Search

Although the fear of Yhwh has been presented as an intrinsic feature of the ancient Israelite religion, the fear of God(s) is not limited to the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and similar ideas of fearing deities occur in various texts produced by neighbouring cultures in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. This article investigates the prosocial role of this virtue in situations of human mobility and intercultural contact in the light of the Hebrew Bible and the Odyssey. First, I analyse those Hebrew Bible texts in which the fear of God(s) characterizes or is presented as being intelligible to non-Israelite people in situations involving movement and cultural encounter (Gen 20:11; 42:18; Exod 1:17, 21; Deut 25:18; Jon 1:9). Second, I explore the fear motif in other texts from the ancient eastern Mediterranean region and argue that biblical scholars have overlooked illuminating intertexts found in ancient Greek literature. I especially highlight the interpretative importance of the Odyssey, which frequently stresses the prosocial role of the virtue of fearing deities in the context of travel and contact with outsiders. In so doing, the Odyssey helps us see how the Hebrew Bible texts portraying the fear of God(s) as a universalistic virtue are rooted in and belong to a broader ancient Mediterranean milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to heroes and villains via media may influence individuals’ behavioural characteristics, but little is known about its effects on the developmental process. Especially, it is unclear whether preferences for heroes or villains are associated with behavioural characteristics in preschoolers, when exposure to TV rapidly increases. We categorised children aged 3–6 years (N = 200) into three groups—hero preference, villain preference, and equal preference– based on their preference for popular Japanese media characters. We compared the groups’ persistence, prosociality, and empathy through a cross-sectional study, which revealed that children in the hero group exhibited higher levels of persistence and prosociality than children in the villain group. Furthermore, children in the villain group displayed greater total difficulties and lower persistence than children in the hero and equal groups. This suggests that preschoolers’ behavioural characteristics differ depending on their preferences. Children who liked justice heroes tended to exhibit behavioural traits that were considered socially good. In contrast, children who liked villains tended to exhibit behavioural traits that were considered socially bad. The possible influence of media characters on children’s behavioural characteristics is discussed from the perspective of behavioural modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary schools are crucial for children's academic and social development, and in recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on incorporating socio-emotional development into the curriculum. Positive peet interactions and experiences at school, a key element of children's social lives, facilitate their positive social and psychological development. Linked to peer relationships within school settings are core skills such as emotion regulation and prosociality. Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in shaping social connections, well-being, relationship satisfaction, and mental health, significantly affecting emotional expression, behaviour, and the quality of social interactions. Prosociality is seen to personally benefit children, by improving their mental health and wellbeing, and it also provides children with the skills needed to establish or develop communities based on principles of cooperation and belonging. In this commentary, our goal is to delve into current research on socio-emotional learning and interactional experiences within schoot settings, focusing on how emotion regulation and pro-social behaviour influence children's experiences at school. We recommend that schools need to enhance the overall wellbeing and social development of children by fostering positive school environments, encouraging healthy peer relationships, and offering opportunities for the development of socio-emotional regulation skills, as well as prosocial behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four studies investigated the impact of a recipient's perception of a helper's motivation (autonomous vs. controlled) on the recipient's subsequent prosocial intentions, alongside testing a mediational mechanism. Study 1 employed a questionnaire method to assess the relationships between participants' lay theories of helper's prosocial motivations (i.e., the degree of autonomy), their dispositional gratitude and their prosocial tendencies. Studies 2–4 manipulated a helper's autonomous versus controlled motivation within hypothetical scenarios (Studies 2 and 3) and within recalled events (Study 4), testing the effect of the helper's motivation on the recipient's prosocial intentions towards the helper (Studies 2–4), a bystander (Study 3) and others in general (Study 4) as well as the mediating role of gratitude. The findings consistently demonstrated that perceiving helpers as having autonomous motivation led to heightened intentions among recipients to engage in prosocial behaviour, which was mediated by increased feelings of gratitude. These effects remained robust after controlling for relevant factors including participants' demographic information, social desirability bias and perceptions of egoism within helpers. Our findings highlight the role of perceived helper's autonomous motivation on recipient's prosocial behaviours, which enhances the knowledge regarding reciprocity and pay‐it‐forward behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's moral self‐concept (MSC) has been proposed to relate to prosocial behaviour. However, systematic assessments of their interrelations are scarce. The current study examines the early development, structure, stability and interrelation of three key prosocial behaviours and the corresponding dimensions of the moral self‐concept. To this end, we use a longitudinal approach with three measurement points during the preschool years at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. We assess three prosocial dimensions of children's MSC through a puppet‐interview. In addition, behavioural measures of children's helping, sharing and comforting were administered in a laboratory setting. By examining the longitudinal associations between MSC and prosocial behaviours, this study will provide valuable insights into the complex nature of prosocial development in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of this evaluative systematic review was to analyse the impact of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) that incorporate Buddhist wisdom practices on prosocial behaviour, and provide insights into their underlying mechanism, potential benefits, and applications. