Prosocial Goals Research Articles

Pro-Social Goals in Achievement Situations: Amity Goal Orientation Enhances the Positive Effects of Mastery Goal Orientation.

Research has neglected the utility of pro-social goals within achievement situations. In this article, four studies demonstrate that amity goal orientation, promoting mutual success of oneself together with others, enhances the utility of mastery goal orientation. We demonstrate this in longitudinally predicting performance (Studies 1 and 2) and in maintaining motivation after a disappointing performance (Studies 3 and 4). The studies demonstrate the same interaction effect in academic and in work achievement contexts. Specifically, whereas amity goal orientation did not predict achievement on its own, it enhanced the positive effect of mastery goal orientation. Together, these studies establish the importance of amity goal orientation while also advancing our understanding of the effects of other achievement goal orientations. We suggest future directions in examining the utility of amity goals in other contexts.

Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose: Defining the Key Dimensions of Meaningful Work.

Research on meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, with an increasing understanding of the centrality of meaningfulness for work-related motivation, commitment, and well-being. However, ambiguity around the main construct, “meaningful work,” has hindered this progress as various researchers have used partly overlapping, partly differing conceptualizations. To bring clarity to this issue, we examine a broad range of various definitions of meaningful work and come to argue that meaningfulness in the broadest sense is about work significance as an overall evaluation of work as regards whether it is intrinsically valuable and worth doing. Furthermore, we argue that there are two key sub-dimensions to this work significance: Broader purpose as work serving some greater good or prosocial goals (the intrinsic value of work beyond the person in question). And self-realization as a sense of autonomy, authenticity and self-expression at work (the intrinsic value of work for the person in question). Previous definitions of meaningful work feature typically one or two of these elements—significance, broader purpose, self-realization –, but in the future it would be beneficial to clearly acknowledge all three elements in both definitions and operationalizations of meaningful work.

An exploratory study of aspirations for change and their effect on purpose among Catalan university students

Catalan young adults have found themselves as prominent actors in important social, political and economic changes that Catalonia is currently experiencing. How are their life goals related to these events? We explore self-oriented, prosocial and change-oriented life goals and their expected social benefits among 160 Catalan university students who completed an online survey. Mean differences between highly and scantly change-oriented students were strong in their endorsement of prosocial life goals and mild in self-oriented life goals. Linear regression found modest predictive value for students’ expectations of producing social benefits based on prosocial and change-oriented life goals, but not self-oriented life goals.

The Power Paradox: Implicit and Explicit Power Motives, and the Importance Attached to Prosocial Organizational Goals in SMEs

We examine the fundamental tension between explicit and implicit power motives; and their combined impact on the importance attached to prosocial organizational goals in small businesses (SMEs). We show that key decision-makers with a dominant implicit power motive attach more importance to the prosocial goals of job creation and taking care of the environment in their businesses. However, we reveal that this positive relationship is moderated by their explicit power motive. Once decision-makers in SMEs consciously seek for power, the positive relationship is neutralized. With these results, we highlight the conceptual and methodological differences between implicit and explicit power motives. We could obtain these results because we developed and validated an innovative implicit motive measure—the Shortened Pictorial Attitude Implicit Association Test (SPA-IAT). Contrary to the currently available implicit motive measures, the SPA-IAT is fast and easy to use and analyze, which makes this novel instrument well suited for research in business settings.

Becoming ethical: Mediated pedagogies of global consumer-citizenship

This essay examines the BBC docu-reality series Blood, Sweat & T-shirts ( BS&T) as a case study for understanding the early 21st-century’s proliferation of ethical consumer media – media which circulate internationally, attempt to bring commercial and/or popular appeal together with pro-social goals. I argue that the show operates as a transnational technology of ethical global consumer-citizenship in a highly ambivalent manner: it works to cultivate a form of caring for others that is amenable to a liberalized global economy and the maintenance of existing racialized and gendered global hierarchies, but at the same time, it lays bare the deep contradictions that structure this project.

Go Pro Bono

Abstract. Crowdfunding enables fundraising of various ventures by collecting money from several donors. We argue that the inclusion of prosocial language contributes to success in this new domain of resource acquisition. In Study 1, we analyzed 164,056 projects from the online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and found that the higher the percentage of prosocial words employed in a project’s description, the larger the number of investors and the greater the chances of reaching a funding goal. In Study 2 (N = 234), an experimental study, we documented that the use of prosocial words increases the support people thought they would give to a project. Our results indicate that people want to invest their financial resources in ventures that contribute to prosocial goals.

