendencies toward family and friends/acquaintances (but not strangers), self-centered interest, resilience, and Big Five personality traits. Conversely, the decline in outdoor activities was linked solely to prosociality toward family and friends/acquaintances. Further interaction analysis uncovered that prosocial tendencies toward close relations predicted increased indoor activities as an alternative to outdoor engagements. We concluded that prosociality promoted behavioral changes that significantly prevented infections in intimate others, and it could maintain personal well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating behavior change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis explores the long-standing and heavily debated question of whether religiosity is associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior at the individual level. In an analysis of 701 effects across 237 samples, encompassing 811,663 participants, a significant relationship of r =.13 was found between religiosity and prosociality (and antisociality, which was treated as its inverse). Nevertheless, there was substantial heterogeneity of effect sizes, and several potential moderators were explored. The effect was most heavily moderated by the type of measurement used to assess prosocial or antisocial behavior. Religiosity correlated more strongly with self-reported prosociality (r =.15) than with directly measured prosocial behavior (r =.06). Three possible interpretations of this moderation are discussed, namely, that (a) lab-based methods do not accurately or fully capture actual religious prosociality; (b) the self-report effect is explained by religious self-enhancement and overreports actual prosociality; or (c) both religiosity and self-reported prosociality are explained by self-enhancement. The question of whether religiosity more strongly positively predicts prosociality or negatively predicts antisociality is also explored. This moderation is, at most, weak. We test additional potential moderators, including the aspect of religiosity and type of behavior measured, the ingroup or outgroup nature of the recipient, and study characteristics. Finally, we recommend a shift in how researchers investigate questions of religiosity and prosociality in the future. Public Significance Statement: This work summarizes the large body of evidence bearing on the long-standing question of whether more religious people act more prosocially. We find that religiosity is indeed correlated with prosociality. However, this association is stronger when prosociality is measured by self-report than when prosocial behavior is directly measured. These findings set the stage for what future research in this area should focus on and help us better understand the nature of religiosity in a world where its societal role is shifting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at evaluating the associations between maternal parenting practices (positive, negative/inconsistent, and punitive), children's difficulties (such as conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer problems, and hyperactivity), and prosocial behaviors. Participants were 131 Italian mothers of primary school children; mothers were aged between 26 and 52 years (M = 38.38, SD = 5.46); children (54% girls) were aged between 6 and 10 years (M = 7.15, SD = 0.98). Mothers completed two scales assessing their parenting practices and their children's psychosocial adjustment. A path analysis was run to test the hypothesized model. The results showed the following: (a) maternal positive parenting was negatively and significantly related to children's conduct problems and hyperactivity, and positively and significantly to children's prosocial behavior; (b) maternal negative/inconsistent parenting was positively and significantly related to children's conduct problems, emotional symptoms, and hyperactivity; (c) maternal punitive parenting was positively and significantly related to children's conduct problems and emotional symptoms. Moreover, the results showed that, according to the mothers' perceptions, boys tended to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity and peer problems and lower levels of prosocial behaviors than girls. Overall, this study highlights the unique role of different maternal parenting practices in the psychosocial adjustment of primary school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and child behavior problems has been widely researched, leaving a gap in understanding the positive aspects of children's mental health. The present study aimed to investigate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and resilience and prosociality among 6–7 year-old children in Japan. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study, a population-based study in 2017 and 2019 including all first-grade students in public schools in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan (n = 7328, response rate = 84.7%). Resilience and prosociality were measured by the Children's Resilient Coping Scale and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, respectively. Maternal pre-pregnancy weight and height were reported based on the Mother and Child Health Handbook, and BMI was categorized as underweight (BMI < 18.5), normal weight (BMI 18.5–24.9), overweight (BMI 25.0–29.9), and obesity (BMI ≥ 30). Linear regression models were employed to control for covariates. Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity was found to be negatively associated with child resilience (coefficient: − 3.29; 95% CI − 6.42–-0.15), while maternal underweight was negatively associated with child prosociality (coefficient: − 0.12; 95% CI − 0.24–-0.005) compared to mothers of pre-pregnancy normal BMI. Perinatal factors, such as gestational weight gain, gestational age, and birth weight, did not mediate the association. Our findings suggest that maternal pre-pregnancy obesity is linked to decreased resilience and maternal underweight is linked to decreased prosociality in children aged 6–7 years. Maintaining an appropriate BMI range before pregnancy may be crucial for enhancing resilience and prosociality of offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how adults over the lifespan flexibly adapt their use of prosocial speech acts when conveying bad news to communicative partners. Experiment 1a (N = 100 Scottish adults aged 18–72 years) assessed whether participants' use of prosocial speech acts varied according to audience design considerations (i.e., whether or not the recipient of the news was directly affected). Experiment 1b (N = 100 Scottish adults aged 19–70 years) assessed whether participants adjusted for whether the bad news was more or less severe (an index of general knowledge). Younger adults displayed more flexible adaptation to the recipient manipulation, while no age differences were found for severity. These findings are consistent with prior work showing age-related decline in audience design but not in the use of general knowledge during language production. Experiment 2 further probed younger adults (N = 40, Scottish, aged 18–37 years) and older adults' (N = 40, Scottish, aged 70–89 years) prosocial linguistic behavior by investigating whether health (vs. nonhealth-related) matters would affect responses. While older adults used prosocial speech acts to a greater extent than younger adults, they did not distinguish between conditions. Our results suggest that prosocial linguistic behavior is likely influenced by a combination of differences in audience design and communicative styles at different ages. