Prosocial Strategies Research Articles

Collisions and Perceptions of Cyberbullying: Comparison of Intergenerational Experiences.

With regard to negative consequences, cyberbullying is recognized as one of the most traumatic types of cyber aggression. The aim is to study the specific features of adolescents and youth's cyberbullying experience in the role of an aggressor, victim or bystander, as well as awareness on the part of parents of adolescents. A total of 3395 adolescents, youth and parents filled out specially designed questionnaires. Older adolescents turned out to be at higher risk of cyberbullying. In two-thirds of cases, cyberbullying is related to real-life incidents. Aggressors are motivated by domination and entertainment, primarily employing strategies of social exclusion, harassment and denigration. As victims of cyberbullying, younger adolescents turn to their parents and friends for social support, whereas older adolescents and young adults are more likely turn to their peers. In the role of a bystander, almost half of younger adolescents and about a third of older adolescents and young adults choose the prosocial strategy of protecting a victim. The parents often underestimate the experience of encountering cyberbullying or find it difficult to assess such experience. The identified risk groups and strategies and the lack of parents' awareness are important to take into account when drawing up cyberbullying prevention programs.

Prevalence and characteristics of infants' prosocial helping strategies between 11 and 20 months of age.

Although limited research suggests that infants can behave prosocially even before their first birthdays, the prevalence and characteristics of early prosocial behaviors remain unexplored. Indeed, very few studies of prosocial development have included 12-month-old infants or examined how prosociality changes across the second year, and none has assessed individual differences in prosocial strategy use. This study investigated prosocial helping behaviors in a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 220 11- to 20-month-olds living in the United States (45.5% female; 61% Black; 67.2% low socioeconomic status). At 12 months (n = 153), > 80% of infants helped an experimenter retrieve out-of-reach items. Modest increases in helping were observed across the second year of life. Individual differences in specific helping strategies were also detected. Infants who helped more by handing an item to an experimenter on one task (rather than placing the item in a target location) also helped more by handing on another task; similar patterns were found with placing. Moreover, the type of strategy was associated with age and sex: older infants and male infants used more placing. The high rates of helping by 12 months of age and the use of individual helping strategies demonstrate that infants have robust prosocial abilities beyond those previously documented. These findings contribute critical information about the typical development of prosocial behaviors in the largest and most racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of infants to date. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Willingness to include: Enabling pro-social strategies in private settings

This paper examines how private firms can align financial and social goals by including disenfranchised populations as beneficiaries. Using a quasi-experimental study in a Brazilian private for-profit school, we explore whether enfranchised (non-vulnerable) and disenfranchised (income-constrained) students benefit from interacting in more diverse settings. First, we find that diversity improves the educational outcomes of enfranchised students. Second, as a socially desirable ripple effect, we observe an increase in the willingness of their families to support social inclusion through donations. Our results demonstrate that private firms can connect disenfranchised and enfranchised groups, fostering mutual value creation and aligning social and commercial objectives. We conclude by discussing the conditions that facilitate these mechanisms in various organizational settings.

Giving It a Shot with a Different Approach: Prosocial Strategies Moderate the Joint Effects of Agentic and Communal Goals on Bullying.

This study uses polynomial regression and response surface analyses to investigate the joint effects of agentic and communal goals on bullying and the moderating role of prosocial strategies. The sample included 917 adolescents (Mage = 13.54, SD = 1.02) from rural, suburban, and urban areas in China. The findings revealed that higher agentic and lower communal goals were associated with a linear rise in bullying. Surprisingly, when both social goals were higher simultaneously, bullying followed an inverted U-shaped pattern. Furthermore, prosocial strategies moderated the joint effects of the two social goals. Adolescents who are more likely to use prosocial strategies do not show significant changes in bullying when both goals are at a higher level. In contrast, those who are less likely to do so show a linear rise in bullying, regardless of changes in social goals. This study improves our understanding and intervention of bullying behavior, emphasizing a non-pathological perspective.