Asia\u2019s materialists: Reconciling collectivism and materialism

Materialism has an ugly face. The dominant view of materialism regards materialists as self-prioritizing individuals who oppose collective and prosocial goals in favor of a lifestyle led by money, possessions, and status. The present research argues that there is a side of materialism that is concerned with collective-oriented interests. We examine the nature and consequences of collective-oriented materialism – the belief system that ascribes importance to possessions for their symbolic and signaling capacities to construct desirable social attributes. Drawing from cultural and consumer theories, we find considerable support that materialists espouse a collective-oriented quality to an otherwise self-oriented interest towards possessions.

Response time in economic games reflects different types of decision conflict for prosocial and proself individuals

Behavioral and neuroscientific studies explore two pathways through which internalized social norms promote prosocial behavior. One pathway involves internal control of impulsive selfishness, and the other involves emotion-based prosocial preferences that are translated into behavior when they evade cognitive control for pursuing self-interest. We measured 443 participants' overall prosocial behavior in four economic games. Participants' predispositions [social value orientation (SVO)] were more strongly reflected in their overall game behavior when they made decisions quickly than when they spent a longer time. Prosocially (or selfishly) predisposed participants behaved less prosocially (or less selfishly) when they spent more time in decision making, such that their SVO prosociality yielded limited effects in actual behavior in their slow decisions. The increase (or decrease) in slower decision makers was prominent among consistent prosocials (or proselfs) whose strong preference for prosocial (or proself) goals would make it less likely to experience conflict between prosocial and proself goals. The strong effect of RT on behavior in consistent prosocials (or proselfs) suggests that conflict between prosocial and selfish goals alone is not responsible for slow decisions. Specifically, we found that contemplation of the risk of being exploited by others (social risk aversion) was partly responsible for making consistent prosocials (but not consistent proselfs) spend longer time in decision making and behave less prosocially. Conflict between means rather than between goals (immediate versus strategic pursuit of self-interest) was suggested to be responsible for the time-related increase in consistent proselfs' prosocial behavior. The findings of this study are generally in favor of the intuitive cooperation model of prosocial behavior.

Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of the Self-Compassion Scale Short Form Adapted for Children Ages 8–12

Research on self-compassion in adults and adolescents has consistently shown positive associations of self-compassion to mindfulness, psychological and physical well-being, self-esteem, and compassion towards others. Yet, self-compassion in children has not been examined. The present study was conducted to explore the reliability and validity of the Self-Compassion Scale for Children (SCS-C). A sample of 406 children, ages 8 to 12, completed the SCS-C and measures of mindfulness, self-concept, well-being and psychological adjustment, empathic-related responding, and prosocial goals. Results indicated a two-factor structure for the SCS-C with negatively-worded items and positively-worded items forming two discrete subscales, each with acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .81–.83). Children’s scores on the positive and negative self-compassion subscales were significantly related to most of the self-reported measures in the expected directions. These findings provide insight into the factor structure of the SCS-C and are consistent with previous research on the Self-Compassion Scale with adult and adolescent populations. Limitations and future directions are discussed with regard to the two-factor structure of the SCS-C and its relevance for research and applications.

High School Students’ Motivation to Learn Mathematics: The Role of Multiple Goals

Using a sample of 310 Year 10 Chinese students from Hong Kong, this survey study examined the effects of multiple goals in learning mathematics. Independent variables were mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and pro-social goals. Dependent variables included perceived classroom goal structures, teacher’s support, learning motives and strategies, attitudes, and grade aspiration. Based on regression and cluster analyses, this study found convergent evidence supporting the benefits of adopting additional adaptive goals alongside mastery goals. Regression analyses located significant interaction between pro-social goals and mastery goals in predicting higher levels of positive learning attitudes and lower levels of surface learning motives. Cluster analyses confirmed that students endorsing pro-social goals, performance-approach goals and mastery goals in their goal profiles had an adaptive pattern of perceptions, use of strategies, learning motives and grade aspiration in mathematics.

Personality Traits, Ego Development, and the Redemptive Self.

