Prosocial Research Articles

The importance of traffic noise exposure among other exposome variables on children's wellbeing: Results from three studies across three countries

Chronic exposure to traffic noise impairs children's well-being. However, traffic noise exposure is only one aspect with impact on children's wellbeing. In order to better understand the importance of traffic noise in comparison to other influencing factors, the exposome concept can be useful. The EU project Equal-Life is addressing this issue by investigating the exposome and its influence on children's health and development. In the present paper, we focus on wellbeing which was operationalized as quality of life & happiness and prosocial behavior. Datasets of N = 3.103 children from three different studies (ALPINE, NORAH, RANCH NL) across three countries (Austria, Germany, the Netherlands) were used. Random forest models provide information on the importance of the physical and social exposome variables for children's wellbeing. We found differences between the studies with regard to the importance of traffic noise exposure (Lden). and the importance of other exposome variables. Nevertheless, results for non-acoustical variables were similar across studies (socio-demographic and environmental variables). Possible explanations and recommendations for authorities will be discussed.

Empathic pain: Underlying neural mechanism.

Empathy is usually regarded as the ability to perceive the emotional state of others, which is an altruistic motivation to promote prosocial behavior and thus plays a key role in human life and social development. Empathic pain-the capacity to feel and understand the pain of others-constitutes a significant aspect in the study of empathy behaviors. For an extended duration, investigations into empathic pain have predominantly centered on human neuroimaging studies. Fortunately, recent advancements have witnessed the utilization of animal models in the exploration of the fundamental neural underpinnings of empathic pain. There is substantial evidence implicating multiple brain regions and neural networks in the generation and maintenance of empathic pain. Nevertheless, further elucidation of the neural mechanisms underlying empathic pain is warranted. This review provides a concise overview of prior studies on the neural mechanisms of empathic pain, outlining the pertinent brain regions, neural pathways, synaptic mechanisms, and associated molecules while also delving into future prospects.

German Parents and Educators of Two to Four-Year-Old Children as Informants for the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

Screeners are used in early intervention and early childhood education and care programs to identify children's potential need for further evaluation and diagnostics. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief behavioral screening instrument that can be completed by both parents and educators to assess the social and emotional traits of children. However, multiple informants' reports vary. In this study, the extent to which parents' (n = 241) and educators' (n = 157) differ and agree in their assessments of children aged 3.5 years on average, was examined. T-tests were used to examine differences between informants and correlations within a multitrait-multimethod matrix (MTMM) in their agreement. Results showed moderate to high levels of rater agreement ranging from r = .35 and r = .53 on the five subscales of the SDQ. We found that hyperactivity, peer relationship problems, and prosocial behavior vary due to meaningful reasons, e.g., the home vs. pre-school setting, and the informant's relationship towards the child. Hyperactivity seems to be relatively consistent across settings. Methodological variations might explain differences in emotional symptoms and conduct problems. Considering ratings from multiple informants outlines a more comprehensive view of children's behavior and should be preferred over single-informant research designs.

Relationship between positive grandparenting styles and adolescent prosocial behavior: A moderated mediation model

In response to China's accelerated aging and revised birth policies, families are increasing choosing intergenerational caregiving owing to the value placed on kinship and also because of practicality. Using a cross-sectional survey of 1,289 participants, we explored the relationship between positive grandparenting styles and adolescent prosocial behavior, and further examined the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating role of peer relationships. Findings revealed that positive grandparenting was positively and significantly associated with adolescent prosocial behavior. Further, psychological resilience mediated this link, and peer relationships positively moderated the effect of positive grandparenting on adolescent psychological resilience, consequently amplifying this effect. In addition, stronger peer relationships augmented the indirect effect of positive grandparenting on prosocial behavior via psychological resilience. Our study enhances understanding of how grandparenting style may impact adolescent behavior and offers valuable insight into family upbringing practices within the Chinese societal context.

Cross‐cultural dynamics of narcissism and prosocial behavior: Unveiling the role of social status pursuit and collectivism

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

The relationship between college students' belief in a just world and online prosocial behavior.

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

Job satisfaction and happiness keys in the prosocial behavior of citizens in Europe

BackgroundSatisfaction and happiness are two widely studied topics in current literature. Human beings need to find happiness. However, for many authors, satisfaction is a prerequisite for happiness. Satisfaction, in turn, can be approached from different perspectives, such as job satisfaction, health satisfaction, and social life satisfaction. This research analyses the relationship between these variables and their influence on proactive social behaviour.MethodsThe present study utilised the European Social Survey, an academic survey conducted across Europe in its round 10, carried out between 2022 and 2023, with a database of 25,311 valid responses. Structural equation modelling analysis conduct using PLS-SEM with the Smart PLS software.ResultsThe results demonstrate a direct and significant relationship between overall satisfaction and happiness and between happiness and prosocial behaviour. Similarly, a solid indirect relationship exists between satisfaction and prosocial behaviour in society. Furthermore, job satisfaction is among the variables influencing overall satisfaction and happiness. However, it is not the most important, with satisfaction with social life being the most influential on satisfaction.Conclusions and implicationsHappiness is one of the main variables that influence people’s lives. As we have observed, this happiness has a direct and solid relationship with the individual’s level of satisfaction, with job satisfaction and satisfaction with social life being the most influential in this relationship between satisfaction and happiness. Therefore, these conclusions must be understood by both workers and employers and public administrations. Additionally, the relationship between happiness and prosocial behaviour is an interesting topic that the governments of countries and regions in Europe should consider.

