What is prosocial behavior and how does it develop?
Sharing, cooperating, empathizing... concepts related to prosocial behavior.
If human beings have become such a unique species it is, in part, because they have been able to create large social fabrics of mutual care and knowledge transmission. That is to say, we are very prone to relate to one another in many different ways, a tendency that can be summarized in one concept: we are very prosocial. can be summarized in one concept: prosocial behavior..
We will now see exactly what prosocial behavior is, in what ways it is expressed, and how it relates to the phenomena of how it is related to the phenomena of empathy and cooperation..
What is prosocial behavior?
Although there is no universal definition of the concept of prosocial behavior, there is a high level of consensus in defining it as a repertoire of behaviors of a social and positive nature.
Due to differences in criteria on whether to include the motivational factor in the definition, the authors consider that there are two types of positive social behaviors: behaviors that bring a benefit to both parties involved and behaviors that only benefit one of the parties.
A proposed definition that integrates both the behavioral and motivational aspects states that all positive social behavior is performed to benefit another in the presence (or not) of altruistic motivation, such as giving, helping, cooperating, sharing, consoling, etc. For his part, Strayer proposes a classification of four types of activities to clarify the phenomenon of prosocial behavior:
According to this proposal, in prosocial behavior the benefit accrues to the other person, while in cooperative behavior both parties coordinate to obtain a mutual benefit. However, determining how much each party gains is in itself a challenge for psychology and the behavioral sciences in general. Ultimately, the willingness to help someone and the satisfaction of having done so are in themselves factors that speak to a reward for the altruistic individual.
Research on the subject
Prosocial behavior is by no means a recent concept in the field of psychopedagogy.. However, the greatest boom in research on this field of knowledge corresponds to the end of the last century. From this point on, it has been studied more extensively how this phenomenon influences the emotional well-being of the individual (obtaining an intensely positive correlation between the two) and what methodology should be followed to implement programs that promote this type of beneficial functioning in the child population.
Thus, it seems that during the socioemotional development of the human being is when the promotion of prosocial behavior can have the greatest impact, that is, the internalization of a set of values such as dialogue, tolerance, equality or solidarity that are behaviorally reflected in acts such as helping others, respect and acceptance of others, cooperation, comfort or generosity when sharing a specific object.
Prosocial behavior from learning theories
One of the main explanations of the concept of prosocial behavior has been proposed by learning theories, although there are also other theoretical models such as the ethological and sociobiological perspective, the cognitive-evolutionary approach or the psychoanalytical perspective.
Learning theories, which are highly empirical, that prosocial behavior derives from the influence of external or environmental factors.. Thus, this type of behavior is learned through procedures such as classical and operant conditioning, from which actions are associated with pleasant stimuli and consequences for the individual (positive reinforcement) and, therefore, tend to be repeated in the future. More frequently, the type of reinforcement provided is social (a gesture, a smile, a token of affection), rather than material.
The fact of receiving an affective reward, according to the research carried out, seems to foster in the individual the desire to perform a behavior that helps the other person. That is to say, there is an internal motivation to perform such behavior, unlike what happens when the reward is material, where the behavior is performed to obtain that specific reward.
On the other hand, other studies propose the relevance of observational learning by imitation of prosocial models. Some authors emphasize a greater influence of internal factors such as the cognitive styles used in moral reasoning, while others emphasize that external factors (socializing agents -family and school- and environment) are modified until they become internal controls through the internalization of the regulation of one's own behavior (Bandura, 1977 and 1987).
These contributions are classified within the interactionist perspectives, since they consider the interaction of the individual with the situation as a determinant of behavior. interaction of the individual with the situation as a determinant of behavior..
Empathy, an essential component
The capacity for empathy constitutes one of the causal factors of prosocial behavior, although research should shed more light on the specific relationship between the two phenomena.
Some proposals advocate defining empathy as an interactive process between affective, motivational and cognitive aspects that take place during the different stages of development. Empathy is mostly learned through modeling processes and is defined by being an affective response to the emotional, motivational and cognitive aspects of development. and is defined as an affective response that is emitted after the awareness of understanding the experience of the situation and the feelings or perceptions that the other is receiving. This ability can be learned from understanding the meaning of certain non-verbal cues such as facial expression that indicate the emotional state of the subject in question.
Some authors have focused their studies on differentiating situational empathy from dispositional empathy, which refers to the tendency of some personality types to be more sensitive to empathic manifestations. This latter distinction has been taken as a key aspect to study the nature of prosocial behavior, finding a high correlation between a high empathic predisposition and a higher emission of prosocial behavior.
The facets of empathy
Empathic capacity can be understood from three different perspectives. In each case, the mediating role of this phenomenon in prosocial behavior can be differentiated: empathy as an affect, as a cognitive process, or as the result of the interaction between the first two.