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted using three electronic databases up until 1 December 2023. Data on the participants in the MBIs, the structure, and how Buddhist teachings were integrated were collected. The impact on prosocial behaviour was analysed, along with evaluating overall study quality and the validity of the measures used for assessing changes in prosocial behaviour. Results: Collectively, the 12 eligible studies (n = 2185) suggest that incorporating the Buddhist wisdom practices of contemplating interdependence, emptiness, and perspective-taking on self and others may enhance prosocial behaviour through various mechanisms, such as (i) developing a sense of interdependence and common humanity, (ii) fostering the altruistic desire to help others, and (iii) experiencing a state of oneness. However, concerns were raised about the overuse and reliability of self-report measures for accurately assessing prosocial behaviour, as well as in respect of discerning the effectiveness of different meditation practices that are integrated into MBIs. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this systematic literature review reinforce the perspective that wisdom-based meditation practices contribute to prosocial behaviour. However, to enhance the understanding of the underlying causes of prosocial behaviour, future studies should isolate the effects of different meditation practices incorporated within MBIs. Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that future studies assessing the impact of MBIs on prosocial behaviour employ a range of diverse measures, such as self-reported psychometric scales in combination with real-world morally relevant scenarios. Preregistration: PROSPERO: Registration No. CRD42023426411. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is a stage of life characterised by vulnerability, which shapes young people's trajectories and potentially influences their behaviour. In this crucial period, the promotion of prosocial behaviours and the development of emotional intelligence are understood as key factors influencing adolescents' psychological and personal well-being. The general objective of this study was to find out the relationship between these two variables - prosocial behaviours and emotional intelligence - and their correlation with the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle and another fundamental aspect such as violence among young people in the academic context. A total of 743 secondary school students participated in this research with a descriptive-cross-sectional design. This study used several instruments, including an ad hoc questionnaire to assess socio-demographic aspects and school violence, the Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire (PBQ), the TMMS-24 for the assessment of Emotional Intelligence, the Healthy Lifestyles Questionnaire (HLQ-II) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS). The results highlighted a convincing link between the display of prosocial behaviours and emotional intelligence with various dimensions of healthy living such as healthy diet or respect for mealtimes. In particular, the research revealed a pronounced correlation between adolescents who showed greater emotional repair and respect and their lower involvement in school violence and substance use. In addition, the likelihood of having a healthy life was found to be linked to variables such as being male, respect, social relationships and emotional repair. In contrast, the likelihood of having an excessive consumption of certain harmful substances such as alcohol or tobacco was found to be linked to age, empathy and emotional clarity. These results highlight the crucial role that prosocial behaviours and emotional intelligence play in shaping adolescents' lives. In conclusion, the need to promote such variables as prosocial behaviours and emotional intelligence in adolescent students in order to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce school violence and substance use in this age group is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the mediating effects of cognitive empathy and affective empathy in the relationship between dispositional awe and prosocial behaviour in medical students, and whether perceived stress moderated this association. A total of 631 medical students from two medical tertiary institutions in Liaoning Province, China, participated in this survey. The findings revealed that (1) dispositional awe was positively associated with prosocial behaviour; (2) the positive association between dispositional awe and prosocial behaviour was partially mediated by cognitive empathy and affective empathy; (3) perceived stress significantly attenuated the association between dispositional awe and cognitive empathy, and the association between cognitive empathy and prosocial behaviour. The findings yield practical implications for the improvement strategies of prosocial behaviour among medical students and provide suggestions for future educational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests that economic inequality has caused a wide range of negative societal impacts. However, little is known about how economic inequality influences prosocial behaviour as a socioecological environment determinant. In five studies (N = 62,342), we examined whether economic inequality reduces prosocial behaviour by decreasing interpersonal trust and the moderation role of interpersonal targets. Studies 1, 2a, and 2b showed that interpersonal trust mediated the negative relationship between perceived economic inequality and prosocial behaviour. In Study 3, we used data from the World Values Survey to explore the relation between inequality and trust and found that it was moderated by the closeness of trust targets. In Study 4, we demonstrated that economic inequality only reduced trust and prosocial behaviour towards strangers, but not among friends and family. Taken together, the current research shed light on how economic inequality undermines trust and negatively impacts prosocial behaviour among different targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier studies have demonstrated that moral values play a critical role in mobilizing against moral norm violations. Despite its importance, scientific knowledge of the concept is limited, especially in non-Western cultures. This study examined the roles of moral foundations and moral disengagement in relation to moral courage in the Turkish cultural context. 658 adults (410 females, 248 males; Mage = 23, SDage = 9.12) participated in the current study through an online survey. Participants filled out Moral Disengagement Scale (Bandura et al., 1996), Moral Foundations Scale (Graham et al., 2011), and Moral Courage Scale (Bronstein et al., 2007). Results indicated that individualizing moral foundations had a direct and positive association with moral courage; they were also related to moral courage indirectly through decreasing moral disengagement. Binding moral foundations, on the other hand, directly and negatively associated with moral courage, but had no indirect role through moral disengagement. Moreover, exploratory analyses revealed that females tended to be more sensitive to moral issues, were less likely to disengage from moral principles, and were more likely to raise their voices against moral norm violations. Findings showed that moral engagement is a substantial part of intentions to stand up against moral norm violations.