Strategies to combat misinformation: Enduring effects of a 15-minute online intervention on critical-thinking adolescents

How is it possible to socialize adolescents to become more vigilant in spotting fake news? In the present preregistered, randomized controlled trial (N = 1476), we aimed to implement a scalable, online counter-misinformation intervention by promoting family-based prosocial values and putting them in an expert role to build resistance against misinformation among adolescents. In this intervention, participants were endowed with an expert role and requested to write a letter to their digitally less experienced relatives elucidating six strategies to identify misinformation. We found immediate effects of the intervention (d = 0.17), but these effects disappeared after four weeks. However, those high school students who followed the instructions (N = 791) and had a higher need for cognition demonstrated a substantial benefit in correctly spotting fake news four weeks after the intervention compared to the control group (d+1 SD need for cognition = 0.28, d+2 SD need for cognition = 0.51). The present work demonstrates the power of using classic social psychological components, such as a digital mindset, expertise role, and prosocial strategies, to achieve long-term behavioral change among certain adolescents. Our approach might complement prior nudge and inoculation interventions in the fight against misinformation in this age group.

To Trust or Not to Trust: Evolutionary Dynamics of an Asymmetric N-Player Trust Game

Trusting others and reciprocating the received trust with trustworthy actions are fundaments of economic and social interactions. The trust game (TG) is widely used for studying trust and trustworthiness and entails a sequential interaction between two players, an investor and a trustee. It requires at least two strategies or options for an investor (e.g. to trust versus not to trust a trustee). According to the evolutionary game theory, the antisocial strategies (e.g. not to trust) evolve such that the investor and trustee end up with lower payoffs than those that they would get with the prosocial strategies (e.g. to trust). A generalisation of the TG to a multiplayer (i.e. more than two players) TG was recently proposed. However, its outcomes hinge upon two assumptions that various real situations may substantially deviate from: (i) investors are forced to trust trustees and (ii) investors can turn into trustees by imitation and vice versa. We propose an asymmetric multiplayer TG that allows investors not to trust and prohibits the imitation between players of different roles; instead, investors learn from other investors and the same for trustees. We show that the evolutionary game dynamics of the proposed TG qualitatively depends on the nonlinearity of the payoff function and the amount of incentives collected from and distributed to players through an institution. We also show that incentives given to trustees can be useful and sufficient to cost-effectively promote trust and trustworthiness among self-interested players.

Coping Behavior of Primary School Teachers with various professional experience

The article provides an analysis of the coping behavior of primary school teachers with different professional experience: up to 5 years, 5-15, 16-25 years and more than 25 years. The questionnaires ‟Strategies for overcoming stressful situations” by S. Hobfall and ‟Coping behavior in stressful situations” by N Endler – J. Parker were used as research methods. It is claimed that the coping behavior of elementary school teachers is characterized by high indicators of constructiveness, interconnectedness of prosocial strategies. Concerning the structure of coping behavior groups of teachers differ in preferences for coping strategies with minimal differences. It was revealed that in the group of young teachers, the frequency of using the strategy of cautious actions decreases with an increase in experience, after 5 years the desire to seek social support increases, teachers with experience from 16 to 25 years have a decrease in the desire to enter into social contacts and the orientation of coping to problem solving. Teachers with more than 25 years of experience implement pro-social strategies for seeking social support, combined with a low level of anti-social actions. The low level of emotionally-oriented coping in all groups, along with the high stressfulness of the activity of a primary school teacher, indicates a certain deficit in the self-regulation of emotional states.

Family first! Influence of parental investment in Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) prosocial choices.

