Abstract
Prosocial behavior is undertaken voluntarily to benefit others and includes a range of actions, such as helping, sharing, caring, and comforting. Our study concerned psychological mechanisms stimulating prosocial behavior explaining it from both the within-individual (daily fluctuations) and inter-individual (individual differences) perspectives. We tested a model in which positive orientation and positive affect directly predict within-individual variability in prosocial behavior and in which positive affect mediates the relationship between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. These two-level mediation mechanisms were investigated using an intensive longitudinal study design with seven daily measurements on a sample of 181 undergraduates and 1119 daily observations. The results confirm that, with personality traits, sex, and prosocial behavior during the previous day adjusted for, inter- and within-individual variability in positive orientation predict daily prosocial behavior. Inter-individual variability in positive affect is a significant predictor of prosocial behavior and a mediator between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. No such mediation mechanism was detected for within-individual variability in positive affect. These results suggest several recommendations on how to stimulate prosocial behavior. By stimulating the general tendency to cultivate positive affective experiences and to view life in a positive light, it may be possible to prepare people to notice and respond to the needs of others.
Highlights
Prosocial behavior is undertaken voluntarily to benefit others and includes a range of actions, such as helping, sharing, caring, and comforting (Caprara et al, 2012a, 2012b; Eisenberg et al, 2007)
The partitioning of the total variance into within-individual and inter-individual variance showed that 57% of the total variance in prosocial behavior was within persons
These analyses show that a substantial portion of the variance in prosocial behavior, positive orientation (POS), and positive affect (PA) can be attributed to within-individual variation
Summary
Prosocial behavior is undertaken voluntarily to benefit others and includes a range of actions, such as helping, sharing, caring, and comforting (Caprara et al, 2012a, 2012b; Eisenberg et al, 2007) Engaging in such actions is of obvious importance, as they increase the quality of interactions between individuals and groups (Eisenberg et al, 2007) and are beneficial for the whole society (Meier, 2007). As research showed that explanations coming from different levels of analysis do not necessarily correspond (e.g., Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013; Kozlowski & Klein, 2000) and interindividual level relationships between variables cannot be extended to the within-individual level (Cervone, 2005), multilevel analyses may shed a new light on psychological mechanisms pertaining to prosocial behavior. We tested the dynamic mechanisms linking personal resources and prosocial behavior using an intensive longitudinal study design (Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013) with daily measurement of variables
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