Life narratives are the internalized stories that people construct to provide meaning, purpose, and coherence in their lives. Prior research suggests that psychologically healthy and socially engaged adults generally narrate their lives in a prototypical fashion labeled the redemptive self, consisting of five themes: (a) a sense of childhood advantage, (b) empathy for others' sufferings, (c) moral steadfastness, (d) turning of negative events into positive outcomes (redemption sequences), and (e) prosocial goals. The current study examines trait correlates of the redemptive self in 157 late-midlife adults. Summing thematic scores across 12 life story interview scenes, the redemptive self was positively associated with four of the Big Five traits: extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability, but unrelated to cognitive features of personality, as assessed on openness and ego development. The findings suggest those with positive socio-emotional personality traits, but not necessarily a proclivity for sophisticated thoughts, tend to have redemptive life stories.

Look Up in the Sky: Latent Content Analysis of the Real Life Superhero Community

The Real Life Superhero (RLSH) subculture is a growing global community of individuals who adopt the superhero motif and are motivated by prosocial goals. Although the community has been the focus of documentaries, news articles and numerous internet forums, little academic research has been conducted on the composition of this subculture. Through the use of an online survey, socio-demographic information about this community was collected. This data was compiled and analysed via qualitative means to develop not only an overarching review of the composition of the subculture but also how members perceived themselves and other members. Membership and identity within the community was strongly tied to the activities and focus of each member, predominantly community and crime prevention orientated. The study identified a high degree of heterogeneity within the community with subdivisions focused on the perceptions of legal boundaries, focus of activities and level of authenticity.

I Did Well. Should I Tell? Gender Differences in Children’s Academic Success Disclosures

There is growing evidence that individuals frequently share good news with others and that these positive event disclosures can predict positive affective outcomes. In the current study, we tested hypotheses regarding gender differences in one type of positive event disclosure: children’s willingness to disclose academic successes to friends. Participants were 524 children living in the Midwestern United States. The sample was divided into two age groups: middle childhood and early adolescence. Consistent with hypotheses, girls were more likely than boys to disclose academic successes to friends. Also consistent with hypotheses, this gender difference was mediated by gender differences in perceived norms and perceived responses. Specifically, girls’ greater willingness to disclose academic successes to friends was partially explained by girls’ greater sense that academic success disclosures are normative and – especially among early adolescents – by girls’ greater sense that academic success disclosures will be met with supportive responses. Contrary to predictions, this gender difference was not mediated by prosocial goals. Although these findings may run contrary to the notion that girls are more likely than boys to adopt a modest self-presentation style, they are consistent with evidence that girls’ friendships are more likely than boys’ to be characterized by features (e.g., validation) that would facilitate positive event disclosures and with evidence that boys are more likely than girls to demonstrate a devaluing of academic achievement and effort. Future research will be important in better understanding how parent, teacher, and peer socialization processes interact to contribute to children’s decision-making regarding academic success disclosures.

Balancing Social Responsibility and Personal Autonomy: Adolescents’ Reasoning About Community Service Programs

ABSTRACTMany jurisdictions in North America have implemented mandatory community service programs in high schools. However, little research exists examining the reasoning of youth themselves about such programs. This study examined how youth reason about community service programs, and how they balance the prosocial goals of these programs against their personal autonomy. Seventy-two participants between 10 and 18 years old evaluated voluntary community service along with 4 hypothetical mandatory programs that varied according to whether students or the government decided the areas in which students would serve, and whether a structured reflection component was included. The findings reveal that youth are not simply self-focused but rather balance and coordinate considerations of autonomy and community in their judgments and reasoning about community service.

Narrating the Generative Life

Generativity is an adult’s concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations. Analyzing lengthy life-narrative interviews of late-midlife adults, we examined the extent to which a particular kind of life story is empirically linked to self-report measures of generativity and other indices of psychosocial adaptation in midlife. The results showed that highly generative adults are significantly more likely than their less-generative counterparts to construe their lives as variations on a prototypical redemption narrative, wherein the story’s protagonist (a) enjoys an early advantage in life, (b) exhibits sensitivity to the suffering of other people, (c) develops a clear moral framework, (d) repeatedly transforms negative scenes into positive outcomes, and (e) pursues prosocial goals for the future. The psychological and cultural features of redemptive life stories are considered, as are the problems and potentialities of life-narrative research in psychological science.

