Measuring Prosocial Tendencies in Germany: Sources of Validity and Reliablity of the Revised Prosocial Tendency Measure

The effect of autistic traits on prosocial behavior: The chain mediating role of received social support and perceived social support

ABSTRACT

There is growing evidence that the defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorder are distributed across the general population; therefore, understanding the correlates of prosocial behavior in individuals with high levels of autistic traits could shed light on autism spectrum disorder and prosocial behavior. In this study, the mechanism underlying the influence of individuals’ autistic traits on their prosocial behavior was explored by conducting a questionnaire survey of 414 Chinese college students. The results showed that autistic traits can influence individuals’ prosocial behavior not only through the separate effects of received social support and perceived social support but also through the chain mediating effects of received social support and perceived social support; however, the direct effect of autistic traits on individuals’ prosocial behavior is not significant. This study is conducive to understanding the internal mechanism underlying the relationship between autistic traits and prosocial behavior. Future work is required to further investigate the clinical autism spectrum disorder samples and cross-cultural applicability of the model found in this study.

Gender-Specific Patterns of Relations among Acculturative Stress, Family Processes, and Prosocial Behaviors in Latinx Youth

The present study was designed to examine the direct and indirect relations between acculturative stress and Latinx youth prosocial tendencies. In addition, we considered family conflict, parental support, and parental psychological control as explanatory mechanisms. Participants included 306 (53.8% female, Mage = 15.50, SD = .42; range = 14 to 18) Latinx adolescents and their parents (87.9% mothers). The majority of adolescents were born in the U.S. (n = 206, 68.0%; average time in U.S. = 10 years) and identified as a Mexican heritage group member (n = 248, 81.0%). Findings differed by youth gender and suggest that for boys, parental support (but not psychological control) serves as underlying mechanism in the effects of acculturative stress and family conflict on youth's prosocial behaviors. Contrastingly, for girls, parental support (but not psychological control) serves as underlying mechanism in the negative effects of family conflict (but not acculturative stress) on youth's prosocial behaviors. The findings are discussed in the context of the need for integrative theories that account for cultural, family and gender-related socialization mechanisms to better understand prosocial behaviors among Latinx youth.

Can monetary incentives overturn fairness-based decisions?

Fairness norms and resulting behaviours are an important prerequisite for cooperation in human societies. At the same time, financial incentives are commonly used to motivate social behaviours, yet it remains unclear how financial incentives affect fairness-based behaviours. Combining a decision paradigm from behavioural economics with hierarchical drift-diffusion modelling, we investigated the effect of different financial incentives on two types of fairness-based decisions in four experimental groups. In two groups, participants divided points between themselves and a disadvantaged person, inciting fairness-based compensation behaviour, in two other groups they divided points between themselves and a fairness violator, inciting fairness-based punishment behaviour. In addition, each group received financial incentives that were either aligned or in conflict with the respective fairness-based behaviour. This design allowed us to directly investigate how different incentives shape the cognitive mechanism of fairness-based decisions and whether these effects are comparable across different fairness domains (fairness-based punishment versus fairness-based compensation). Results showed that offering conflicting incentives diminished fairness-congruent decision behaviour and rendered the fairness-congruent decision process less efficient. These findings demonstrate that financial incentives can undermine fairness-based behaviour, and thus are relevant for the development of incentive schemes aimed at fostering cooperative behaviour.

Measurement of Prosocial Tendencies: Meta-Analysis of the Generalization of the Reliability of the Instrument

The Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) and its revised version (PTM-R) are used internationally to measure prosocial behaviors in different life situations. To obtain accumulated evidence of the report and the reliability of its scores, a meta-analysis of the reliability of internal consistency was performed. The databases of Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were reviewed and all the studies that applied it from 2002 to 2021 were selected. Results: Only 47.9% of the studies presented the index of reliability of PTM and PTM-R. The meta-analytic results of the reliability report of the subscales that the PTM and the PTM-R have in common were: Public 0.78 (95% CI: 0.76-0.80), Anonymous 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79-0.82), Dire 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71-0.76), and Compliant 0.71 (95% CI: 0.72-0.78). Each one of them presents high levels of heterogeneity derived from the gender of the participants (percentage of women), the continent of the population, the validation design, the incentive to participate, and the form of application. It is concluded that both versions present acceptable reliabilities to measure prosocial behavior in different groups and situations, as adolescents and young people, but their clinical use is discouraged.