Literature often assumed that prosocial behaviours (behaviours that benefit others with or without a cost for the actor) would have evolved many species to improve the effectiveness of parental care (Decety and Cowell 2014). While this hypothesis is rarely questioned at a phylogenetic scale, it was never tested at an individual scale to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, we chose to study the impact of effective parental care on prosociality by comparing the prosocial tendencies of Guinea pigs before mating, during mating and after parturition. We conducted Prosocial Choice Tests on three groups of Guinea pigs (males, multiparous females, and nulliparous females). Subjects had to choose between three options: a prosocial option (subject and recipient being rewarded), a selfish option (only subject was rewarded), and a null option (no reward). Our results showed high prosociality towards their mating partner and their young both in male and in female subjects. Males became selfish towards other males after parturition. Among other interesting results, we found a direct reciprocity phenomenon. We also highlighted an ability in our subjects to consider both the identity and relationship shared with the recipient, such as tolerance (enhancing prosociality), dominance rank (being tested with a dominant recipient increasing selfish responses), and its behaviour (begging calls eliciting prosociality, while threatening ones decreasing it), to choose an option. These findings suggested that prosociality could be modulated by many factors and that the constraints and stakes induced by breeding would highly influence prosocial strategies.

Sorry, not sorry: Unpopular individuals report but don’t display empathy and prosocial behaviors

ABSTRACT The resource control theory postulates that the combination of prosocial strategies and coercive strategies are useful in gaining and maintaining resources that allow one to be perceived popular within society. Often prosocial behaviors appear in conjunction with empathy. The social-reconnection hypothesis suggest that prosocial behaviors might be executed when an individual fears they are or might be socially excluded. However, some research shows that mixed feelings arise and increased attendance to acceptance might take place but not actual helping behaviors. The current study examined eighty-six individuals and the impact of perceived popularity on empathy and prosocial behaviors. Specifically, self-reported popular and unpopular individuals were examined based on resource control strategy usage, empathy quotient (EQ) scores, helping behavior, and galvanic skin response to an emotion inducing video about rejection and bullying. Unpopular individuals self-reported higher levels of empathy but did not display greater galvanic skin responses or more helping behavior than popular self-reported individuals.

Can a theme-based joint block play program promote preschoolers’ cooperative skills: evidence from Shanghai/China

ABSTRACT The present study examined the effectiveness of a cooperative skill intervention program using theme-based joint block play for young children. Thirty-two 4–5 years old preschoolers from Shanghai, China, were assigned to the experimental group while thirty-two children comprised the comparison group. The experimental group was engaged in an 8-week theme-based joint block play program, whereas the comparison group received no intervention but engaged in free block play during school time. Baseline, post-intervention and 2-month follow-up measures included the Deutsch & Krauss Trucking game and observations of children’s cooperative skills in pretend activities that occurred in the preschool classroom. Results indicated that the experimental group achieved significantly higher scores in the trucking game, and was observed to endorse significantly less mandatory strategy and more prosocial strategy in pretend play activities than the comparison group. The findings suggest that theme-based block play activities can enhance children’s cooperative awareness and skills effectively.

Strategies of prosociality: Comparing Nordic and Slavonic altruism toward Ukrainian refugees.

Nordic high-trust societies are underpinned by prosociality, a term denoting cooperation and working for the good of others. State-funded voluntarism provides opportunities for altruism that appears to contribute to the Nordics' exceptional level of well-being. Altruists are rewarded by a warm, lasting affect that enhances personal well-being, thus motivating further prosociality. Humanity's evolutionary past coded into us a desire to strengthen our community by helping those in need-a biocultural drive that is corrupted when authoritarian regimes enforce unselfish behavior on disempowered populations. Such coercive altruism has a line of adverse long-term consequences for communal functionality and individual flourishing. Our study examines how sociocultural context influences people's prosocial strategies, and how sharing insights and practices from democratic and authoritarian traditions can lead to new, revitalized forms of altruism. Our in-depth interviews (n = 32) of Nordic and Slavonic helpers of Ukrainian refugees in Norway (1) illuminate the impact of culture and memory on altruistic practices, (2) define points of tension between systemic and anti-systemic modes of prosociality, and (3) identify cross-cultural interactions that generate trust, well-being, and social innovation. The post-communist experience of the Slavonic informants motivated anti-systemic altruism, which highlights spontaneity, improvisation, and occasional rule breaking. Norwegian systemic altruism is based on trust, efficacy, and rule-following. Our evolutionary approach to cultural psychology substantiates how important it is for development and immigration policies to align our knowledge of human nature with insights into the workings of cultural legacies. A better understanding of the biocultural mainsprings of altruism could be of crucial importance in our era of reemerging authoritarianism and increasing migration.