The self in family coexistence: developing youth's agency and prosociality

Central to the concept of family coexistence is the development of its young members' selves through a process that occurs in the family's shared life and activities. In this process, young persons are socialised into their family's values, capabilities and expectations at the same time that they experience their family's care and support. What possibly emerges from family coexistence is youth's personal agency that is exercised for prosocial goals. This hypothesis is examined in this paper in the Philippine culture, where other persons are regarded as shared selves and the family's function of educating children is considered of prime importance. Self-report survey data generated through the Multicontext Assessment Battery of Youth Development and from three separate Filipino undergraduate samples show support for three models (a) a correlated two-factor model of family relations and capabilities, (b) a correlated two-factor model of youth's agency and prosociality, and (c) a structural equation model suggesting a developmental pathway starting from positive relations onto socialisation in family capabilities; family capabilities then directly influence youth's agency that, in turn, directly influences prosociality. Thus, while youth's prosocial self emerges from the interpersonal and communal nature of family coexistence, it also is shaped by youth's exercise of personal agency. The results are examined in the light of agency and prosociality as bases of the integrality of the self.

The Role of Moral Disengagement in the Associations Between Children's Social Goals and Aggression

The construct of moral disengagement has increasingly been used by researchers to account for the asymmetry between children’s moral reasoning and their moral behavior. According to this theory, moral disengagement occurs most aptly when children are motivated to violate their moral beliefs, such as when they hold antisocial goals during social conflict. In line with this, the current study examined whether moral disengagement would mediate the associations among children’s antisocial and prosocial goals and aggressive behavior, both concurrently and over time. Specifically, cross-sectional and longitudinal data from 379 children were examined during and across their fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade school years. Findings provide evidence that moral disengagement mediates the concurrent association between antisocial goals and higher levels of aggressive behavior, as well as the concurrent association between prosocial goals and lower levels of aggressive behavior. Further, moral disengagement emerged as a significant mediator of the longitudinal association between prosocial goals and lower rates of aggressive behavior toward peers across the span of middle childhood. Finally, moral disengagement also emerged as a potential mechanism in the continued endorsement of relationship maintenance goals over time. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Men, Teaching, and Caring

This article continues and extends the conversation regarding an ethic of care as reflected by two male elementary school teachers. It seeks to discover ways in which these men approach and practice their teaching that demonstrate the ethic of care traditionally linked with women. This article looks in depth at two male teachers in an effort to understand the ways in which being a male elementary school teacher alters the construction and performance of masculinity in a school and how this in turn affects the school in its attempts to create a more democratic society and reach its prosocial goals for its students. As the study progressed, it was evident the ways in which (although the terminology was different) the philosophy and practice of these two teachers reflected many of the elements of an ethic of care.

In others' shoes: do individual differences in empathy and theory of mind shape social preferences?

Abundant evidence across the behavioral and social sciences suggests that there are substantial individual differences in pro-social behavior. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that underlie social preferences. This paper investigates whether empathy and Theory of Mind shape individual differences in pro-social behavior as conventionally observed in neutrally framed social science experiments. Our results show that individual differences in the capacity for empathy do not shape social preferences. The results qualify the role of Theory of Mind in strategic interaction. We do not only show that fair individuals exhibit more accurate beliefs about the behavior of others but that Theory of Mind can be effectively used to pursue both self-interest and pro-social goals depending on the principle objectives of a person.

Getting the most out of giving: Concretely framing a prosocial goal maximizes happiness

Across six field and laboratory experiments, participants assigned a more concretely-framed prosocial goal (e.g., making someone smile or increasing recycling) felt happier and reported creating greater personal happiness after performing a goal-directed act of kindness than did those who were assigned a functionally similar, but more abstractly-framed, prosocial goal (e.g., making someone happy or saving the environment). Moreover, mediation analyses revealed that this effect was driven by differences in the size of the gap between participants' expectations and reality. Compared to those who pursued an abstractly-framed prosocial goal, those who pursued a concretely-framed goal perceived that the actual outcome of their goal-directed efforts more accurately matched their expectations, causing them to experience a greater boost in happiness. Evidence that participants are unable to predict this effect, believing that pursuing abstractly-framed prosocial goals would have either an equal or greater positive impact on their own happiness, is also presented.