Development of Prosocial

Behavior
 What is pro- social behavior is
?
• Prosocial behavior, the ability for children to voluntarily
act in a positive, accepting, helpful, and cooperative
manner, has been associated with many factors of well-
being. ...

• The development of prosocial behavior is complex

as children have to balance their own needs and interests
with the development of social bonds.
 9 Ways for Parents to Promote Prosocial Behavior in Early
Childhood

1. Provide clear rules and expectations about behavior. These rules

need to be based in the principles of development as they govern
consequences of behavior. It is important to explain the reasons for
social rules and to clarify “cause and effect” of children’s choices
and actions.

2. Say it like you mean it.

The appropriate emotional level should accompany any
expression of a rule or expectation. The nonverbal aspect of
delivery is vital to the overall message for the effect says it
matters. Children should sense our praise and approval of prosocial
behavior in our tone and expression. Similarly we should be firm and
direct when we are correcting or redirecting inappropriate behavior.
3. Notice and label when the child engages in prosocial behavior.
Short, simple phrases such as, “You were being helpful…” “You
were kind to…” reinforce and send the message that actions
matter. These reflections of behavior by authoritative adults help
children internalize these attributes and the source of behavior.
The same is true of antisocial behaviors, and when adults notice
and label these behaviors, children are better able to understand
and act in appropriate ways. Importantly, the process takes
practice and consistency over time.
4. Modeling. Walking your talk is a powerful teacher for children
learn through what they see from caring adults.
Imitation is a powerful form of learning and more influential than
preaching. The voluntary nature of prosocial behavior requires a
child to have consistent models and experiences to learn and
internalize the importance and benefits of these actions. Your
child watches you constantly and the relationship offers many
opportunities to “show” children how to act and make choices.
5. Responsive and empathic care.
Children are much more likely to give what they
have received in their most important relationships.
Research has pointed to the connection between a
secure parent-child attachment and prosocial
behavior as well as empathy in early childhood.
6. Respect for nature.
Modeling and teaching care and respect for the
environment and its inhabitants offers a powerful
message. Picking up litter, tending a garden, being
respectful to animals and their habitats are just a few
of the many ways nature can teach the value of
caring, gratitude, and connection.
7.Read books about friendship and relationships.
Early on, picture books can provide powerful narratives of
the importance and benefits of prosocial behavior.

8. Tasks and chores.

Defining and assigning concrete tasks that make up the
business-as-usual parts of the day creates a sense of
connection. Age-appropriate tasks and chores are a great way
for children to be and feel helpful.

9. Avoid programs and content endorsing violent or anti- social

behavior.
Regardless of the format, content that is age-appropriate
and created within standard rating guidelines offer choices
that are more developmentally suitable for young children.
With screens ever-present in the environment, consider
choosing programs with prosocial themes of friendship,
exploration, problem-solving, and cooperation.
 The Basics of Prosocial Behavior

• Prosocial behaviors are those intended to help other

people. These actions are characterized by a
concern for the rights, feelings, and welfare of other
people. Behaviors that can be described as
prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for
others.
• Prosocial behavior includes a wide range of actions
such as helping, sharing, comforting, and
cooperating. The term itself originated during the
1970s and was introduced by social scientists as an
antonym for the term antisocial behavior.
 Benefits

• Mood-boosting effects:
Research has also shown that people who engage in prosocial
behaviors are more likely to experience better moods. Not only
that, people who help others tend to experience negative moods
less frequently.
• Social support benefits:
Having social support can be crucial for getting through
difficult times. Research has shown that social support can have
a powerful impact on many aspects of wellness, including
reducing the risk of loneliness, alcohol use, and depression.
• Stress-reducing effects:
Research has also found that engaging in prosocial behaviors
helps mitigate the negative emotional effects of stress.1 Helping
others may actually be a great way to reduce the impact of
stress in your life.
 Sharing, cooperating and helping are some of
the forms prosocial behavior can take. Skills
such as perspective taking, empathy, and
self-regulation contribute to the development
of prosocial behavior. To enhance early moral
development and prosocial skills:
Parents can:
• provide warm and supportive parenting;
• use positive discipline;
• present consistent messages
• explain right from wrong, and
• consider each child's own personality and abilities in
providing socialization experiences. 
Educators and teachers can:
• create emotionally supportive learning
environments (e.g., establish positive
relationships and promote positive interactions);

• create caring classroom communities (e.g.,

authoritative discipline and effective
communication practices);