In navigating the complexities of social life, humans have evolved to interpret invisible odorous chemical cues, with profound behavioural impacts often unbeknown to the conscious mind. The manifestation of this in humans is evident in the scent of androstadienone (androsta-4,16-dien-3-one), an odorous compound which is considered a putative human pheromone. The current study investigated the effect of androstadienone on social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour measured by a social discounting task, in which participants chose between selfish and generous options. Based on our pre-registration, we predicted a sex-specific effect, with males exposed to androstadienone exhibiting increased generosity, while females would choose more selfishly. Employing a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, we recruited 170 participants who were randomly assigned to either the androstadienone or control condition. Olfactory stimuli were administered while participants completed the social discounting task. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, inhaling androstadienone did not impact social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour. This finding was supported by multiple estimates of prosociality, including model-free, model-based and maximum likelihood estimation. Further analyses indicated that androstadienone administration did not influence perceived social distance or bias participants towards being generous or selfish. Thus, our empirical findings provide no support for the hypothesis that androstadienone modulates generosity.

Attention has increasingly been focused on the potential of Extended Reality (XR) and Embodied Virtual Agents (EVAs) to significantly influence human behaviour. While an expanding body of literature explores the individual impacts of XR and EVAs, there is a noticeable gap in the literature regarding their combined influence on eliciting prosocial behaviour in humans. The purpose of this systematic review is to explore this intersection, offering insights into their multifaceted effects on human prosocial behaviour and the implications for future research and development of EVAs in XR. Our systematic review adopted a scoping approach due to the limited number of studies directly focused on EVAs (i.e., autonomously computer-controlled entities). Despite this, we observed the use of various forms of virtual characters (VCs) to elicit prosocial behaviour. An in-depth analysis of 15 selected studies indicates complex patterns in how XR and VCs affect users’ prosocial behaviour and interactions. Our review suggests that there is promising potential for EVAs to promote prosocial behaviour. However, further research is necessary to identify the design and interaction-related attributes that enhance the effectiveness of these technologies, particularly for socially interactive EVAs in XR environments.

Abstract Background Prosocial behaviour can promote positive social interactions and it is a key skill in adolescence. People with emotional problems or psychiatric disorders, such as people with eating disorders might have impairments in prosocial behaviour, due to broader documented difficulties in underlying processes (e.g., mentalizing). Methods The aim of this study was to examine prosocial behaviour in adolescents with eating disorders compared to healthy controls, using a computerised behavioural task. Adolescents (N = 123) including patients with eating disorders (n = 61) and healthy adolescents (n = 62) played a four-player computerised Prosocial Cyberball Game with three pre-programmed avatar players. During the task, participants witnessed the exclusion of one of the players, and subsequently had the opportunity to compensate for this by throwing the ball more often to the excluded player. Throughout the game, participants rated the level of negative emotion in themselves and in the excluded player. Results Patients made significantly fewer ball tosses towards the excluded player during the compensation round compared to healthy controls (large effect size). Patients reported a significantly smaller increase in negative emotion after witnessing the exclusion and a significantly smaller decrease in negative emotion following the compensation round (large effect sizes). Patients also estimated a smaller decrease in negative emotion in the excluded player following the compensation round (medium effect size). There were no significant associations between these outcomes and eating disorder psychopathology in patients. Conclusions Compared to healthy adolescents, adolescent patients with eating disorders demonstrated less prosocial compensatory behaviour towards a computerised victim of social exclusion. In addition, they reported flatter negative emotion in themselves in response to witnessing and compensating for exclusion, and in the excluded player following compensation. If these findings are replicated, interventions to target these difficulties might contribute to improvements in social functioning in this patient group.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to investigate the link between burnout symptoms and prosocial behaviour, as well as the role of acute stress and vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) on this association. METHODS: Seventy men were randomly assigned to either the stress or the control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G). Prosocial behaviour was assessed via a social decision-making paradigm during the respective TSST-G condition. RESULTS: Correlation analyses revealed negative correlations between prosocial behaviour and burnout symptoms. Acute stress was also associated with reduced prosocial behaviour, whereas no interaction effects with burnout symptoms could be revealed. Exploratory analyses showed that vmHRV was negatively correlated with burnout symptoms during the social decision-making paradigm but did not mediate the link between burnout and prosocial behaviour. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we report first experimental evidence that burnout symptoms are negatively associated with prosocial behaviour. Further studies are needed to explore the causal relations.

This study examined the protective roles of early prosocial behaviours (at age 4) on later internalizing and externalizing problems (at age 6) and to what extent emotion regulation skills (at age 5) mediated these longitudinal associations in children from Turkey.  Participants were 293 Turkish preschool children (M age = 49.01 months; 141 girls). Results showed that higher prosocial behaviours at age 4 were linked to higher emotion regulation at age 5, which, in turn, was linked to less internalizing problems at age 6. Additionally, prosocial behaviours at age 4 were negatively linked to emotional lability at age 5, which, in turn, was positively linked to externalizing problems at age 6. We also found that higher prosocial behaviours at age 4 were directly and negatively linked to both internalizing and externalizing problems at age 6. These results were robust for boys and girls and children who lived in big and small cities. Overall, there was supportive evidence on the protective roles of earlier prosocial behaviours on later internalizing and externalizing problems. These findings extend existing models of risk and resilience to a sample of children from a non-Western, relatively collectivist-oriented culture and inform our understanding of these posited relations in young children.