Configuration of prosocial motivations to enhance employees' innovation behaviors: From the perspective of coupling of basic and applied research

Prosocial motivation refers to the employees' willingness to invest for the sake of helping others. It improves basic and applied research behaviors of employees and the interaction between them. Employees' innovation behavior depends on prosocial motivation because the motivation to protect the interests of others may promote knowledge sharing and knowledge coupling. However, there is a research gap in solving the optimal solution of prosocial motivations that facilitates different types of innovation behaviors based on the combination of prosocial motivations. We perform a qualitative comparative study on the effect of the motivation configurations on innovation behaviors. We find that highly basic and highly applied research behaviors share in common collectivism-based, principlism-based, contextual, and situational motivations which work in all configurations. But the core conditions between the two are different, which are principlism-based and situational motivations, respectively. In addition, both highly basic-to-applied and highly applied-to-basic transformation behaviors share the same core condition and the same secondary conditions with highly basic and highly applied research behaviors, respectively. Moreover, the behaviors of non-highly basic research and non-highly basic-to-applied transformation share the severe absence of egoism-based motivation as the core condition in common. Non-highly behaviors of applied research and applied-to-basic transformation have a common point of the severe absence of the pressure-based type as the key. Finally, we also analyze active and passive prosocial degrees of all types of high/non-high innovation behaviors. Our study deepens the academics' thinking on multi-dimensional prosocial motivation and the classification management of coupling innovation behavior and provides implications for practice.

On second thought … the influence of a second stage in the ultimatum game on decision behavior, electro-cortical correlates and their trait interrelation

Previous EEG research only investigated one stage ultimatum games (UGs). We investigated the influence of a second bargaining stage in an UG concerning behavioral responses, electro-cortical correlates and their moderations by the traits altruism, anger, anxiety, and greed in 92 participants. We found that an additional stage led to more rejection in the 2-stage UG (2SUG) and that increasing offers in the second stage compared to the first stage led to more acceptance. The FRN during a trial was linked to expectance evaluation concerning the fairness of the offers, while midfrontal theta was a marker for the needed cognitive control to overcome the respective default behavioral pattern. The FRN responses to unfair offers were more negative for either low or high altruism in the UG, while high trait anxiety led to more negative FRN responses in the first stage of 2SUG, indicating higher sensitivity to unfairness. Accordingly, the mean FRN response, representing the trait-like general electrocortical reactivity to unfairness, predicted rejection in the first stage of 2SUG. Additionally, we found that high trait anger led to more rejections for unfair offer in 2SUG in general, while trait altruism led to more rejection of unimproving unfair offers in the second stage of 2SUG. In contrast, trait anxiety led to more acceptance in the second stage of 2SUG, while trait greed even led to more acceptance if the offer was worse than in the stage before. These findings suggest, that 2SUG creates a trait activation situation compared to the UG.

Step Aside! VR-Based Evaluation of Adaptive Robot Conflict Resolution Strategies for Domestic Service Robots

As domestic service robots become more prevalent and act autonomously, conflicts of interest between humans and robots become more likely. Hereby, the robot shall be able to negotiate with humans effectively and appropriately to fulfill its tasks. One promising approach could be the imitation of human conflict resolution behaviour and the use of persuasive requests. The presented study complements previous work by investigating combinations of assertive and polite request elements (appeal, showing benefit, command), which have been found to be effective in HRI. The conflict resolution strategies each contained two types of requests, the order of which was varied to either mimic or contradict human conflict resolution behaviour. The strategies were also adapted to the users’ compliance behaviour. If the participant complied after the first request, no second request was issued. In a virtual reality experiment ($$N = 57$$ N = 57 ) with two trials, six different strategies were evaluated regarding user compliance, robot acceptance, trust, and fear and compared to a control condition featuring no request elements. The experiment featured a human-robot goal conflict scenario concerning household tasks at home. The results show that in trial 1, strategies reflecting human politeness and conflict resolution norms were more accepted, polite, and trustworthier than strategies entailing a command. No differences were found for trial 2. Overall, compliance rates were comparable to human-human-requests. Compliance rates did not differ between strategies. The contribution is twofold: presenting an experimental paradigm to investigate a human-robot conflict scenario and providing a first step to developing acceptable robot conflict resolution strategies based on human behaviour.