The findings show that the first case is more closely related to the behavior of helping the other, although it has not been concluded that it is a causal factor but a mediating one. Thus, the level of dispositional empathy, the bond established with the maternal figure, the type of specific situation in which the empathic behavior occurs, the age of the children (in preschoolers the association between empathy and prosocial behavior is weaker than in older children), the intensity and nature of the emotion aroused, etc., also play an important role.
Even so, it seems clear that the implementation of empathy capacity-building programs during child and adolescent development may prove to be a protective factor for personal and social well-being in the future.
Cooperation vs. competition in socioemotional development
In the last century, learning theories have also placed more emphasis on delimiting the relationship between the manifestation of cooperative vs. competitive behavior with respect to the type of psychological and social development experienced by individuals exposed to one or the other model.
By cooperative behavior is understood as the set of behaviors that are expressed in a given situation when those involved in it work to achieve shared group objectives as a priority, this acting as a prerequisite for achieving the individual objective. On the contrary, in the competitive situation each individual is oriented to achieve his or her own goals and prevents others from having the possibility of achieving them.
Research conducted by Deutsch at MIT found greater communicative effectiveness, more communicative interactions in terms of proposing one's own ideas and acceptance of others' ideas, higher levels of effort and coordination in the tasks to be performed, higher levels of effort and coordination in the tasks to be performed.The research conducted by Deutsch at MIT found a higher level of effort and coordination in the tasks to be performed, higher productivity and greater confidence in the contributions of group members in cooperative groups than in competitive ones.
In other later works, although without a sufficiently empirically contrasted validation to allow a generalization of the results, individuals with cooperative behaviors have been associated with characteristics such as greater interdependence for the achievement of goals, more helping behaviors among the different subjects, a higher frequency in the satisfaction of mutual needs and a higher proportion of positive evaluations of the other, and a greater promotion of the behaviors of others.
Cooperation and social cohesion
On the other hand, Grossack concluded that cooperation is positively related to greater group cohesionThe results of this study were similar to those reported by Deutsch.
Sherif confirmed that communicative patterns are more honest in cooperative groups, that there is an increase in mutual trust and favorable disposition among the different members of the group, as well as a greater probability of normative organization. Finally, a greater power of cooperative situations to reduce intergroup conflict situations was observed. Subsequently, other authors have associated the appearance of feelings of counter-empathy, higher anxiety indexes and lower levels of tolerant behaviors in competitive groups of schoolchildren.
Cooperation in education
In the educational field, there is evidence of the multiple positive effects derived from the use of methodologies that promote cooperative work, in turn promoting higher academic performance (in skills such as concept assimilation, problem solving or elaboration of cognitive, mathematical and linguistic products), higher self-esteem, better predisposition to learning, greater intrinsic motivation and a more effective performance of certain social skills (understanding of others, helping behavior, sharing, respect, tolerance and concern among peers or the tendency to cooperate outside of learning situations).
In conclusion
Throughout the text, the benefits obtained in the personal psychological state when the learning of prosocial behavior is enhanced during the developmental stage have been proven. These competencies are fundamental, as they help to connect with the rest of society and benefit from the advantages of being an active member of it.
Thus, the advantages not only have an impact on optimizing the emotional state of the individual, but cooperative behavior is associated with greater academic competence, which facilitates the assumption of cognitive skills such as reasoning and mastery of instrumental knowledge addressed during the school years.
It could be said, therefore, that the encouragement of prosocial behavior becomes a great psychological protective factor for the subject in the futuremaking him/her individually and socially more competent as he/she matures into adulthood. Although it may seem paradoxical, growing up, maturing and gaining autonomy involves knowing how to fit in with others and enjoying their protection in some aspects.
- Cooperative activities.
- Helping tasks and games.
- Empathic activities towards each other. Bibliographical references:
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- Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Review of Psychology, 84, 191-215.
- Calvo, A.J., González, R., & Martorell, M.C. (2001). Variables related to prosocial behavior in childhood and adolescence: personality, self-concept and gender. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 24 (1), 95-111.
- Ortega, P., Minguez, R., & Gil, R. (1997). Cooperative learning and moral development. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 206, 33-51.
- Ortiz, M.J., Apodaka, P., Etxeberrria, I., et al. (1993). Some predictors of prosocialaltruistic behavior in childhood: empathy, perspective taking, attachment, parental models, family discipline, and self-image. Journal of Social Psychology, 8(1), 83-98.
- Roberts, W., & Strayer, J. (1996). Empathy, emotional expressiveness, and prosocial behavior. Child Development, 67 (2), 449-470.
- Roche, R., & Sol, N. (1998). Prosocial education of emotions, values, and attitudes. Barcelona: Art Blume.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)