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of situating prosocial speech acts within the pragmatics and aging literature, allowing us to uncover the factors modulating prosocial linguistic behavior at different developmental stages. Public Significance Statement: Prosocial speech acts (i.e., those in which the aim is to protect the listener's feelings/self-image) are ubiquitous in everyday speech, enabling people to build and maintain relationships. This study investigates the use of prosocial speech acts over the adult lifespan, advancing scientific knowledge of how pragmatic skills and stylistic differences in communication across generations influence prosocial linguistic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings suggest that people can experience feelings of moral elevation when witnessing uncommon moral virtue, and consequently being more prone to engage in prosocial behaviors. However, people can potentially perceive outstanding moral exemplars as a threat to their self-concept due to negative social comparison and consequently derogate them. This research aims to investigate the role of group membership in predicting moral elevation and prosocial intentions when witnessing outstanding moral exemplars. In three online studies, we showed participants a situation where a person from their ingroup (vs. outgroup) (i.e. same gender; same university; same nationality) helped a stranger and then measured their elevation feelings, negative emotions, and prosocial intentions. We predicted that when moral models are ingroup members, people will show higher elevation, lower negative emotions, and will be more prone to engage in prosocial behaviors as opposed to when moral models are outgroup members. Results partially supported our hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosociality is often considered as quintessential in coping with the threats of health emergencies. As previous research has suggested, prosocial behaviors are shaped by both dispositional factors and situational cues about the helping situation. In the present research, we investigated whether "bonding" types of prosociality, helping directed towards close others within one's social network, and "bridging" types of prosociality, helping directed towards vulnerable people across group boundaries, are predicted by basic individual values and threat appraisals concerning COVID-19. During the pandemic, we conducted a cross-sectional study in the US and India (Ntotal = 954), using the Schwartz value inventory and a multifaceted measure of threat assessment to predict prosocial helping intentions. After controlling for other value and threat facets, self-transcendence values and threat for vulnerable groups uniquely predicted both bonding and bridging types of prosociality. Furthermore, threat for vulnerable groups partially mediated the effect of self-transcendence on prosocial helping intentions: People who endorsed self-transcendent values were particularly concerned by the effect of the pandemic on vulnerable groups, and thus willing to engage in prosocial behaviours to help those in need. Our findings support the idea that prosociality is stimulated by empathic concerns towards others in need and underline the importance for future research to consider the broad spectrum of threats appraised by people during health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are extremely prosocial and there are many possible explanations for how we came to be this way. Some have suggested that commitments explain the evolution of human prosociality. Commitments can serve to secure mutually beneficial interaction in the face of short-term incentives to cheat. In this paper, I have two aims. First, I argue that commitment not only applies to familiar practices such as promising but also explains small-scale collaboration among humans as early as two million years ago. In particular, it explains the stability of group hunting. In doing so, I provide a precisification of the concept of commitment. Second, I argue that earlier, non-linguistic forms of commitment can act as an evolutionary scaffold for more complex forms. As such, I will demonstrate how commitment can be understood to have coevolved with human cooperation. The coevolution of commitment and cooperation over our evolutionary history is, I suggest, a crucial part of the explanation of modern human prosociality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundGiven its putative roles in mediating prosocial behavior, attachment bonds, and stress physiology, oxytocin modulation has been hypothesized to be a biological correlate of the salubrious effects of meditation practice. Here we investigated the effects of a month-long silent meditation retreat on changes in oxytocin, and the related hormone and vasopressin, in relation to psychosocial changes in attachment style, anxiety, personality measures, and feelings of social connectedness with fellow meditators.MethodsPlasma oxytocin and vasopressin and self-report questionnaires were measured in retreat participants (n = 28) at the beginning of, and 3 weeks into, a residential meditation retreat. Control participants (n = 34), who were similar in age, gender, and meditation experience, were also assessed across a 3-week interval. Linear mixed effects models were used to assess outcomes.ResultsThe retreat group showed a small but significant decrease in oxytocin compared to controls who showed no change. In the retreat group, higher openness to experience at Time 1 predicted greater reductions in oxytocin during the retreat, and lower oxytocin at Time 2 was related to stronger feelings of personal connection with fellow meditators. The changes in oxytocin were not related to attachment style or anxiety. Vasopressin decreased over time across both groups, suggesting no specific effect of retreat.ConclusionThese preliminary findings suggest that meditation training in the context of a silent residential retreat may reduce circulating levels of oxytocin. We interpret this finding from multiple theoretical perspectives, discussing key measurement limitations and proposing future study designs that may help to differentiate the effects of different meditation practices and contexts on oxytocin signaling.