Values and helping behavior: A study in four cultures

The role of values in coping with health and economic threats of COVID-19

The current research examined the role of values in guiding people's responses to COVID-19. Results from an international study involving 115 countries (N = 61,490) suggest that health and economic threats of COVID-19 evoke different values, with implications for controlling and coping with the pandemic. Specifically, health threats predicted prioritization of communal values related to caring for others and belonging, whereas economic threats predicted prioritization of agentic values focused on competition and achievement. Concurrently and over time, prioritizing communal values over agentic values was associated with enactment of prevention behaviors that reduce virus transmission, motivations to help others suffering from the pandemic, and positive attitudes toward outgroup members. These results, which were generally consistent across individual and national levels of analysis, suggest that COVID-19 threats may indirectly shape important responses to the pandemic through their influence on people's prioritization of communion and agency. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Superordinate identities and self-transcendent emotions: Longitudinal study in Spain and Chile

Recent studies suggest that identification with all humanity (IWAH), apart from being related to universalistic values, could also be related to self-transcendent emotions (STE). In this scenario, the general objective of this cross-cultural longitudinal study is to examine the relationship between identification with proximate categories (i.e., community and country) and superordinate one (all humanity), and their association with positive self-oriented and STEs during a traumatic global phenomenon such as COVID-19 pandemics. Additionally, we explore variations regarding the patterns of those associations in different cultural contexts (Chile and Spain) and examine whether they change among two different time points (T1-T2). The total sample was composed of 403 participants, of whom 224 were residents in Chile (M = 39.25, SD = 12.56; range 18-71 years; 49.6% women) and 179 were residents in Spain (M = 36.35, SD = 12.12; range 18-68 years; 59.8% women). Data collection was carried out in September (T1) and November (T2) 2020, through online surveys administered via Survey Monkey® platform. Overall, results show, as expected, greater identification with proximate categories rather than superordinate ones, and an association between STEs and IWAH, but also with national and community identification. IWAH, but not STEs decreased significantly (T1-T2) in both countries. Thereafter, these emotional and behavioral responses decline as a symptom of growing fatigue with the pandemic situation, and also reflect a shift from broader to more local concerns. Analysis regarding comparisons between countries indicated higher levels of identification with community and with all humanity in Spain and with country in Chile. The results are discussed in the context of new developments in studies on IWAH.

Perceived significant others' values: Are they important in the relationship between personal values and self-reported prosociality?

BACKGROUND

Personal values have been extensively found to be relevant variables linked to prosociality; they are desirable and trans-situational goals that serve as guiding principles in people's lives to select modes, means and actions, these reflecting what people consider relevant and worthy. Research has investigated how cultural background influences people's personal values and prosociality, but little is known about the influence of the perception of the values endorsed by significant others, namely the people belonging to the micro-relational context with whom daily interactions and exchanges are possible. Based on Schwartz's theory of basic human values, we analyzed the moderating role of the perceptions of significant others' values in the relationship between personal values and self-reported prosociality.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

Two hundred and forty-five Italian young adults (66.9% women) aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.58, SD = 2.53) completed a self-report questionnaire.

RESULTS

Specifically, openness to change values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when respondents perceived low importance assigned both to openness to change and self-transcendence by significant others, whereas conservation values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when respondents perceived low importance assigned to self-enhancement by significant others.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings show a complex interplay between personal values and perceived significant others' values in shaping young adults' self-reported prosociality.

Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Effects: Awe, Elevation and Kama Muta Promote a Human Identification and Motivations to Help Others