• teach and reinforce positive social skills, and 

• use collaborative and cooperative learning
activities.
 While prosocial behavior is often presented as a single,
uniform dimension, some research suggests that there are
different types. These types are distinguished based on why
they are produced and include:

• Proactive: These are prosocial actions that serve self-

benefitting purposes.
• Reactive: These are actions that are performed in
response to individual needs.
• Altruistic: These include actions that are meant to help
others without any expectations of personal gain.
• When it comes to learning and enhancing
prosocial skills with peers and friends, it
takes place during play, friendships and
peer group interactions and while
cooperating and collaborating during
more formal learning activities.
• Individual differences in prosocial behavior are caused
by a combination of heredity, socialization, and
situational factors.
• Prosocial behaviors can be preformed for a variety of
reasons, ranging from selfish and manipulative
reasons (e.g., helping get something in return) to moral
and other-oriented reasons (e.g., helping because of
moral principles or sympathy for another’s plight).
• Prosocial behavior that is not performed for material or
social rewards (e.g., rewards, approval), but is based
on concern for another or moral values, is usually
labeled “altruism.
 Prosocial Behavior Importance
• Prosocial behavior is relevant to both the quality of close
interpersonal relationships and to interactions among
individuals and groups without close ties.

• People, as individuals or as members of a group, often

assist others in need or distress, as well as others whose
needs are relatively trivial.

• Charities and societies depend on people helping one

another. In addition, prosocial behavior has benefits for the
benefactor.

• For example, children who are more prosocial tend to be

better liked by peers, and adults who engage in helping
activities tend to have better psychological health.
 Personal Characteristics Associated with Prosocial Behavior

• As is evident in everyday life, some people are

more prosocial than others. Prosocial children and
adults tend to be prone to sympathize with others.

• They also are more likely to understand others’

thoughts and feelings and to try to take others’
perspectives.

• 
• In addition, people who tend to assist others often
hold other-oriented values (e.g., value others’ well-
being) and tend to assign the responsibility for
actions such as helping to themselves.

• Prosocial children tend to be positive in their

emotional expression, socially competent, well
adjusted, well regulated, and have a positive self-
concept.
 Situational Factors and Prosocial Behavior

• Even though some people are more prone to help than are others,
situational factors also can have a powerful effect on people’s
willingness to help.

• For example, people are less likely to help when the cost of helping
is high. They also are more likely to help attractive people and to
help if they are the only ones available to help (e.g., there are no
other people around who see an individual who needs assistance).
• People in good moods are likely to assist others more than are
people in neutral moods, although sometimes people in bad
moods seem to help others to raise their moods.
• People also are more likely to help if they are exposed to models
of prosocial behavior.

• Moreover, the interaction of situational factors with personality

characteristics of potential helpers is important; for example,
sociable people seem more likely to provide types of helping that
involve social interaction whereas shy individuals often may
tend to help in situations in which they do not need to be
outgoing or socially assertive.
 Origins of Prosocial Behavior

• Prosocial behavior is a complex behavior affected by numerous

factors, both biological and environmental. Findings in twin studies
support the view that heredity plays a role:

• Identical twins (who share 100% of their genes) are more similar to
each other in prosocial behavior, as well as sympathetic concern,
than are fraternal twins (who share only 50% of their genes).

• Heredity likely affects aspects of temperament or personality such

as self-regulation, emotionality, and agreeableness, which contribute
to people engaging in higher levels of prosocial behavior.
• Considerable evidence also indicates that individual differences in prosocial
behavior also are linked to socialization. For example, adults are more likely
to help others if, as children, their parents were models of prosocial behavior.

• Warm, supportive parenting, especially if combined with the use of positive

discipline (e.g., the use of reasoning with children about wrongdoing),

• has also been linked to prosocial tendencies in children, whereas punitive

parenting (e.g., parenting involving physical punishment, the deprivation of
privileges, or threats thereof)

• has been inversely related. Parents who help their children to attend to and
understand others’ feelings tend to foster prosocial tendencies in their
offspring.

• Appropriate levels of parental control, when combined with parental support,

prosocial values, and behaviors that help children to attend to and care about
others’ needs, seem to foster prosocial responding.
Age and Sex Differences in Prosocial Behavior

• Even very young children, for example, 1-year-olds, sometimes

help or comfort others. However, the frequencies of most types of
prosocial behavior increase during childhood until adolescence.

• It currently is unclear if prosocial tendencies increase or not in

adulthood.

