Carina: Hi everyone! Welcome back to the Mental Health for Romania Podcast. I’m Carina Stancu, a medical student, and I’m joined by Ioana Carmen Nicolae, a psychology master student, and together we are part of the Mental Health for Romania association. In today’s episode we want to talk about prosocial behaviors. First, Ioana will tell us what prosocial behaviors are.
Ioana: Greetings to all listeners! First of all, I would like to make a mention that what we are going to discuss is more introductory and to emphasize that the ideas that exist in general about the topic at hand are not only what we are going to discuss, as the information in this podcast is chosen according to the characteristics of our listeners, and for this reason we encourage everyone to search and read more about prosocial behaviors. Another important mention is that the bibliographical resources used for the realization of this episode can be found on the association’s website, in the Podcast section, as well as in the description of the episode. And now, to get into the subject, because over time there has not been a standard definition that has been used in all studies on prosocial behaviors, but rather it has been conceptualized in various ways, we have taken for today for you the definition of the Dictionary of Psychology of the American Psychological Association, from which we understand that “prosocial” refers to those things we do for others, that is, those behaviors as a result of which there are benefits for those around us. In a recent review (it can be found at number 8 in the bibliography – and on this occasion I encourage all listeners to look over the bibliographic sources, and throughout the episode, so as not to load up with names and distract from the ideas, I will mention which bibliography number corresponds to the source used) so, as I was saying, in a recent review the authors narrow down several conceptualizations in the literature, that’s for those of you who want to read more about it, but to summarize, the basic idea is that prosocial behavior is behavior done so that someone benefits.
Carina: Good. Moving on, what is the need for prosocial behaviors? Why should they be cultivated among people and what is their relevance?
Ioana: Well, it’s probably pretty intuitive that through these behaviors we are helping others, but in addition to that, there are also benefits for those who provide that help. In a review from 2022 (which you can find at number 3 in the bibliography), the authors talk about the development of these behaviors in adolescence and explain that it is a way in which we can develop relationships where there is reciprocity with those around us, reciprocity being a necessary aspect especially in childhood and adolescence since, as the authors explain, there is this need to belong socially. Also, from another review (i.e. number 1 in the bibliography), we understand that another benefit of these behaviors is the experience of emotions that are considered positive for both children and adults, such as well-being. That is, if we engage in prosocial behavior there is a high likelihood that we will feel good afterwards. The reverse is also true, i.e., emotions considered positive influence engagement in prosocial behaviors, and there is a mutually influencing relationship. For example, if someone notices that a friend needs help, they are more likely to help if that person is in a good mood, but we will talk about the aspects that influence prosocial behaviors later. Staying with the necessity of these behaviors, in another study, namely number 7 in the bibliography, the experience of well-being as an effect of prosocial behaviors is also supported as being influenced by a few things, namely whether the behavior facilitates connection with others, whether the motivation to perform the behavior is altruistic, not selfish, whether the act is voluntary, not externally imposed, and whether the person who will perform the behavior perceives that what he or she is doing is truly meaningful to others, i.e. to the beneficiaries. Also, in another recent meta-analysis from 2019, i.e. number 6 in the bibliography, there is mention of prosocial versus aggressive behaviors. Although this is not the purpose of the study itself, in the introduction they talk a little bit and summarize that once we develop prosocial behaviors it is favored to reduce aggressive behaviors.
Carina: So, to summarize what you said, among the benefits that prosocial behaviors have are: developing relationships based on reciprocity but also experiencing emotions with a positive connotation, experiencing well-being especially when connection is facilitated, when the motivation is altruistic, voluntary, and when there is this sense that the act performed is meaningful to others. Furthermore, developing these behaviors is a way of reducing aggressive behaviors, isn’t it? Going back to the idea that the experience of well-being from engaging in prosocial behaviors may be influenced by those few things I mentioned earlier, I also want to ask you whether engaging in prosocial behaviors may be influenced by anything in particular, if there is any contributing factor.
