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2017
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(2017): Many kinds of kindness. The relationship between values and prosocial behaviour, S. 75-96. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-56352-7_4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56352-7_4 Abstract: Prosocial behaviour may be defined as behaviour that benefits other people or society. Some psychologists add that it is behaviour that is beneficial to others and does not benefit (or even disadvantages) the agent. These definitions concern the perceived consequences of behaviour, which are somewhat open to interpretation. As a result, there are many classes of behaviour that can be thought of as 'prosocial', with varying degrees of consensus across and within cultures. Displays of everyday kindness towards another human being, helping an elderly lady across the road, for instance, or cooking dinner for a friend, are perhaps almost universally considered prosocial. On the other hand, working in a clinic to provide access to contraceptives, and campaigning to prevent a new runway being built, are behaviours that might be perceived as prosocial by some people, and in some cultures, but as neutral or even antisocial by others. In this chapter, we look at different possible candidates for prosocial behaviour, from the interpersonal to the more political, and compared their relationship to values, across cultures where we can. In looking over the research to date on some of the main relationships between values and prosocial behaviour, Self-Transcendence appears to be a dominant positive motivating force, while Self-Enhancement is rarely associated with any behaviour that may be construed as prosocial. In fact, it is this values dimension, and within it particularly Power that is most solidly associated with antisocial behaviour. The Conservation/Openness-to-Change axis is more context-dependent in its patterns, often neutral and sometimes supporting and sometimes inhibiting both pro- and antisocial behaviour. This chapter has highlighted that prosocial behaviour, is a complex beast. If, by prosocial, we just mean an act of kindness, then we can easily limit ourselves to one class of behaviour and a set of studies that have an over-reliance on narrow experiments where a student is asked if they will come in next week to help their professor in the laboratory. If, by prosocial, we mean behaviour that benefits other people or society, then we have to open ourselves up to the full range of what these behaviours might be, and ask whether they would be considered prosocial in a culture different from our own. We could not consider every class of prosocial behaviour in this chapter, but we have approximated a range by looking at everyday kindness, political activism, pro-environmental behaviour and participation in organised groups that work in the interest of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) zitiert von 1
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