Abundant literature shows the effects of negative emotions on motivations to engage in collective action (i.e., to collectively mobilize personal resources to achieve a common objective), as well as their influence on the creation of shared identities. In this proposal, we focus on the possible role of Self-Transcendent Emotions (STEs) defined as positive-valence emotions that have been key in the creation and maintenance of collective identities, as well as in promoting individuals well-being. In detail, we examine their influence in (a) strengthening a global identification, (b) increasing willingness to collectively help others, and (c) improving people’s wellbeing. For this reason, we conducted a preliminary literature review of k = 65 independent studies on the effects of STEs on connection to others. Through this review (fully available in Supplementary Materials), we selected a sample of STEs (Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta) and elicitors to conduct a video-base study. In it, 1,064 university students from 3 different cultural regions (from Spain and Ecuador) were randomized to answer one of three STE scales (i.e., each measuring one of the selected STEs), and evaluate three videos in random order (i.e., each prototypical for the selected STEs). Participants also answered a measure of global identification and intentions to collectively help others (after each video), as well as self-transcendent and well-being (at the end of the survey). Results from SEM analyses show these STEs motivated a fusion of identity with all humanity, as well as collective intentions to help others, even controlling for individuals’ value orientations. In addition, the three of them indirectly increased participants’ well-being through a higher global identity. While there are differences among them, these three STEs share common elements and their effects are constant across the different cultural regions. It is concluded that Awe, Elevation, and Kama Muta, even individually experienced, have a significant potential to influence people’s behavior. Specifically, in various forms of collective action aimed at helping others.

Cross-Cultural Values: A Meta-Analysis of Major Quantitative Studies in the Last Decade (2010–2020)

Since 2010, scholars have made major contributions to cross-cultural research, especially regarding similarities and differences across world regions and countries in people’s values, beliefs, and morality. This paper accumulates and analyzes extant multi-national and quantitative studies of these facets of global culture. The paper begins with a summary of the modern history of cross-cultural research, then systematically reviews major empirical studies published since 2010, and next analyzes extant approaches to interpret how the constructs of belief, morality, and values have been theorized and operationalized. The analysis reveals that the field of cross-cultural studies remains dominated by Western approaches, especially studies developed and deployed from the United States and Western Europe. While numerous surveys have been translated and employed for data collection in countries beyond the U.S. and Western Europe, several countries remain under-studied, and the field lacks approaches that were developed within the countries of interest. The paper concludes by outlining future directions for the study of cross-cultural research. To progress from the colonialist past embedded within cross-cultural research, in which scholars from the U.S. and Western Europe export research tools to other world regions, the field needs to expand to include studies locally developed and deployed within more countries and world regions.

Cross-cultural differences in pedestrian behaviors in relation to values: A comparison of five countries

This study compared pedestrian behaviors in five countries (Estonia, Greece, Kosovo, Russia, and Turkey) and investigated the relationships between these behaviors and values in each country. The study participants were 131 pedestrians for Estonia, 249 for Greece, 112 for Kosovo, 176 for Russia, and 145 for Turkey. The principal component analyses revealed that the four-factor structure of the Pedestrian Behavior Scale (PBS) was highly consistent across the five countries. ANCOVA results revealed significant differences between countries on the PBS items and scale scores. Specifically, Greek and Turkish participants reported transgressive pedestrian behaviors more frequently than Estonian, Kosovar, and Russian pedestrians while Kosovar participants reported transgressive pedestrian behaviors less frequently than Estonian pedestrians. In addition, Turkish and Russian pedestrians reported lapses and aggressive behaviors more frequently than Estonian, Greek, and Kosovar pedestrians. Finally, Turkish and Estonian pedestrians reported positive behaviors more frequently than Kosovar pedestrians. Unexpectedly, the regression analyses showed that values have varying effects on pedestrian behavior in the five countries. That is, context or country may determine the effect of values on pedestrian behaviors. The results are discussed in relation to the previous literature.

Value Profiles During Middle Childhood: Developmental Processes and Social Behavior

Little is known about how children's value priorities develop over time. This study identifies children's value priority profiles and follows their development during middle childhood. Australian children (N = 609; ages 5-12 at Time 1) reported their values over 2 years. Latent Transition Analysis indicated four profiles: Social-Focus, Self-Focus, Growth-Focus and Undifferentiated. Within person development was characterized by profile stability or transfer to the Social-Focus profile. Younger children were more likely to have an Undifferentiated profile (or Self-Focus among boys) than older ones. Girls were more likely to have a Social-Focus profile or transfer to it, and less likely to have a Self- or Growth-Focus profile than boys. Social-Focus profile membership over time predicted more prosocial and less aggressive behavior.