Unethical prosocial behaviour and self-dehumanization: The roles of social connectedness and perceived morality.

Unethical prosocial behaviour (UPB) refers to acts where people violate widely held moral rules to benefit others. In light of previous research on the association between immoral behaviours and dehumanization, we examined whether and how engaging in UPB would impact the tendency to self-dehumanize. Across four studies (valid N = 1640), we found that UPB led to less self-dehumanization than unethical proself behaviour, which was mediated sequentially by social connectedness and perceived morality (Studies 2-4). Moreover, the comparison between UPB and ethical prosocial behaviour indicated that UPB did not necessarily lead to more self-dehumanization than ethical prosocial behaviour (Study 4). Although UPB was rated as less moral, it was associated with similar levels of social connectedness as ethical prosocial behaviour. These results have significant implications for research on morality and dehumanization and highlight the role of social connectedness in reducing dehumanization.

Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence.

Music listening is enjoyed across the lifespan and around the world. This has spurred many theories on the evolutionary purpose of music. The Music for Social Bonding hypothesis posits that the human capacity to make music evolved for the purpose of creating and preserving relationships between one another. Considering different time periods of music use across the lifespan, adolescence is especially a period of social reorientation away from family towards peers, characterized by new social bonds and increased prosocial behavior. This shift is accompanied by notable structural and functional changes in brain networks supporting reward processing and prosocial behavior. Reviewing the extant literature on developmental cognitive neuroscience and adolescent music use, we propose that neurocognitive changes in the reward system make adolescence an ideal developmental time window for investigating interactions between prosocial behavior and reward processing, as adolescence constitutes a time of relative increase in music reward valuation. Testing this hypothesis may clarify our understanding of developmental trajectories in music reward valuation, and offer insights into why music from adults' adolescence holds a great deal of personal significance.

Reciprocity and prosocial behavior in democratic dynamic

Prosocial behavior (CP) currently presents some conceptual overlaps with the construct of reciprocity, understood here as a lubricant of democratic dynamics. The proposed study is based on a research agreement between the Universities of Palermo and Malaga, to test the relationship between CP and reciprocity and the multiple dimensions that intervene on the two constructs at the individual, interpersonal and community level. A structural equation model (with the Lisrel method) was used to assess whether the principle of equity, belief in a just world, sense of community and neighborhood norm increase CP and whether this together with worldview and social trust, in turn, increase positive reciprocity and decrease negative reciprocity. The analyses presented are partial and concern the sample of Palermo, consisting of 307 subjects, residing in the eight districts of the city. From the analysis of the data, the parameters of the model are satisfactory even if the effect of the sense of community is not significant.

Positive behavior support in school – a quasi-experimental mixed methods study and a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundWhile positive school climate is important for students’ well-being and mental health, school personnel may experience challenges in creating a nurturing school climate. School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS) has shown positive effects on school climate and children’s prosocial behaviors, but fewer studies have been conducted in a European context.AimThis project aims to investigate the effectiveness of SW-PBIS program for students’ social-emotional skills and academic achievement as well as teachers’ and students’ perceptions of classroom learning environment. Furthermore, the study intends to evaluate how school-level factors mediate or moderate the effects of the intervention. In addition, the study includes a qualitative evaluation of the dynamic interaction processes that occur during program implementation in local school contexts.MethodsData on school- and individual-level measures are collected in intervention and control schools. With regard to challenges in retaining control groups over extended time periods, two waves of recruitment are used. In the first wave, an active control group is used and data are collected during three time points. In the second wave, a wait-list control group will be used and data will be collected during two time points during one school year. Hierarchical regression analyses will be conducted to explore the effects of SW-PBIS on the outcomes of the study. An ethno-methodological approach will be applied to provide a detailed examination of the social interactional and meaning-making practices of different school implementation teams, and the negotiation of normative expectations and rules of conduct in peer-teacher-student interactions in different classrooms.DiscussionThe study is expected to contribute to knowledge on the effects of the SW-PBIS program and how these effects may be mediated or moderated by school-level factors. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the significance of school contexts in the implementation of the SW-PBIS program constitutes the strength of the study. The challenge in the study is the extended period of implementation of SW-PBIS, which entails difficulties in retaining a control group over the required time period. Therefore, two waves of recruitment are used, encompassing different procedures of allocation to intervention or control group.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06270914 on the 22nd of February, 2024 (retrospectively registered).