Coping-behavior of teachers with different professional experience

Constructive strategies of coping behavior are the most important resource and mechanism for the prevention of the emotional burnout of teachers, the risk of which increases with increasing teaching experience. The authors point out that the results of scientific works aimed at studying coping strategies of teachers with different professional experience are ambiguous. The article provides a comparative analysis of the structure of coping behavior of teachers with professional experience up to 5 years, 6-15 years and more than 16 years. As research methods, the authors use the questionnaire “Coping behavior in stressful situationsˮ adapted by T.L. Kryukova and the questionnaire “Strategies for overcoming stressful situationsˮ by S. Hobfall. It is revealed that teachers with minimal and maximum professional experience have a number of similar features of coping behavior: a high level of coping focused on avoidance, the relationship between prosocial strategies and social distraction, as well as significant links between manipulative and asocial strategies. The structure of coping behavior of teachers with less than 5 years of experience is characterized by the lowest indicators of the use of problem-oriented coping, prosocial strategies and the index of constructiveness of coping in general. High rates of emotionally-oriented coping have been recorded among teachers with more than 16 years of experience. The authors note that with increasing length of service, the indicators of problem-oriented coping and prosocial coping strategies grow.

Motor Coordination and Strategic Cooperation in Joint Action

Naturalistic joint action between two agents typically requires both motor coordination and strategic cooperation. However, these two fundamental processes have systematically been studied independently. We presented 50 dyads of adult participants with a novel collaborative task that combined different levels of motor noise with different levels of strategic noise, to determine whether the sense of agency (the experience of control over an action) reflects the interplay between these low-level (motor) and high-level (strategic) dimensions. We also examined how dominance in motor control could influence prosocial behaviors. We found that self-agency was particularly dependent on motor cues, whereas joint agency was particularly dependent on strategic cues. We suggest that the prime importance of strategic cues to joint agency reflects the co-representation of coagents’ interests during the task. Furthermore, we observed a reduction in prosocial strategies in agents who exerted dominant motor control over joint action, showing that the strategic dimension of human interactions is also susceptible to the influence of low-level motor characteristics.

Youth-led resilience promotion during disaster recovery: A proposed framework, innovative program, and lessons learned.

Disasters, such as a school shooting or a global pandemic, harm psychological health and necessitate recovery. To complement adult-led disaster recovery and trauma-specific approaches, we propose a Youth-Led Resilience Promotion (YLRP) framework focusing on: (a) multitiered change, (b) resilience goals, (c) a promotion mindset, (d) youth strengths, (e) prosocial behaviors, and (f) capacity building through partnerships. The YLRP framework guided the development of a YLRP program in the aftermath of the Chardon High School shooting in Chardon, OH, which is detailed in a case study. As part of a Community-Academic Partnership, 20 college student trainers delivered a multitiered, multicomponent resilience promotion intervention: universal resilience promotion to 1,070 high school students; targeted resilience promotion to 200 student leaders through workshops; and indicated resilience promotion to 30 student leaders through mentoring. Student leaders formed a youth-led, afterschool club to advance relational resilience through prosocial strategies. Lessons learned from implementing the YLRP program for 6 years (2012-2017) are provided to guide YLRP program developers and program implementers. A youth-led program equipping youth leaders to engage in prosocial strategies may contribute to the psychological resilience and recovery of students after a school shooting, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and other potentially traumatic events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Quantity and quality of maternal consulting: Associations with adolescents' loneliness and peer victimization.