This study adopts a theory of reasoned action approach to understand consumers' mask wearing when shopping in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated mask wearing while shopping as a prosocial consumption behaviour whereby self-oriented benefits and others-oriented benefits are added as proposed drivers of attitudes and perceived social norms. Empirical evidence from a survey in France and Germany confirms a strong effect of social norms on mask-wearing intentions. Moreover, altruistic benefits predict mask-wearing intentions, with attitude and subjective norms as mediators. In contrast, self-expression benefits of mask wearing only influence perceived social norms and not attitudes; this effect differs between the countries. Our findings guide scholars, policy makers and practitioners to steer consumers' mask wearing as a prosocial behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to evaluate the interventions examining music exposure's effects on prosocial behaviour, to identify the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) through which they change it, and to examine the mechanisms of action (MoAs) that mediate the relationship between music exposure and prosocial behaviour. The review identified 15 research articles, comprising 19 relevant studies. The results revealed that, though many of the included studies did not provide enough information to code them adequately, the BCTs "Instruction on how to perform a behaviour", "Salience of consequences", "Reduce negative emotions" and "Identification of self as role model" were the most commonly utilized techniques. Additionally, "Emotion" was the most significant MoA in the intervention-behaviour relationship in this context, but too few BCTs were able to be coded to make conclusions about any BCT-MoA relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined young children's behaviour predictions in direct reciprocal prosocial situations. Participants aged 4–6 years (N = 60) listened to four stories that addressed the actor's previous behaviour (prosocial/non-prosocial) combined with the partner's behaviour (prosocial/non-prosocial). Then, they made predictions regarding the actor's future behaviour. Children's predictions of a prosocial actor's behaviour were consistent with the tit-for-tat strategy. Regarding the behavioural predictions of the actor who had behaved non-prosocially, children did not predict that the actor would repeat non-prosocial behaviour, even if the partner did not behave prosocially. When the partner behaved prosocially, children predicted that the non-prosocial actor would behave prosocially the next time. Young children assumed that a partner's generous response could influence the future behaviour of the actor who had not behaved prosocially to behave prosocially the next time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness is said to be a connecting thread between an ancient philosophy on the one hand and a contemporary psychological practice on the other. However, some contemporary mindfulness practices have arguably become so disconnected from their roots in Buddhist ethics and wisdom principles that the fundamental essence of the practice is no longer recognisable. It appears that when mindfulness is disconnected from its Buddhist ethical and wisdom-based foundations, being applied as a purely concentrative practice, it can yield adverse effects (such as decreased prosocial behaviour, increased self-centredness, and reduced psychological well-being) for individuals with low-trait empathy or narcissistic traits. Consequently, we propose a novel threefold categorization that aims to build bridges between contemporary Western and traditional Buddhist approaches to mindfulness. This categorization, rooted in the traditional "three trainings" or "triśikṣā" Buddhist principle, distinguishes between the mindfulness practices incorporated within mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), according to whether they primarily employ concentration-, ethics-, or wisdom-based contemplative techniques. We explicate how this more nuanced categorization provides a greater understanding of how varied mindfulness practices could influence outcomes associated with an individual's prosocial behaviour, social and emotional well-being, and mental health. Additionally, we highlight the potential of greater research into MBIs that are structured around the Mindfulness of Breathing or the Ānāpānasati Sutta progression of concentration-based to ethics-based and finally to wisdom-based practices, particularly in terms of their utility to facilitate self-transcendent experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prosocial behaviour can promote positive social interactions and it is a key skill in adolescence. People with emotional problems or psychiatric disorders, such as people with eating disorders might have impairments in prosocial behaviour, due to broader documented difficulties in underlying processes (e.g., mentalizing). Methods: The aim of this study was to examine prosocial behaviour in adolescents with eating disorders compared to healthy controls, using a computerised behavioural task. Adolescents (N = 123) including patients with eating disorders (n = 61) and healthy adolescents (n = 62) played a four-player computerised Prosocial Cyberball Game with three pre-programmed avatar players. During the task, participants witnessed the exclusion of one of the players, and subsequently had the opportunity to compensate for this by throwing the ball more often to the excluded player. Throughout the game, participants rated the level of negative emotion in themselves and in the excluded player. Results: Patients made significantly fewer ball tosses towards the excluded player during the compensation round compared to healthy controls (large effect size). Patients reported a significantly smaller increase in negative emotion after witnessing the exclusion and a significantly smaller decrease in negative emotion following the compensation round (large effect sizes). Patients also estimated a smaller decrease in negative emotion in the excluded player following the compensation round (medium effect size). There were no significant associations between these outcomes and eating disorder psychopathology in patients. Conclusions: Compared to healthy adolescents, adolescent patients with eating disorders demonstrated less prosocial compensatory behaviour towards a computerised victim of social exclusion. In addition, they reported flatter negative emotion in themselves in response to witnessing and compensating for exclusion, and in the excluded player following compensation. If these findings are replicated, interventions to target these difficulties might contribute to improvements in social functioning in this patient group. Plain English summary: Prosocial behaviour (actions that benefit others) can promote positive social relationships. People with eating disorders may have impairments in prosocial behaviour because of difficulties in underlying processes (e.g., identifying emotions in oneself and in others). This study explored prosocial behaviour in 61 adolescents with eating disorders (77% anorexia nervosa) and 62 healthy adolescents, with