Autistic Traits and Prosocial Behaviour in the General Population: Test of the Mediating Effects of Trait Empathy and State Empathic Concern

Although the core characteristics associated with autistic traits are impaired social interactions, there are few studies examining how autistic traits translate into prosocial behaviour in daily life. The current study explored the effect of autistic traits on prosocial behaviour and the mediating role of multimodal empathy (trait empathy and state empathic concern). The results showed that autistic traits reduced prosocial behaviour directly and indirectly through complex mediation by multimodal empathy. The findings revealed the internal mechanism of autistic traits impeding prosocial behaviour and expanded our understandings of social behaviour in autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) and autistic traits in the general population. Furthermore, the results have implications for social adaptability interventions for individuals with ASCs and high levels of autistic traits.

Strangers in a Strange Land: Relations Between Perceptions of Others' Values and Both Civic Engagement and Cultural Estrangement

Healthy democracies require civic engagement (e.g., voting) from their citizens. Past research has suggested that civic engagement is positively associated with self-transcendence values of care and concern for the welfare of others, and negatively associated with self-enhancement values of self-interest, dominance, and personal success. However, research has yet to address whether people's perceptions of others' values are related to civic engagement. Across three studies with nationally representative samples in the UK and US (Ns ≥ 1,000), we explored how civic engagement relates to (a) perceptions of national values, (b) perceptions of the values of one's typical compatriot, and (c) perceptions of the values encouraged by social and cultural institutions. Study 1 showed that the tendency for British citizens to perceive British culture as valuing self-transcendence was associated with an increased likelihood of voting in the 2015 general election. These findings were replicated for “a typical British person” (Study 2) and “a typical American person” (Study 3); Studies 2 and 3 also found that perceived self-enhancement values of typical compatriots were negatively correlated with reported voting. We also examined how perceptions of others' values relate to cultural estrangement—the feeling of not fitting in one's culture or of being atypical. Like civic engagement, those who perceived less self-transcendence and more self-enhancement in their culture felt more culturally estranged. Mediation analyses in Studies 2 and 3 revealed that estrangement helped to explain the relationship between perceptions of others' values and voting. In sum, the extent to which Brits and Americans perceive that self-transcendence values are strongly held by other citizens is associated with feeling less estranged and with reports of being more civically engaged. In contrast, the perception that these targets hold or promote self-enhancement values is positively associated with feelings of estrangement, to the detriment of civic engagement. Implications for future research and democratic processes are discussed.

Behavioral Signatures of Values in Everyday Behavior in Retrospective and Real-Time Self-Reports

We identified behavioral signatures of the values distinguished in the Schwartz et al. refined value theory (2012). We examined behavioral signatures for two types of values, value states and value traits. We conducted two studies using innovative approaches. Study 1 used retrospective self-reports whereas Study 2 used self-reports in real time. In Study 1 (N = 703), we sought act frequency signatures of the 19 basic value traits that the Portrait Value Questionnaire-Revised (Schwartz, 2017) measures. We examined the frequency of 209 acts from the Oregon Avocational Interest Scales (Goldberg, 2010) for which there were no expectations that values would necessarily influence them. We computed partial correlations between each behavioral act and each value. We discuss the theoretical links to each value of the 10 behavioral acts that correlated most highly with it. Study 2 analyzed 9,416 behavioral acts of 374 participants. We measured value expressions in current behavior, i.e., value states, using experience sampling methodology (ESM). We asked participants 7 times per day for 7 days what they had been doing during the past 15 min and how important 9 different values from the Schwartz's refined value theory were to them during that activity. Because the questions about activities were open-ended, the set of behavioral acts analyzed in Study 2 was theoretically unlimited. To find signatures of values in behavior, we identified the activities during which participants reported the highest level of importance for each value. Both studies revealed meaningful associations between values and daily behavior.

Revisiting the difference between instrumental and terminal values to predict (stimulating) prosocial behaviours: The transcendental-change profile

Past research suggests that the connection between values and people's behaviour may not be as straightforward and robust as has been claimed. We propose that a more holistic and discriminative view that acknowledges the influence of a specific combination of values on specific kinds of behaviour is needed. In the current project, we test two hypotheses regarding the transcendental-change profile (TCP). First, that TCP is characterized by a combination of the readiness to engage in those challenges (instrumental) that can make the world a better place (terminal). Second, the centrality of the TCP facilitates performance of those prosocial actions that are perceived as stimulating and global. The results of five studies support the reliability and validity of this conceptualization of TCP (Studies 1 and 2), and show that when the prosocial initiative is perceived as either global (Study 3) or stimulating (Studies 4 and 5), the TCP is the strongest predictor of the willingness and commitment to engage in such prosocial action.