The goal of this investigation was to understand the way in which the quantity and quality of maternal consulting are related to adolescents' peer victimization and loneliness and to examine whether these associations were moderated by adolescents' social competence. An ethnically diverse sample of 70 early adolescents (Mage = 12.39 years; 51.4% girls) and their mothers, living in the United States, completed questionnaires and were video recorded discussing hypothetical peer-related issues. Quantity of maternal consulting was assessed using adolescents' reports and observers' assessments. Observers' assessments of the quality (e.g., benign interpretation, threatening interpretations, and prosocial strategies) of maternal consulting were also examined. Analyses revealed that adolescents' reports of higher quantity of consulting predicted lower levels of peer victimization. Observers' assessments of higher quantity of maternal consulting were related to higher levels of peer victimization. More frequent threatening interpretations by mothers were related to higher levels of peer victimization. More frequent benign interpretations by mothers were related to higher levels of loneliness. However, higher use of prosocial strategies by mothers were related to lower levels of loneliness. Social competence moderated the direct associations such that contrasting patterns of results emerged for the adolescents' reports of consulting versus the observers' reports of consulting. Findings shed light on the way in which quantity and quality of maternal consulting differentially predicts adolescents' peer victimization and loneliness.

Conflict resolution under the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze conflict resolution strategies among individuals who encountered disputes with family, neighbors, workmates, businesses, strangers, government authorities or other members in their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachApplying a difference-in-difference approach by sex, the authors use a representative panel of adults living in 82 cities from across Mexico to measure changes in antisocial strategies (violence) and prosocial strategies (non-confrontational methods and dialogue) to resolve disputes.FindingsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, men reduced their use of violence by 19.6% while women did so by 17.4%. There was a parallel rise in non-confrontational strategies used to solve conflicts equal to 73.6% for men and 62% for women. The use of dialogue as a tool for resolving disputes increased by more in cities that banned the sale of alcohol. Alternative Twitter data corroborates the main findings, suggesting that individuals are becoming more prosocial during the pandemic.Originality/valueTo the knowledge, this is the first empirical study to analyze changes in strategies for conflict resolution as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating how individuals adapt their dispute strategies under extraordinary circumstances such as a pandemic, with a focus on a middle-income setting.

Strategies of Prosocial Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background:To mitigate the potentially devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to identify psychosocial and moral resources. The care, preservation, protection, and well-being of social communities are attributes of prosocial behavior that can be such a resource.Aim:The purpose of the study is to identify the features of prosocial orientation during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:The sample consisted of 447 people. The study was conducted in May 2020 in the form of an online survey of subjects using Google Forms (“Portrait Values Questionnaire”).Results:The research made it possible to establish that participants were dominated by values of benevolence-universalism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prosocial orientation may manifest itself in the following behavioral strategies: proactive prosocial strategy of “caring for others” (true altruism, expressed in forms of volunteering, helping a stranger, and charity despite the risk of contracting a coronavirus infection); egoistic strategy of prosocial behavior “self-care through caring for others” (volunteering based on self-development; helping a stranger to improve your own psychological well-being); conventional prosocial strategy “self-care” (self-isolation and preventive behavior).Conclusion:In the long run, it is necessary to identify personal and environmental resources that can allow people to effectively implement a prosocial self-isolation strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as various forms of volunteerism.

Prosocial Orientation of Russians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Caring for Others and Yourself.

To mitigate the potentially devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to identify psychosocial and moral resources. The care, preservation, protection, and well-being of social communities are attributes of prosocial behavior that can be such a resource. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of prosocial orientation of Russian youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to identify strategies for prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 447 people. The study was conducted in May 2020 in the form of an online survey of subjects using Google Forms (“Moral Foundations Questionnaire method” and “Portrait Values Questionnaire”). The research made it possible to establish that Russians were dominated by norms of care, fairness, purity; values of benevolence-universalism, security, and self-direction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prosocial orientation of Russians may manifest itself in the following behavioral strategies: proactive prosocial strategy of “caring for others” (true altruism, expressed in forms of volunteering, helping a stranger, and charity despite the risk of contracting a coronavirus infection); egoistic strategy of prosocial behavior “self-care through caring for others” (volunteering based on self-development; helping a stranger to improve your own psychological well-being); conventional prosocial strategy “self-care” (self-isolation and preventive behavior). In the long run, it is necessary to identify personal and environmental resources that allowed people to effectively implement a prosocial self-isolation strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as various forms of volunteerism.

