Acting altruistically is one of humanity’s most praised, yet most puzzling behaviours. The aim of the present research is to examine the possibility that increased prosocial intentions can result from attempts to compensate for threats to perceptions of order. Previous research has found that people compensate order threats by increasing perceptions of control in external sources (Kay et al, 2008). Several competing theories on the origins of prosocial behaviour exist, such as the debate between Daniel Batson, advocating altruism, and Robert Cialdini, advocating an egoistic explanation. However, thus far no research has been published concerning the possibility of prosocial intentions acting as a compensatory mechanism to restore a sense of order in the world. In Study 1 perceptions of order were manipulated through writing about a time when participants did or did not have control over a positive outcome, followed by measurements of intentions to donate blood at an upcoming blood drive. In Study 2 participants read of a fake Harvard conference suggesting that the world was random. Participants then had an opportunity to restore control or did not have this opportunity, followed by a measurement of intentions to help solve problems in the world. Results of these studies support the hypothesis that intentions to act prosocially increase following threats to perceptions of order and control. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1989. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Maxine Greene. Dissertation Committee: Jonas Soltis. Bibliography: leaves 149-155.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Michael Ruse, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Philosophy. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 13, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1931. / "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries." "List of works referred to": p. [53]-55.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Bibliography : leaves 87-93. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Economics)--Vanderbilt University, May 2010. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 346 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Athletics are an important context for youth development, but research findings have been mixed in terms of how sports participation fosters identity development and character growth. Adolescents’ active processing of who they are and who they could become is an integral part of identity work and fostered by altruistic activities. Twenty-four youth were interviewed surrounding their participation in full- and half-marathons through a non-profit humanitarian organization. Thematic results describe their self-concept, how they framed their purpose for running, the role of struggle in identity work, and new perspectives that emerged from the physical and social marathon experience.

Benjamin Whorf proposed a relationship between habitual language use and automatic behavior. His work has since led to a great deal of linguistic research, but the field thus far has neglected to explore the relationship between individual lexical items and their connotational effects. This work explores the relationship between exposure to altruism-related words and the subsequent lexical accessibility of aggressive words, then applies that research to real-life situations by exploring the consumer entitlement paradigm with the manipulation of slogans. I found that in a response time study, priming with altruistic items facilitated the lexical accessibility of aggressive items; however, in an untimed ambiguous word completion task, exposure to an altruistic prime decreased the number of aggressive responses. This may suggest an additional level of processing beyond that of phonological, grammatical, and prosodic elements, in which cultural and usage-based connotation affects the output as well. Finally, tests of a customer service scenario found that slogan manipulation did result in several significant effects, which effects were most commonly found in subjects outside the 18-25 age range, and male subjects. An entitled slogan generally resulted in more negative attitudes towards a hypothetical store associate in a potentially-antagonistic customer service encounter and a higher reported likelihood of further action on the matter, while an altruistic slogan generally resulted in the opposite. However, these results were highly dependent on question framing. Implications for linguistics, psychology, and practical applications are discussed.