an average age of 16. Each participant joined a 4-player computerised ball-tossing game with three pre-programmed avatars (i.e., only the participant was really playing the game; the three other avatars were not representing real players). Participants were initially included fairly in the game (i.e., the avatars were programmed to toss the ball equally to one another). In the next round, the participant merely observed the game (they could not actively participate). During this observation round, two of the avatars excluded the third avatar. In the final round, the participant was able to participate again, and could toss the ball to any of the three avatar players. Thus, the participant had the opportunity to compensate the avatar victim by tossing the ball more frequently to them. Throughout the game, the participant also rated the levels of negative emotion in themselves and in the avatar victim. After observing the exclusion, on average all participants tossed the ball more frequently to the avatar victim, but patients did so less frequently. Similarly, all participants reported more negative emotion, but this increase was smaller in patients. After the opportunity to compensate the victim, all participants reported less negative emotion in themselves and in the victim, but this decrease was smaller in patients. These outcomes were not linked to the severity of eating disorder symptoms in patients. Highlights: Patients made fewer ball-tosses to an excluded avatar after witnessing exclusion in a computerised task Patients reported a smaller increase in negative emotion after witnessing the exclusion Patients reported a smaller decrease in negative emotion after compensating the excluded player Patients estimated smaller decreases in negative emotion in the excluded player following compensation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence brings with it a number of problems such as school violence. To reduce stress and increase the well-being of students, it is necessary to enhance certain skills such as prosocial behaviours, resilience, and creative self-efficacy. This cross-sectional study investigated the impact of prosocial behaviours and creative self-efficacy on school violence, stress, and resilience in adolescent students. A total of 743 students aged 14–19 years participated. The results revealed positive correlations between the dimensions of prosocial behaviours, creative self-efficacy, and resilience, and negative correlations with perceived stress. Differences were also observed in the relationship between prosocial behaviours, school violence, and stress. Mediation models indicated that creative self-efficacy acted as a mediator between prosocial behaviours and resilience. In addition, stress was found to moderate the relationship between prosocial behaviours and resilience. This study provides evidence on how prosocial behaviours, resilience, and creative self-efficacy act as a positive element in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While attachment security is known to promote prosocial behaviour, a closer examination is needed to clarify the active mechanism in this relationship. We addressed this issue by examining the mediation effect of moral disengagement in two studies. Participants were assigned to the control priming group or the attachment security priming group. After the priming procedure, they completed the measurements of a sense of security, moral disengagement and prosocial behaviour. The results from both studies showed that compared with control priming, attachment security priming enhanced prosociality. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that moral disengagement mediated the relationship between attachment security and prosociality. The present findings extend the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of attachment security and prosociality, and provide insights into the effectiveness of boosting attachment security in intervening in moral disengagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sexual violence is a public health issue among adolescents globally but remains understudied in Sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: The present study focused on the association of cumulative exposure to different types of sexual violence with mental and physical health problems and prosocial behaviour. Method: We conducted a survey with a regionally representative sample of both in-school and out-of-school adolescents, aged 13–17 years, living in south-western Nigeria. Self-reported exposure to sexual violence, behavioural problems, physical complaints, and prosocial behaviour were assessed. Results: About three quarters of the participants reported the experience of sexual violence (74.6%). Multiple regression models revealed that the more types of sexual violence an individual reported, the more mental and physical health problems, and the fewer prosocial behaviours they reported when controlling for other forms of violence exposure. Latent class analysis revealed three severity classes of sexual violence. Symptoms of mental and physical health indicators were significantly higher as exposure increased by group whereas prosocial behaviours were non-significantly fewer in the opposite direction. Conclusion: This study revealed a consistent and unique relation between sexual violence exposure and negative health outcomes among adolescents. Further research on sexual violence in Sub-Saharan Africa and its associations is needed. Sexual violence is associated with health problems and prosocial behaviour among in- and out-of-school youth in Nigeria. Mental and physical health is particularly affected among youth who experience the highest levels of sexual violence. Yet, lower exposure levels are highly prevalent and are related to health issues, too. Prosocial behaviour is negatively related to sexual violence exposure indicating effect on social well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behaviour can be defined as any voluntary action that is performed to benefit another individual. Despite accumulating evidence of the importance of environmental variables (e.g., socioeconomic status; SES), and individual characteristics (e.g., theory of mind – ToM – skills), in influencing prosocial behaviours in young children, it is unknown how these factors relate to the underlying motivations for prosocial behaviours. Accordingly, both extrinsically (sharing) and intrinsically (generosity)‐guided prosocial behaviours are measured in this study. We explore the influences of SES and ToM skills on young children's sharing behaviour and generosity, while controlling their age, working memory and language skills. Sixty‐six 4‐ to 6 year olds (Mage = 5.24 years, SD = 0.73) from diverse SES (measured by parental education level) and ethnic backgrounds in Singapore completed tasks assessing the ToM measures of false belief and appearance‐reality understanding, working memory, language skills, generosity, and sharing behaviour. The results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrate that the father's education level and children's appearance‐reality understanding were significant predictors of sharing, after controlling for age, working memory, language