Prosocial Development

Eisenberg, Nancy; Fabes, Richard A.; Spinrad, Tracy L.

doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0311

Cited by 1,362 publications

(2,471 citation statements)

References 465 publications

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“…Research on the development of pro-social behavior has struggled with the question of whether these processes are genetic (inborn) and what is the relative role of society, education and socialization processes in the development of such behaviors (e.g. Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998;Knafo, & Plomin, 2006). Our findings are congruent with the notion that beyond genetic factors, cultural and educational factors play an important role in shaping people's reactions to the needs of others and raise the important question of whether we can impart the feelings that are needed for rational action, enhancing caring for groups in need.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scope insensitivity in helping decisions: Is it a matter of culture and values?

Kogut¹,

Slovic²,

Västfjäll³

2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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The singularity effect of identifiable victims refers to people's greater willingness to help a single concrete victim compared with a group of victims experiencing the same need. We present 3 studies exploring values and cultural sources of this effect. In the first study, the singularity effect was found only among Western Israelis and not among Bedouin participants (a more collectivist group). In Study 2, individuals with higher collectivist values were more likely to contribute to a group of victims. Finally, the third study demonstrates a more causal relationship between collectivist values and the singularity effect by showing that enhancing people's collectivist values using a priming manipulation produces similar donations to single victims and groups. Moreover, participants' collectivist preferences mediated the interaction between the priming conditions and singularity of the recipient. Implications for several areas of psychology and ways to enhance caring for groups in need are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scope insensitivity in helping decisions: Is it a matter of culture and values?

Kogut¹,

Slovic²,

Västfjäll³

2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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“…While our findings broadly support previous studies demonstrating main effects of Agreeableness and recipient characteristics (Batson et al, 2005;Batson, 2012;Eisenberg et al, 2006;Rudolph et al, 2004;Vollhardt and Staub, 2011) on donation, they also reveal more complex interactive effects that have potential implications for the understanding of personality and cooperative behavior. For example, if one construes Agreeableness solely in terms of its main effect on behavior-i.e., as a kind of general cooperation parameter that uniformly increases the likelihood of prosocial behavior in any given situation (cf.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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Supplemental Information 1: Supplementary Tables and Figures

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Agreeable people are more likely to display prosocial attitudes and helpful behavior in a broad range of situations. Here we show that this tendency interacts with the personal characteristics of interaction partners. In an online study (n = 284), participants were given the opportunity to report attitudes toward and make monetary donations to needy individuals who were described in dynamically generated biographies. Using a machine learning and multilevel modeling framework, we tested three potential explanations for the facilitatory influence of Agreeableness on charitable behavior. We find that Agreeableness preferentially increased donations and prosocial attitudes toward targets normatively rated as being more deserving, but not to targets considered less deserving. ABSTRACTAgreeable people are more likely to display prosocial attitudes and helpful behavior in a broad range of situations. Here we show that this tendency interacts with the personal characteristics of interaction partners. In an online study (n = 284), participants were given the opportunity to report attitudes toward and make monetary donations to needy individuals who were described in dynamically generated biographies. Using a machine learning and multilevel modeling framework, we tested three potential explanations for the facilitatory influence of Agreeableness on charitable behavior. We find that Agreeableness preferentially increased donations and prosocial attitudes toward targets normatively rated as being more deserving, but not to targets considered less deserving. Our results advance understanding of person-by-situation interactions in the context of charitable behavior and prosocial attitudes.

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“…Prosocial behavior has been linked with a variety of positive psychosocial indices including adequate social competence with peers, increased perspective taking and interactional skills, adequate conflict resolution, and increased levels of empathy and emotional regulation (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998;Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinard, 2006).…”

Section: Prosocial Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%