The Role of Peer Social Support and Emotional Intelligence in College Students Prosociality

Prosocial behavior is crucial for every human being, including university students, to improve their psychological well-being and academic success. This study aims to examine the influence of peer social support and emotional intelligence on college students' prosocial levels. This study employs a quantitative research design with a correlational approach. The population in this research are active bachelor's degree students in Surabaya, consisting of 100 students as samples. The sampling technique was determined using convenience sampling. The use of measuring instruments in this research includes three types, consists the Prosocialness Scale for Adults (PSA), Perceived Friend/ Peer Academic Support Scale, and Wong’s Emotional Intelligence Scale (WEIS). The analysis technique used is multiple linear regression, resulting in a significance value of 0.000<0.05. The results of this study indicate that peer social support and emotional intelligence have an influence on prosocial levels among college students in Surabaya.

Moral hypocrisy and the dichotomy of hypothetical versus real choices in prosocial behavior

We have examined how much money participants take for themselves from an amount designated either for a well-known charity or for a state’s public budget. For a third of the participants, the decision was real – they were paid the chosen amount afterward, and the donation to a charity or public budget was lowered by this amount. For the rest, the decision was hypothetical, with no consequences. In a follow-up study, a different sample of participants was tasked with estimating behavior in both conditions. As expected, participants took more money from the public budget than the charity. However, when the decision was hypothetical, they took less money only from the public budget. Participants who could take money from the charity did not take less in the hypothetical than in the real condition. This was unexpected also for participants in the follow-up study, who significantly underestimated the amount of money taken from charities in the hypothetical condition. The results highlight limited generalizability of findings regarding moral and prosocial choices that use only hypothetical or vignette scenarios and suggest that interactions between positive self-presentation and monetary incentives are more context-dependent than expected.

Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis.

Executive function (EF), the set of mental processes and skills involved in goal-oriented planning, organizing, and controlling behavior, is believed to support child development across many domains of life. However, although ample evidence suggests a relation between childhood EF and academic skills, it is less clear what its role is in domains beyond academics. We report a meta-analysis of relations between early childhood EF (assessed at 36-60 months of age) and social, health, and behavioral outcomes assessed concurrently and longitudinally (1,459 effect sizes, 158 studies, n = 144,642). No significant relations were found between EF and health outcomes. EF was concurrently associated with emotion understanding and regulation, prosocial skills, peer acceptance, and skill at lying. Both concurrently and longitudinally, EF was positively associated with peer acceptance, adaptive classroom behavior, and social competence, and negatively associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, and inattention and hyperactivity. For adolescent outcomes, only the relation between EF and internalizing could be meta-analyzed, and no significant relation was found between these variables. The magnitude of effect sizes varied, with absolute values ranging from r = .02 to .30. Moderator analyses indicated the relation between EF and behavioral outcomes varied by outcome, but there was no such finding for EF and social or health outcomes. EF was more strongly associated with teacher- versus parent-reported behavioral problems. There was little evidence that quality indicators affected effect sizes. There was also little evidence of publication bias. Overall, our results are consistent with the possibility of broad relevance of EF for child development; yet, future research should provide stronger causal tests of hypothesized relations between EF and outcomes to better understand the nature of EF and whether fostering it can promote healthy development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Reliability and validity of communal narcissism scale in Chinese university students

ObjectiveThe Communal Narcissism Inventory (CNI) was applied to college students to explore the factor structure of the scale under the background of Chinese culture, and to test its reliability and validity. Methods949 university students were measured with CNI scale. The prosocial behavior scale, self-esteem scale and Big Five personality scale were used to verify the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of CNI scale. Three weeks later, 90 college students were randomly selected for retesting. ResultsThe bifactor model is more suitable for university students than the single-factor model. Cronbach'α are 0.92, 0.91 and 0.86. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis show that the project load is between 0.52 and 0.84, the correlation coefficient is significant, and there is a good fitting index. ConclusionThe Chinese version of CNI has reasonable reliability and validity under the Chinese cultural background, and can be used for the evaluation and research of communal narcissism of domestic university students.

Descriptive norms can "backfire" in hyper-polarized contexts.