Constructing the Facets of Altruistic Behaviors (FAB) Scale

Abstract. Behavior is effectively altruistic to the degree that it is costly for the actor while benefiting others. In a series of preregistered studies, we constructed a 15-item self-report scale assessing three different facets of altruistic behavioral traits: help-giving, moral courage, and peer punishment. Item selection was performed with the help of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) procedures as implemented in the stuart package for R. Confirmatory factor analysis of the three-factor measurement model showed excellent fit, outperforming classical item selection procedures. The scale was structure-validated in a second sample using a multiple group model that showed full measurement and structural invariance. A pilot study shows correlations of the subscales with economic game decisions. We discuss the scale structure and potential applications.

COVID-19 Protective Behaviors Are Forms of Prosocial and Unselfish Behaviors

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of prosocial and antisocial personality tendencies and context-related state factors on compliance with protective behaviors to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections. Six types of prosocial tendencies (altruism, dire, compliant, emotional, public, and anonymous) and selfishness as the antisocial tendency were included as personality factors, while fear related to the pandemic and empathy toward vulnerable groups (i.e., those in forced isolation) were context-related factors. Furthermore, mediation effect of empathy and moderation effect of fear were explored in relations between personality factors and protective behaviors. The sample included 581 participants (78.3% females). The data were collected from March 28 to April 6, 2020, during the emergency state and curfew in Serbia. The results showed that tendency to help anonymously had a positive effect and selfishness had a negative effect on protective behaviors, over and above demographic characteristics and context-related factors. Among context-related factors, only fear related to the pandemic had a significant unique positive effect on protective behaviors, but it had no moderator effect in the relationship between personality traits and protective behaviors. However, empathy acted as a mediator and partly accounted for the negative effect of selfishness and positive effect of tendency to help anonymously on protective behaviors. The results revealed that compliance with protective measures could be seen as prosocial and unselfish form of behavior. Furthermore, these findings have practical implications for shaping public messages and they can help effectively promote health-responsible behaviors.

Latent profiles of multidimensional prosocial behaviors: An examination of prosocial personality groups

The current study sought to determine how prosocial behaviors reflecting various motivations (altruistic and public prosocial behaviors) and situations (i.e., anonymous, compliant, dire, and emotional prosocial behaviors) jointly inform subtypes of prosocial personality groups. Undergraduates (N = 324, M age = 19.47 years, 80% female) completed a measure of these six prosocial behaviors (Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised). Latent profile analysis results supported a three-group solution: altruistic helpers (AH), public helpers (PH), and altruistic idealists (AI). The AH and AI profiles were defined by elevated altruistic prosocial behaviors, but the AH profile was higher on situational helping and socioemotive and sociocognitive correlates. The PH profile was characterized by elevated public prosocial behaviors and moderate levels of situational helping. These identified profiles support multiple competing ideas of the true nature of prosocial personality, but also introduce the possibility that some individuals idealize motives but fail to engage in behavior.

Nativity as a Moderator of Familial and Nonfamilial Correlates of Latino/a Youth Prosocial Behaviors

Familial and nonfamilial relations play prominent roles in fostering youths' prosocial tendencies. The present study examined the direct and indirect relations among family conflict, parental and peer acceptance, deviant peer affiliation, and prosocial tendencies. Participants included 306 (53.8% female, M_age  = 15.50, SD = .42; range = 14-18) U.S. Latino/a adolescents and their parents (87.9% mothers). The majority of adolescents were born in the United States (N = 206, 68.0%; average time in United States = 10 years) and identified as a Mexican heritage group member (N = 248, 81.0%). Findings differed by nativity as parental acceptance predicted prosocial tendencies for U.S. Latinos/as born outside the United States and peers were significant predictors of prosocial tendencies for U.S.-born Latino/as.