skills, and the mother's education level. Children's appearance‐reality understanding was the sole predictor of children's generosity. Our findings highlight the impact of children's ability to hold different views of reality and their family's education levels on the development of sharing and generosity in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study uses social network analyses to examine the associations between children's prosocial behaviour and classroom affiliative relationships (i.e., hanging out relationships). Our sample includes data from 257 children and their teachers in 12 s through fourth‐grade classrooms living in high‐poverty, inner‐urban city neighbourhoods (98.4% African American). We estimated a series of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) for the 12 classrooms and then meta‐analysed the ERGM results using a multi‐level meta‐analysis technique to examine the effects of prosocial behaviour and homophily of prosocial behaviour on children's affiliative relationships across classrooms. Our results revealed a significant effect of prosocial behaviour, suggesting that children with higher levels of prosocial behaviour were more likely to have more affiliative relationships. We also saw a significant effect of homophily of prosocial behaviour, suggesting that the more similar the children were in terms of prosocial behaviour, the more likely they were to have an affiliative relationship. Our findings highlight the importance of prosocial behaviour in children's affiliative relationships and have implications for fostering children's affiliative relationships and improving their well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiological studies of prosocial behaviour have indicated an association between resting heart rate variability and prosocial behaviour. Little is known about whether real-time heart rate in prosocial behavioural processes is associated with prosocial behaviour and whether their association depends on subjective experiences in prosocial behavioural processes. To clarify these issues, 60 adults were recruited in the present study and completed the dictator game, trust game and social value orientation game, which measure prosocial behaviour. Their real-time heart rate was measured with the electrocardiogram (ECG) module of Biopac MP150, and their perceived stress was self-reported. The results showed regular changes in heart rate in the prosocial behavioural processes, with heart rate reaching a peak at the prosocial decision-making stage. Moreover, only for individuals with higher perceived stress at the prosocial decision-making stage was there an inverted U-shaped relationship between heart rate at the prosocial decision-making stage and dictator game scores, which reflect altruistic prosocial behaviour. These findings revealed that real-time physiological arousal and subjective experience jointly determine altruistic prosocial behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundLimited research has explored the relationship between adhering to 24-h Movement Behaviour guidelines and mental health in Chinese preschool children. The objectives of this study encompassed two primary goals: (1) to investigate the adherence of preschool children in China to the 24-h Movement Behaviour guidelines; and (2) to analyze the relationship between fulfilling various combinations of these guidelines and mental health, identifying the most advantageous combination.MethodsUtilizing a convenience sampling approach, this study included 205 preschool children (117 boys and 88 girls, average age 4.8 ± 0.51 years) from five kindergartens in Hengyang, Hunan Province. The physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour of preschool children were objectively assessed using waist-worn accelerometers, while sleep duration and screen time were reported by the children's parents. To evaluate mental health, the parent version of the internationally validated Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was employed, which measures externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and prosocial behaviour. Employing Mplus 8.0 for Structural Equation Modeling analysis, while controlling for demographic variables, the study explored the connection between preschool children's mental health and their adherence to the 24-h Movement Behaviour guidelines.ResultsWorryingly, merely 14.6% of preschoolers met the recommended guidelines for all three aspects (PA, sleep duration, and screen time). Positive correlations were identified between meeting PA guidelines and displaying prosocial behaviour (β = 0.184; p

Universities must confront social challenges and prepare their students to be future socially responsible professionals. This research considers social responsibility in depth and examines how it can be promoted among university students. Specifically, it analyses whether prosocial behaviour and moral values are predictor variables, and to study whether moral values are a mediator variable between prosocial behaviour and university student social responsibility. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used in a Spanish university (N = 193; 115 females; Mage = 19). Three scales were applied: the University Student Social Responsibility scale, the Prosocial Tendencies Measures scale and the Importance of Personal and Professional Values scale. The results of the regression models showed that prosocial behaviour and moral values both contributed significantly to the model (F (2,196) = 41.979; p < .001), predicting 30.2% of university student social responsibility. In the mediation model, total effects between the variables were observed, as was an indirect effect of prosocial behaviour on social responsibility mediated by moral values (β = .07; t = 3.80; p < .001). This suggests that university programmes that seek to help the community and enable people to discover values will more effectively be able to develop social responsibility.

Previous research on ability emotional intelligence (EI) has shown that EI positively contributes to different positive life outcomes. However, the role of EI abilities in prosocial behaviour (PSB) has not been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between EI abilities measured by tests and self-reports, empathy and PSB in the student population. A total of N = 331 university students completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, two EI tests, and self-report measures of EI, cognitive empathy, emotional reactivity and PSB. Of all EI measures, only self-reports correlated with PSB. Cognitive and emotional empathy were also related to PSB. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that self-assessed EI, cognitive empathy and emotional reactivity were predictors of PSB. Cognitive empathy and emotional reactivity also mediated the relationship between self-assessed EI and PSB. The results showed that for the prediction of PSB, it is important how a person evaluates his emotional abilities, and not what the actual level of these abilities is. Furthermore, people with higher self-estimated EI behave prosocially more often because they experience empathy to a greater extent, both cognitively and emotionally.