Ioana: Related to this, in the review mentioned earlier, i.e. number 3 in the bibliography, three factors are identified that may influence prosocial behaviors. And before that I would like to mention which experiment these findings came from. One of the experiments that has been done in the literature is “The Dictator Game”, a kind of game in which the person who is involved makes an offer based on a sum of money to the other player. Based on this game, some conclusions from the literature, highlighted by the authors regarding the factors that may influence prosocial behaviors are: firstly whether the person has any strategy when offering something to the other person, another influencing factor is whether the giver has any connection with the person to whom they are offering (an important factor especially during adolescence – for example, in the measurements the authors found that 9-18 year olds were more likely to offer more to friends than to strangers), and another factor is whether the recipient is in a situation where they really need the resources.
Carina: Good. Moving on, another thing of interest is: how can we develop prosocial behaviors?
Ioana: Before answering your question, I would like to say that there is no “magic recipe” that always works. At the moment, studies are being done in which hypotheses in psychology are being tested and conclusions are being reached based on measurements, measurements that are made from data extracted from people and then analyzed. Although the studies are what we have so far, there are many limitations of the literature when it comes to conducting studies and there are limitations depending on the types of studies, depending on the measurements used, depending on the sample, limitations that are related to the fact that sometimes only significant results are published or other limitations that are related to the actual methodology of the study, the biases of the researchers, the variables that are not included and so on. However, limits that the current format does not necessarily allow us to develop because they are the subject of a whole episode in order to be explained. So I would like to keep in mind that the information in this section is not presented as something absolutist, just like any other information in this podcast. I think we need to filter what we hear and think that there’s room for more research, and these things don’t just apply to the discussion of prosociality. And of course, at any time, someone can come along and bring studies with arguments against these things, as long as they are based on rigorous methodology and without questionable practices. Well, now that we’ve made that mention, we can move on to some of the issues that the literature so far proposes regarding the development of prosocial behaviors.
And I was telling you earlier about the link between prosocial behaviors and well-being. As I said, not only does helping others make us feel good, but the reverse is also true: the better we feel, the more likely we are to engage in supporting others, as explained in a 2018 review, i.e. number 1 in the bibliography. In adults, this is not only true for well-being, but also for other emotions including empathy, awe of things, or gratitude. For children, well-being and empathy contribute to the development of prosocial behaviors. So, if we develop these emotions, it will support the development of these behaviors.
Further on, of course, the approach to caregivers is also very important from the time children are babies. Of course, caregivers can be: either both parents, or one parent if we are talking about single-parent families, or social workers or whoever has the role of caregiver for a baby. In a review from 2019, listed at number 4 in the bibliography, it is explained that a baby is a social being and they start to engage from an early age in activities such as sharing objects with caregivers, for example toys. When referring to infants, a comparison was made between when infants were rewarded for prosocial behaviors and when infants engaged in these behaviors because they found the activity fun, and the results suggested that the latter were more likely to engage in other prosocial activities compared to the former. The same authors also mention other mechanisms for the development of these behaviors, such as imitation, encouraging children to engage in activities that promote prosocial behaviors, or shared positive affect.
And of course there are other directions to consider. For example, there are studies, such as number 5 in the bibliography, where, although there are limitations, the results claim that meditation might help in the development of prosocial behaviors but also empathy and compassion, and this is somehow in an indirect way. In an indirect way, i.e. meditation to influence the emergence of other emotions, such as well-being, which in turn influence prosocial behaviors.
Carina: Cool! In this episode we talked about prosocial behaviors, what they are, why they are necessary and some suggestions on how we can develop them. Thanks for the chat, Ioana.
Ioana: Thank you and I’m glad we have the opportunity to work together!
Carina: Finally, thank you to everyone who listened to our podcast. Until next time, take care of yourselves and your sanity!