Communicating Scientific Uncertainty About the COVID-19 Pandemic: Online Experimental Study of an Uncertainty-Normalizing Strategy.

BackgroundCommunicating scientific uncertainty about public health threats such as COVID-19 is an ethically desirable task endorsed by expert guidelines on crisis communication. However, the communication of scientific uncertainty is challenging because of its potential to promote ambiguity aversion—a well-described syndrome of negative psychological responses consisting of heightened risk perceptions, emotional distress, and decision avoidance. Communication strategies that can inform the public about scientific uncertainty while mitigating ambiguity aversion are a critical unmet need.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate whether an “uncertainty-normalizing” communication strategy—aimed at reinforcing the expected nature of scientific uncertainty about the COVID-19 pandemic—can reduce ambiguity aversion, and to compare its effectiveness to conventional public communication strategies aimed at promoting hope and prosocial values.MethodsIn an online factorial experiment conducted from May to June 2020, a national sample of 1497 US adults read one of five versions of an informational message describing the nature, transmission, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19; the versions varied in level of expressed scientific uncertainty and supplemental focus (ie, uncertainty-normalizing, hope-promoting, and prosocial). Participants then completed measures of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral manifestations of ambiguity aversion (ie, perceived likelihood of getting COVID-19, COVID-19 worry, and intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors and vaccination). Analyses assessed (1) the extent to which communicating uncertainty produced ambiguity-averse psychological responses; (2) the comparative effectiveness of uncertainty-normalizing, hope-promoting, and prosocial communication strategies in reducing ambiguity-averse responses; and (3) potential moderators of the effects of alternative uncertainty communication strategies.ResultsThe communication of scientific uncertainty about the COVID-19 pandemic increased perceived likelihood of getting COVID-19 and worry about COVID-19, consistent with ambiguity aversion. However, it did not affect intentions for risk-reducing behaviors or vaccination. The uncertainty-normalizing strategy reduced these aversive effects of communicating scientific uncertainty, resulting in levels of both perceived likelihood of getting COVID-19 and worry about COVID-19 that did not differ from the control message that did not communicate uncertainty. In contrast, the hope-promoting and prosocial strategies did not decrease ambiguity-averse responses to scientific uncertainty. Age and political affiliation, respectively, moderated the effects of uncertainty communication strategies on intentions for COVID-19 risk-reducing behaviors and worry about COVID-19.ConclusionsCommunicating scientific uncertainty about the COVID-19 pandemic produces ambiguity-averse cognitive and emotional, but not behavioral, responses among the general public, and an uncertainty-normalizing communication strategy reduces these responses. Normalizing uncertainty may be an effective strategy for mitigating ambiguity aversion in crisis communication efforts. More research is needed to test uncertainty-normalizing communication strategies and to elucidate the factors that moderate their effectiveness.

Prosociality and reciprocity in capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in a non-reproductive context

Prosocial behaviours (providing benefits to a recipient with or without cost for the donor) have been found to be highly influenced by sex and by hierarchy. Rodents, in particular, are good model for studying prosocial responses, as they were found to exhibit intentional prosocial behaviours to reward a conspecific, and are very sensitive to reciprocity. In our study, we conducted a Prosocial Choice Test (PCT) in which four capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) living in a social group could choose between three tokens: choosing the prosocial token rewarded simultaneously the subject and a recipient, while choosing the selfish token only rewarded the subject; and choosing the null token provided no reward to anyone. Dominance within each dyad was also studied, both before and during the PCT experiment. Our results showed an influence of hierarchy: subjects were more prosocial towards the recipient when it was a subordinate than when it was a dominant individual. These results could be interpreted as a desire of strengthening a hierarchical rank regarding the subordinate, of punishing aggressive conspecifics (usually the subject’s direct dominant), and of weakening dominant individuals in order to modify the pre-existing hierarchy. Additionally, our results highlighted a direct reciprocity phenomenon, a subject being more likely to be prosocial towards a prosocial recipient. All these findings suggest that prosociality could be well developed in other taxa than Primates and that, in long enough PCT experiments, subtle rules could influence individual prosocial strategies.