Indulgence and Long Term Orientation Influence Prosocial Behavior at National Level

The relationships between several Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and prosocial behavior at national level have been investigated by some studies. Yet the roles of indulgence versus restraint (IVR) and long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO), two newly established cultural dimensions, have received insufficient interest. This study aimed to investigate whether the World Giving Index (WGI), a national level measure of prosocial behavior (including donating, volunteering, and helping a stranger) provided by Gallup, was affected by IVR and LTO. The results suggested a positive link between IVR and WGI, and a negative link between LTO and helping a stranger. Culture values can in a great extend account for why prosocial behavior varies across countries. Further analysis revealed interactions among IVR, LTO, and individualism versus collectivism (IND). Simple slope analyses found that: (1) a higher level of IND could enhance the positive influence of IVR on prosocial behavior; (2) a lower level of IND could weaken the negative impact of LTO on prosocial behavior; (3) a higher level of IVR could weaken the negative effect of LTO on prosocial behavior.

Metric Goodness of the Adult Prosocialness Scale. Comparative Study of Italy and Spain

The main goal of the study is to analyze the metric goodness of the Spanish version of the Adult Prosocialness Scale (Caprara, Steca, Zelli, & Capanna, 2005). Analysis of construct and concurrent validity in two similar samples of young adults, a Spanish sample (target of the adaptation) and an Italian sample (source language), revealed the adequacy of the Spanish version of instrument, with adequate fit of the model in the Spanish group, χ2(96) = 405.28, p = .001, RMSEA = .071, CFI = .94, GFI = .93, and the Italian group χ2(97) = 224.5, p = .001, RMSEA = .075, CFI = .91, GFI = .90. The results also replicated the adequacy of the instrument found in the Italian sample, as the configural and metric invariance was verified in both groups. Analyses of benevolent and power values related to prosociality and differences between genders supported the validity of the scale. In short, the present study confirms the adequacy and sensitivity of the instrument to study prosociality in young adults in a Spanish sample.

Traits and values as predictors of the frequency of everyday behavior: Comparison between models and levels

The aims of this study were to compare (a) personality traits vs personal values, (b) Five-Factor Model (FFM) vs HEXACO model of personality traits, and (c) broad vs narrow personality constructs in terms of their relationship with the frequency of everyday behaviors. These relationships were analyzed at three organizational levels of self-reported behavior: (a) single behavioral acts, (b) behavioral components (empirically derived categories of similar behaviors), and (c) two higher-order factors. The study was conducted on a Polish sample (N = 532, age range 16–72). We found that (a) even the frequencies of single behavioral acts were related to various personality constructs instead of one narrow trait or value, (b) personality traits and personal values were comparable as predictors of a wide range of everyday behaviors, (c) HEXACO correlated with the frequency of behaviors slightly higher than FFM, and (d) narrow and broad personality constructs did not differ substantially as predictors of everyday behavior at the levels of acts and components, but at the level of higher-order behavioral factors, broad personality measures were better predictors than narrow ones.

Value systems among adolescents: Novel method for assessing level of ego-development

Children's value systems develop through youth and influence attitudes and actions. But there is a lack of appropriate measures for children and adolescents. The objective of this study was to construct and validate a questionnaire that reveals distinct value systems among adolescents, and to evaluate the identified value systems' relationship to degree of ego-development and moral development. A quantitative study in a Swedish School with ages 12 through 16 (grades 6 to 9) was performed (N = 204). A set of pattern recognition statistical analyses has been used to identify different profiles of values systems and demonstrate that these systems can be arranged in a hierarchical order similar to other development. Results revealed three value systems in this sample. The identified value systems reflect different degrees of moral and ego-development among children in the study. Three distinct value systems were identified: the first (n = 9) and the second value systems (n = 35) correspond to pre-conventional stages, and the third value system (n = 155) corresponds to early conventional stages of ego development. Ego development scoring of test statements to assess stages. The value system was significantly related to moral development in the personal interest and the maintaining norms schemas of the Defining Issues Test (DIT). However, many students did not complete the entire DIT, so those results should be looked at with caution. It appears that this new test (Test for Adolescent Value Systems - TAVS) does relate to an established ego development rating scale.