It's costly punishment, not altruistic: Low midfrontal theta and state anger predict punishment

Punishment in economic games has been interpreted as "altruistic." However, it was shown that punishment is related to trait anger instead of trait altruism in a third-party dictator game if compensation is also available. Here, we investigated the influence of state anger on punishment and compensation in the third-party dictator game. Therefore, we used movie sequences for emotional priming, including the target states anger, happy, and neutral. We measured the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and midfrontal theta band activation, to investigate an electro-cortical correlate of the processing of fair and unfair offers. Also, we assessed single-trial FRN and midfrontal theta band activation as a predictor for punishment and compensation. We found that punishment was linked to state anger. Midfrontal theta band activation, which has previously been linked to altruistic acts and cognitive control, predicted less punishment. Additionally, trait anger led to enhanced FRN for unfair offers. This led to the interpretation that the FRN depicts the evaluation of fairness, while midfrontal theta band activation captures an aspect of cognitive control and altruistic motivation. We conclude that we need to redefine "altruistic punishment" into "costly punishment," as no direct link of altruism and punishment is given. Additionally, midfrontal theta band activation complements the FRN and offers additional insights into complex responses and decision processes, especially as a single trial predictor.

Measurement Invariance of the Prosocial Behavior Scale in Three Hispanic Countries (Argentina, Spain, and Peru)

In a growing context of multiculturalism, prosocial behavior is important to build effective social exchange and service orientation among university students. The present study investigates prosocial behavior from a psychometric approach, to obtain evidence of the internal structure of the prosocial behavior scale (PS), in 737 young people enrolled at universities in Argentina (207), Spain (310), and Peru (220). First, the clarity of the items was explored in the three countries; second, possible irrelevant patterns of response, such as the careless and extreme responses, were evaluated; third, the non-parametric Mokken methodology was applied to identify the basic properties of the scale score; fourth, the structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology was used to identify the properties of the internal structure (dimensionality, tau-equivalence) of the latent construct; fifth, the measurement invariance according to sex (intra-equivalence) and country (inter-equivalence) was examined with the SEM methodology and other complementary strategies. Finally, reliability and internal consistency were evaluated both at score level and at item level. Implications for use of the PS instrument are discussed.

Effect of Environmental and Altruistic Attitudes on Willingness-to-Pay for Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in Flanders

Sustainability labels, on food products, provide information to consumers that the product has been produced in an ethical and environmentally friendly way. We explore the knowledge and purchasing behaviour of the organic label and fair trade label. Secondly, we investigate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for food products bearing organic and fair trade labels. Thirdly, we examine the effects of demographic characteristics and environmental and altruistic attitudes on WTP for both organic and fair trade labels. Lastly, we evaluate the correlation in WTP for organic and fair trade labels. We draw our conclusions by analyzing a stated choice experiment on consumers’ coffee buying behaviour in Flanders, Belgium. Our results suggest that knowledge of the fair trade label is higher than that of the organic label. The importance of the organic and fair trade labels on coffee purchase decisions, as well as their WTP estimates, were similar. We found a high correlation in WTP for both labels. Our results indicate significant effects of environmental and altruistic attitudes on WTP for both organic and fair trade labels as they apply to coffee.

Altruistic punishment is connected to trait anger, not trait altruism, if compensation is available

Altruistic punishment and altruistic compensation are important concepts that are used to investigate altruism. However, altruistic punishment has been found to be correlated with anger. We were interested whether altruistic punishment and altruistic compensation are both driven by trait altruism and trait anger or whether the influence of those two traits is more specific to one of the behavioral options. We found that if the participants were able to apply altruistic compensation and altruistic punishment together in one paradigm, trait anger only predicts altruistic punishment and trait altruism only predicts altruistic compensation. Interestingly, these relations are disguised in classical altruistic punishment and altruistic compensation paradigms where participants can either only punish or compensate. Hence altruistic punishment and altruistic compensation paradigms should be merged together if one is interested in trait altruism without the confounding influence of trait anger.