Prosocial behavior is a blanket term referring to behaviors that are intended to help others in one way or another. Altruism is one example of prosocial behavior, but so is holding the door open for a friend.
Much analysis in behavioral psychology looks at why people behave in harmful ways towards others because, well, it’s a problem. But why not focus on the positive for a change? Let us try to unpack what drives small and big acts of kindness and how we can promote prosocial behavior as individuals and as a society.
Prosocial Behavior in Everyday Life
Look back on your day or week and try to remember the last time you did something purely to benefit someone else. It could be as simple as making a cup of tea for someone or doing voluntary work in your spare time.
Prosocial behavior is not all about big gestures but rather the small actions that all of us take every day to improve the world for ourselves and others. These actions help others and give us a sense of belonging and purpose. By consciously doing more prosocial acts, we spread kindness and compassion beyond our immediate circles.
Prosocial behavior is a big driver in life decisions. For example, someone might decide to undertake a Master of School Counseling and get a job in a school setting to help students because they are driven by a desire to make a difference.
The Different Types of Prosocial Behavior
Prosocial behaviors can be generally divided into three main categories:
1. Proactive Prosocial Actions
These are actions that benefit the individual as well as others. You are probably not putting others first, but they still benefit. This might be volunteering because you need the hours on your resume for a particular job, or donating to charity so that you can tell your friend you have donated to charity and feel morally superior.
Proactive prosocial actions often stem from a calculated decision-making process rather than an immediate emotional impulse. Individuals engage in these behaviors when they recognize a tangible benefit, such as enhancing their reputation, improving their job prospects, or aligning their actions with a desired self-image. This doesn’t diminish the positive impact of their actions—volunteering still supports communities, and donations still contribute to charitable causes—but the underlying motivation is not purely selfless.
Another critical aspect of proactive prosocial behavior is its role in fostering long-term cooperation. By engaging in these actions, individuals build social capital, which can lead to reciprocal benefits in the future. Someone who frequently donates or volunteers might be perceived as more trustworthy and reliable, leading to increased opportunities for networking and social connections. This highlights how prosocial actions, even when self-serving, contribute to broader societal cohesion.
2. Reactive Prosocial Actions
As the name suggests, these behaviors are a response to specific stimuli. Say your friend falls over and drops their things–the natural response is to help them up and pick up their things. This is a behavior driven by empathy and the demands of the situation at hand.
Reactive prosocial behaviors often arise instinctively, driven by an immediate recognition of someone else’s distress or need. Studies on empathy and mirror neurons suggest that humans are biologically wired to respond to such situations. Observing someone in distress can activate brain regions associated with personal discomfort, compelling us to act in ways that alleviate not only their suffering but also our own emotional discomfort.
Beyond empathy, social norms also play a significant role in reinforcing reactive prosocial actions. Societies instill expectations that dictate appropriate responses in various situations—helping an elderly person cross the street, assisting someone who has dropped their belongings, or comforting a friend in distress. These responses are shaped by cultural and social conditioning, making them an essential component of everyday human interactions.
3. Altruistic Prosocial Actions
When you think about prosocial behaviors, altruism is likely to come to mind. However, it is less common to find behaviors that are driven purely by the intention to help others. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The end result is essentially the same as prosocial behavior, which benefits the individual in some form.
True altruism, where an individual acts with no expectation of personal gain, remains a debated concept in psychology. Some researchers argue that even the most selfless actions provide intrinsic rewards, such as a sense of fulfillment or a reduction in guilt. However, cases of extreme altruism—such as someone risking their life for a stranger—demonstrate that humans are capable of acts that seemingly contradict self-preservation instincts.
Despite its rarity, altruistic behavior plays a crucial role in social dynamics. It strengthens communal bonds and fosters an environment where acts of kindness are more likely to be reciprocated. Additionally, witnessing acts of pure altruism can inspire others to engage in prosocial behaviors, creating a ripple effect that extends beyond the initial act of kindness.
The Motivations Driving Behavior
As you may have guessed, there are many motivating factors driving any given prosocial act. For reactive prosocial actions, the catalyst is a little bit clearer, but we all know some people who go out of their way to help when things go wrong and others who are less helpful. Most of us know someone who volunteers in their spare time for no apparent personal gain, donates to charity and would be the first to stop and help a broken-down car on the side of the road. So, what motivates some more than others?
Empathy is an important element of prosocial behavior because understanding how we perceive the emotions of others changes how we respond to them. Research has looked at how this ability has evolved through parental care and kinship bonds, supporting group living.
Perspectives from evolution, animal behavior, developmental psychology, and neuroscience help us understand how empathy works. Empathy drives prosocial behavior when sensitivity to the distress of others is combined with a desire to help them. At the other end of the spectrum, research on disruptions in the brain’s processing of distress cues can lead to a lack of empathy, as seen in conditions like psychopathy.
The Benefits of Prosocial Behavior
Of course, there is the innate feeling of “doing the right thing,” a sense of satisfaction from helping others, and a boost to your own sense of moral self-worth. Taking it slightly further, studies have looked at how prosocial acts can actually improve your mental health and emotional well-being. One study found that “prosocial acts reduced anxiety relative to neutral acts” and “increased the belief that one’s life is valuable.”
Other research has looked at how schools can promote prosocial behavior. The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) looked at how effective Prosocial education, which is a type of social-emotional learning (SEL), is. This system encourages teachers to praise prosocial acts while using inductive discipline to correct misbehavior and form positive relationships with teachers. They even found that students with a higher sense of prosocial behavior achieved better results academically.
Ways to Encouraging Prosocial Behavior
You may well be surprised at how schools, communities, and even governments use their understanding of behavioral psychology to increase or incentivize prosocial behavior–sometimes in tricky ways. You may well have donated to charity because of the tax benefits or volunteered some time at your kid’s school because teachers asked for your specific skills. Many of these incentives use proactive prosocial actions; after all, it’s a win-win.
Many governments organize community service and volunteer programs to make it easier for people to participate in activities that benefit others. Public service announcements and campaigns emphasize the importance of kindness, empathy, and community involvement, inspiring citizens to engage in prosocial acts. Additionally, governments often promote education in schools to help children understand the value of helping others and being kind. This fosters a spirit of cooperation and kindness aimed at strengthening social bonds and contributing to the development of a more compassionate society.
The Ripple Effect of Helping Others
Prosocial behavior works in different ways for different reasons, but the result of helping others in one way or another is clearly positive. It can improve your own sense of purpose, educational attainment, and mental health. Societies around the world promote these actions in different ways, from Buddhist acts of generosity and goodness to Jewish mitzvahs, teacher-child relationships, and government incentives to act in the interest of others.
Even a little goes a long way, so next time you are in a position to help or just have some free time, see what you could do to help someone else and think about what exactly motivates your own behavior.
References:
Miles, A, et. Al. (2022) Using prosocial behavior to safeguard mental health and foster emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A registered report of a randomized trial. PLoS One;;17(7):e0272152.
Findley, D. & Ojanen, T. (2018) Forms of Prosocial Behaviors are Differentially Linked to Social Goals and Peer Status in Adolescents. J Genet Psychol; 179(6):329-342.
Decety, J. et. Al. (2016) Empathy as a driver of prosocial behaviour: highly conserved neurobehavioural mechanisms across species. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci; 371(1686):20150077.
Contreras, O. et. Al. (2013) Disrupted neural processing of emotional faces in psychopathy. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci; 9(4):505–512.
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