Descriptive social norms interventions, where a behavior is promoted by learning that others engage in that behavior, are a cornerstone of behavior change research and practice. Here, we examine the effect of learning about the behavior of outgroup members in a hyper-polarized context: mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to prior findings, we find a descriptive social norm "backfire": Across three experiments, Biden supporters increased their mask-wearing intentions after being informed that most Trump supporters never wore masks. We also provide evidence consistent with a mechanism whereby this effect was driven by changes in perceptions about how negatively ingroup members view nonmask wearing. Finally, in a fourth study, Biden supporters show the traditional descriptive norms effect (rather than a backfire) from the same treatment when in a nonpolarized context: dishonesty in a coin-flipping task. These findings help to clarify why descriptive social norm interventions promote behavior change, and underscore the importance of social norms in motivating prosocial behaviors. They also suggest an update to current best practices in the design of descriptive norm interventions: in polarized contexts, it can be beneficial to publicize antisocial behavior of outgroup members.

Categories of training to improve empathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Due to the vital role of empathy in promoting prosocial behaviors and nurturing social bonds, there is a growing interest in cultivating empathy. Yet, the effectiveness of existing training methods on empathy, especially on different dimensions of empathy (i.e., affective, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral empathy), varies tremendously, and the underlying causes for this heterogeneity remain insufficiently explored. To address this issue, we categorized various training methods into three distinct approaches based on the premise that empathy can be influenced by factors associated with the subject, the object, and their relationship. Respectively, these are Subject-Oriented, Object-Oriented, and Socially Oriented approaches. To examine the effects of training and sustainability of these approaches on different dimensions of empathy, we conducted a meta-analysis encompassing 110 eligible studies with 32, 44, 39, 39, and 91 samples for affective, cognitive, motivational, behavioral, and composite empathy, respectively. Results showed that trainings produced small and unsustainable effects on affective empathy, moderate and unsustainable effects on cognitive empathy, small and sustainable effects on motivational empathy, and moderate and sustainable effects on behavioral empathy. The effects of training on composite empathy were robust but decreased over time. Among the three training approaches, Socially Oriented approaches were the most effective in improving all dimensions of empathy. Subject-Oriented and Object-Oriented approaches were effective only in improving cognitive and composite empathy. Altogether, our study offers practical guidance for selecting appropriate training approaches and proposes theoretical principles for developing optimal training strategies in both basic research and clinical applications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Strengths and Difficulties Self-Report Questionnaire in 12 Asian and European Countries

The self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used globally; hence, the validity of the intergroup comparisons is essential. This study examined the structure of the self-report SDQ in a large multinational adolescent sample, tested its measurement invariance across genders and countries, and compared youth mental health in 12 European and Asian countries. This study is part of the Eurasian Child Mental Health Study (EACMHS), a cross-cultural research study of child and adolescent well-being and mental health in 12 Asian and European countries. The sample (N= 26,306) came from a cross-sectional school-based survey of adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess a common measurement model for the self-report SDQ and the measurement invariance of the model across gender and country. Fit indices in the total sample, in each gender, and in each of the 12 countries separately supported the use of the first-order 3-factor model (without the reverse-coded items) as a common measurement model for the self-report SDQ. Measurement invariance analyses provided good support for configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender; however, metric invariance across countries was not supported. There were significant gender main effects for all SDQ subscales except for hyperactivity/inattention. Culture had significant main effects and moderated the magnitude of gender differences in all subscales. The present findings support the use of the correlated 3-factor model comprising the positive dimension of prosocial behavior and 2 broad groupings of internalizing and externalizing problems, without the reverse-coded problem items, as a common measurement model for the self-report SDQ internationally.

Urgency of Noble Characters’ Education and Building Students’ Prosocial Behaviors

The rapid advancement of information technology challenges Muslim youths, fostering individualism and antisocial behaviors, thus necessitating effective education strategies to promote prosocial actions. This research aimed to summarize studies on the formation of prosocial behavior through character education methods from the synthesis of several studies and review effective methods for developing prosocial behavior. This research used a literature review method for several articles about social behavior and character education. Data collection was carried out by studying the documentation of several previous articles through database searches such as Google Scholar, Sinta, Science Direct, and Taylor and Francis. The data analysis technique used was qualitative descriptive analysis. The results of this research indicated that the noble character development method will be effective in forming prosocial behavior. The character education method by focusing on the appreciation of noble moral values in character education produced positive habits. The process of realizing noble moral values was through various moral education methods, such as Tadzkiroh, the religious lessons with regular Islamic discussion activities that combined subjects with noble moral values and exemplary methods.

다문화 일반아동 및 언어발달지연아동의 정서행동적 특성과 언어능력 간 관계

This study examined the effects of emotional behavioral strengths (pro-social behavior), which are positive factors that can influence the effective communication of multicultural children, and difficulties (emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, conduct problems, peer problems) on language ability. Correlation analysis, regression analysis were conducted based on the data collected for multicultural children aged 4 to 7. As a result, there was a positive correlation between receptive language and pro-social behavior in the typically developing children, but the relationship between emotional behavioral factors and language was not significant in the children with language delayed group. It was confirmed that the pro-social behavior had a significant effect on the language ability of the group experiencing normal language development in multicultural children.