Acute stress can change our cognition and emotions, but what specific consequences this has for human prosocial behaviour is unclear. Previous studies have mainly investigated prosociality with financial transfers in economic games and produced conflicting results. Yet a core feature of many types of prosocial behaviour is that they are effortful. We therefore examined how acute stress changes our willingness to exert effort that benefits others. Healthy male participants – half of whom were put under acute stress – made decisions whether to exert physical effort to gain money for themselves or another person. With this design, we could independently assess the effects of acute stress on prosocial, compared to self-benefitting, effortful behaviour. Compared to controls (n = 45), participants in the stress group (n = 46) chose to exert effort more often for self- than for other-benefitting rewards at a low level of effort. Additionally, the adverse effects of stress on prosocial effort were particularly pronounced in more selfish participants. Neuroimaging combined with computational modelling revealed a putative neural mechanism underlying these effects: more stressed participants showed increased activation to subjective value in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula when they themselves could benefit from their exerted effort relative to when someone else could. By using an effort-based task that better approximates real-life prosocial behaviour and incorporating trait differences in prosocial tendencies, our study provides important insights into how acute stress affects prosociality and its associated neural mechanisms.

Will et al.'s (2021 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2106640118 (doi:10.1073/pnas.2106640118)) found the Medusa effect, which refers to the tendency that people evaluate a ‘person in picture' more mindful than a ‘person in picture of a picture'. The present study tried to directly replicate the Experiments 2 and 5 of Will et al.'s (2021), to examine the reliability, validity and generalization of the Medusa effect, as well as its effect on prosocial behaviour. We used the same stimuli and methodology as the original research, but recruited participants in Japan with a larger sample size (N = 1387 in total) as a registered report. In our two replication experiments, we again found that pictures with lower levels of abstraction (L1) were perceived to convey more mind and lead to higher levels of prosocial behaviour, successfully replicating the original findings. The results of the present study suggested the high reproducibility and generalizability of the Medusa effect. Pre-registered Stage 1 protocol: https://osf.io/xj46z (date of in-principle acceptance: 9 February 2023)

Parents are an important social agent that can shape their child's behaviour in sport. However, the association between a youth athlete's perception of their parent's sideline sport behaviour and their own sporting behaviours is currently unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between parent and youth athlete behaviours in sport settings. Australian youth athletes (n = 67) participating in team-based sports completed an online survey where they reported their parents positive and negative sideline behaviours and their own prosocial and antisocial sport behaviour during the past month. Linear regression results suggested that parent's positive behaviours were associated with youth prosocial behaviours, whereas parent's negative behaviours were associated with youth antisocial behaviours. Results provide preliminary quantitative evidence that youth athletes' perceptions of their parents' sideline behaviours predict their own on-field behaviours. As antisocial athlete behaviours were positively associated with parent negative behaviours, sport organisations should target, and ideally eliminate, negative parent behaviours. Conversely, to improve prosocial athlete behaviour, encouraging positive parent behaviours should be promoted.

AbstractPrevious research separately investigated the relationship between competence of the village official, organizational commitment, leadership, internal control, external pressure, and accountability with village official research objects and only looked at how village officials carried out their functions as members of the organization, namely the village, so they had not fully described how attitudes and tendencies individual social behavior of village officials on the imp Thus, this study tries to fill a gap in research by looking at the link between village officials’ accountability and competence, organizational commitment, leadership, internal control, external pressure, and prosocial behavior in a comprehensive research model with prosocial behavior as a moderator. This study was undertaken in all Indonesian communities to assess local finance management accountability. Random sampling was used to acquire survey data. 689 Indonesian village officials were studied. PLS-SEM analyzed data. This study found that village officials’ competency, leadership, internal control, and external pressure affect village fund management accountability. Organizational commitment and internal control do not promote local fund management accountability in Indonesia. Village finance management accountability and prosocial conduct regulate and improve leadership. Official leadership, internal control, and prosocial behavior promote village money management accountability. This work advances agency theory, stewardship theory, role theory, quality theory and financial accounting and public sector accounting, particularly in village governance.

ABSTRACTBackground: Sexual violence is a public health issue among adolescents globally but remains understudied in Sub-Saharan Africa.Objective: The present study focused on the association of cumulative exposure to different types of sexual violence with mental and physical health problems and prosocial behaviour.Method: We conducted a survey with a regionally representative sample of both in-school and out-of-school adolescents, aged 13–17 years, living in south-western Nigeria. Self-reported exposure to sexual violence, behavioural problems, physical complaints, and prosocial behaviour were assessed.Results: About three quarters of the participants reported the experience of sexual violence (74.6%). Multiple regression models revealed that the more types of sexual violence an individual reported, the more mental and physical health problems, and the fewer prosocial behaviours they reported when controlling for other forms of violence exposure. Latent class analysis revealed three severity classes of sexual violence. Symptoms of mental and physical health indicators were significantly higher as exposure increased by group whereas prosocial behaviours were non-significantly fewer in the opposite direction.Conclusion: This study revealed a consistent and unique relation between sexual violence exposure and negative health outcomes among adolescents. Further research on sexual violence in Sub-Saharan Africa and its associations is needed.