• This increase in prosocial behavior with age in childhood is likely

caused by a number of factors, including increased perspective-
taking skills and sympathy, internalization of other-oriented,
prosocial values, greater awareness of the social desirability of
helping, and greater competence to help others.
• There also are sex differences in sympathy and prosocial
behavior. In childhood, girls tend to be somewhat, but not
greatly, more likely to engage in prosocial behavior.

• Girls also are more empathic or sympathetic, albeit this sex

difference is small and depends on the method of assessing
empathy or sympathy. Women are perceived as more
nurturing and prosocial, although they likely help more only in
certain kinds of circumstances.

• Indeed, men are more likely to help when there is some risk
involved (e.g., interactions with a stranger on the street) or if
chivalry might be involved.
Prosocial Behavior vs. Altruism

• Altruism is often seen as a form of prosocial behavior,

but some experts suggest that they represent different
concepts. While prosocial behavior is seen as a type of
helping behavior that ultimately confers some benefits to
the self, altruism is viewed as a form of helping motivated
purely out of concern for the individual in need.
Causes

• Prosocial behavior has long posed a

challenge to social scientists.
Researchers seek to understand why
people engage in helping behaviors that
are beneficial to others, but costly to the
individual performing the action.
 Psychologists suggest that there are a number of
reasons why people engage in prosocial behavior.

• Evolutionary influences: 
Evolutionary psychologists  often explain prosocial behaviors in terms of the
principles of natural selection. While putting your own safety in danger makes it
less likely that you will survive to pass on your own genes, kin selection suggests
that helping members of your own genetic family makes it more likely that your
kin will survive and pass on genes to future generations.
Researchers have been able to produce some evidence that people are often
more likely to help those to whom they are closely related.
• Personal benefits: Prosocial behaviors are often seen as being compelled by a
number of factors including egoistic reasons (doing things to improve one's self-
image), reciprocal benefits (doing something nice for someone so that they may
one day return the favor), and more altruistic reasons (performing actions purely
out of empathy for another individual).
• Reciprocal behavior: The norm of reciprocity suggests that when people do
something helpful for someone else, that person feels compelled to help out in
return. This norm developed, evolutionary psychologists suggest, because people
who understood that helping others might lead to reciprocal kindness were more
likely to survive and reproduce.
• Socialization: In many cases, such behaviors are fostered during childhood and
adolescence as adults encourage children to share, act kindly, and help others.5
The Bystander Effect

• The bystander effect refers to the tendency for people to become less
likely to assist a person in distress when there are a number of other
people also present.
• Characteristics of the situation can also have a powerful impact on
whether or not people engage in prosocial actions. The 
bystander effect is one of the most notable examples of how the
situation can impact helping behaviors.
Other Influences on Prosocial Behavior

• Fear of judgment or embarrassment: People sometimes fear leaping to

assistance only to discover that their help was unwanted or unwarranted.
In order to avoid being judged by other bystanders, people simply take no
action.
• How other people respond: People also tend to look to others for how to
respond in such situations, particularly if the event contains some level of
ambiguity. If no one else seems to be reacting, then individuals become
less likely to respond as well.
• The number of people present: The more people who are around, the
less personal responsibility people feel in a situation. This is known as the 
diffusion of responsibility.
How to Take Action

• Researchers have also have suggested that five key

things must happen in order for a person to take
action. An individual must:
• Notice what is happening
• Interpret the event as an emergency
• Experience feelings of responsibility
• Believe that they have the skills to help
• Make a conscious choice to offer assistance
 Prosocial behavior can be a beneficial force for individuals,
communities, and societies. While there are many factors
that contribute to helping actions, there are things that you
can do to improve prosocial actions in yourself and in
others:
• Develop your skills:
One reason why people fail to help is that they feel like they don't really have the
necessary skills to be of assistance. You can overcome this by doing things like learning the
basics of first aid or CPR, so that you'll feel better prepared if you do find yourself in an
emergency situation.
• Model prosocial actions:
If you are a parent, provide a good example for your children by letting them see you
engage in helpful actions. Even if you don't have kids, prosocial behaviors can help inspire
others to take action. Volunteer in your community or look for other ways that you can help
people.
• Praise acts of kindness:
When you see kids (or even adults) doing kind things for others, let them know you
appreciate it.
• References:
• Eisenberg, N. (1992). The caring child. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Eisenberg, N., & Mussen, P. (1989). The roots of prosocial behavior in children.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., & Schroeder, D. A. (2005). Prosocial
behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365-392.
• Schroeder, D. A., Penner, L. A., Dovidio, J. F., & Piliavin, J. A. (1995). The
psychology of helping and altruism: Problems and puzzles. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
• https://www.verywellmind.com/
Thank you