Studies on socioeconomic status (SES) have recently increased in social psychology. The most used indicators to measure objective SES are income and educational level (usually standardizing and summing the scores of these variables). However, income and education possibly have different, even opposite effects on certain variables. Across seven studies, using data from previous research and from international databases, we show that this is true both for prosocial behaviour and for variables related to prosocial behaviour. A higher educational level tends to positively predict prosocial behaviour (Studies 1a–1d) and structural attributions of poverty (Studies 2 and 3), and negatively predict scores for meritocratic beliefs (Study 3) and just world beliefs (Study 4). In most cases, income showed a reverse trend or did not predict the outcome. We discuss the broader implications both for the study of prosocial behaviour and social class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is consensus that child socio-emotional development is influenced by various contexts, such as the family one. Research on influencing factors on child socio-emotional skills mainly investigated the effects of home learning environment, whereas the effects of out-of-home activities were often analysed mainly in samples of adolescents. The present study aimed to shed light on effects of preschool home learning environment and out-of-home activities on two facets of socio-emotional skills at the beginning of primary school: Prosocial behaviour and peer relationships. The information on the child prosocial behaviour and peer relationships at preschool age was included with the aim to control for most of the differences across children. Using data from a large sample of children (N = 1,818; Mage = 7.08 years, SD = 0.15; 49.9% girls), results of regression analyses show significant effects of out-of-home activities on prosocial behaviour after controlling a range of child- and family-related influencing factors on prosocial behaviour as well as prosocial behaviour at preschool age. The effects of home learning environment were significant after controlling a range of child- and family-related influencing factors on both facets of socio-emotional skills but became nonsignificant after taking into account respective behaviour at preschool age. The results of the present study suggest that fostering participation in out-of-home activities might contribute to an increase of prosocial behaviour in primary school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates peoples' prosocial attitudes and real‐life prosocial behaviour towards different ethnic groups during the COVID‐19 pandemic, taking Germany as an empirical example. In a preregistered multi‐study design, we examined: (a) who receives help, (b) who helps and (c) what explains prosocial behaviour. In study 1, we conducted a large‐scale, nation‐wide field experiment (1,980 help requests across 11 cities, resulting in 769 help offers in response). In study 2, we conducted an online survey with a general population sample (N = 1,033, Mage = 40 years, 43% females). Tests of proportions revealed high levels of prosocial attitudes as well as behaviour, favouring the ethnic ingroup (study 1), while regression analysis highlights the importance of empathy, compared to other theoretical predictors, for explaining prosocial behaviour (study 2). Findings underscore the relevance of ethnic boundaries during the pandemic crisis: Ethnic minority members benefit less from solidarity than ethnic majority members. However, we observe an attitude‐behaviour gap between field experimental and survey data, indicating the importance of observational studies when studying prosocial behaviour during the pandemic. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), for assessing behavioural and emotional difficulties, has been used internationally as a screening measure for mental health problems. Our objective was to validate the existing (British) SDQ cut-points in a sample of Canadian children and youth, and develop new Canadian SDQ cut-points if needed. Methods: This study includes data from children and youth aged 6 to 17 years from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (n = 3435) and outpatient records from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (n = 1075). The parent-reported SDQ data were collected. We adjusted the existing SDQ cut-points using a distributional and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve approach. We subsequently calculated the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio of the existing and new SDQ clinical cut-points to determine whether the new cut-points had better clinical utility, using both analytic approaches. Results: Our data show differences in the screening effectiveness between the existing British and the Canadian-specific clinical cut-points. Specificity is maximized using the Canadian distributional cut-points, improving the likelihood of identifying true negative results. The total SDQ score met the threshold for clinical utility (diagnostic odds ratio > 20) using both the existing and new cut-points; however, the individual scales did not reach clinical utility threshold using either cut-points. Conclusion: Future Canadian SDQ research should consider the new cut-points derived from our study population and the existing British cut-points to allow for historical and international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toddlers are motivated to help others achieve their goals, but providing effective help also requires toddlers to consider what will be most helpful to another individual. Sometimes, helping requests provide conflicting information about an individual's goals, so we need to decide which information to prioritise in order to decide how is best to help. The current studies investigate how toddlers prioritise conflicting information about immediate and ultimate goals when helping. In Study 1, 2‐year‐olds were shown an opaque container of blocks (hidden blocks), a transparent container of blocks (visible blocks), and a colourful tube that plays music when a block is dropped inside. For half of the participants, both hidden and visible blocks played music but, for the other half, only the hidden blocks worked. A naïve experimenter asked for a block (immediate goal) to play music with (ultimate goal), and when both blocks were equally functional, we found that toddlers prioritised fulfilling the immediate request by providing a visible block; but when only the hidden block was functional, toddlers prioritising fulfilling the ultimate goal and helped by providing the functional but hidden block. Study 2 demonstrated that toddlers considered the experimenter's goal when helping, and not just their own attraction to the musical toy. This work adds to a growing body of literature investigating not only whether young children help, but also how young children reason when engaging in helping behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study (N = 491) examined how hedonic orientation (prioritizing pleasure, comfort/painlessness) and eudaimonic orientation (prioritizing authenticity, excellence, growth) relate to behaviours that help or hinder others and to willingness to help others in different situations. We found that eudaimonic orientation related positively to helping others and negatively to hindering others, whereas hedonic orientation related positively to hindering others. Differences were found across helping situations such that eudaimonic orientation related to willingness to help others even when the results are in the future, the recipient cannot be seen, and the helping is personally costly, whereas hedonic orientation related to a preference to help others when the results are immediate, the recipient can be seen, and the helping is not personally costly. These findings support a characterization of eudaimonia as a focus on long-term, abstract, and big-picture concerns, and hedonia as a focus on immediate, concrete, and self-focused concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]