Thesis advisor: Jacqueline V. Lerner / Youth contribution is important to the development of a healthy society (Lerner, Dowling et al., 2003; Schmid & Lopez, 2011). As youth develop on positive trajectories, they engage in higher rates of contribution to self, family, community, and civil society (Lerner, 2004). Many youth believe it is important to participate in contribution-oriented activities, but not many are involved in personally meaningful forms of contribution (Hershberg et al., 2014; Zeldin et al., 2013). In order to engage youth in contribution, and thereby increase the likelihood that they will continue to contribute into adulthood, it is important to understand the processes involved in contribution, the ways in which adolescents experience contribution, and how they conceptualize their role in giving back to the community. In the present research, I addressed the following questions: 1) How do adolescent girls experience contribution in their lives? (a) In which contribution-related activities are they involved? (b) What beliefs do they have about contribution? (2) How do adolescent girls direct their contribution goals or efforts? To whom do they contribute, or want to contribute? (3) What motivations are associated with contribution goals or efforts for adolescent girls? Through in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, I investigated adolescent contribution in nine adolescent girls in high school. This subsample of participants is drawn from the Connecting Adolescents’ Beliefs and Behaviors (CABB) Study (Lerner & Johnson, 2014), a longitudinal investigation of youth character development in adolescent students in the New England area. I analyzed the interviews using the Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2006), a method for analysis of qualitative texts. I derived many themes from these texts to address my research questions. Youth expressed a range of contribution experiences, including how they conceptualize what counts as making a contribution. Participants directed their contributions in accordance with their personal social identifications, their future career goals, and people seen as generally “less fortunate.” Youth expressed multiple intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for contributing and wanting to contribute in the future. Implications for future research, programming and policy will be discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Betrayal trauma theory (see Freyd, 1996) posits betrayal events often require "betrayal blindness" in order to limit awareness or memory of information regarding the betrayal. This occurs in order to maintain a connection that is necessary for survival. BTT may be applied to events that generally would not be considered traumatic, such as adultery or discrimination. In order to maintain connections within relationships, institutions, and social systems upon which there is a dependency, people (acting as victims, perpetrators, and witnesses) may show betrayal blindness. This dissertation consists of two studies investigating betrayal blindness and betrayal trauma history as they relate to charitable behavior. Study 1 included 467 college students at the University of Oregon who completed self-report measures of trauma history and a behavioral measure requesting a hypothetical donation. Contributions were requested for three scenarios that varied in level of betrayal: natural disaster, external genocide, and internal genocide. Results indicated no significant main effects for trauma history or type of event. However, people were less willing to donate to the group of recipients and the genocide conditions at low levels of emotional arousal. Additionally, those who have experienced high betrayal traumas also were less likely to donate at low emotional response values. Given the lack of significant findings in this experiment, a second study was conducted using a repeated measures design. Study 2 involved 634 undergraduate students at the University of Oregon. In addition to the measures from Study 1, participants also completed additional self-report measures assessing trait measures of prosocial tendencies, social desirability, personality, emotion regulation, and betrayal awareness. There were no main effects on charitable behavior for personality traits, prosociality, emotion regulation, social desirability, or betrayal awareness. Significant order effects were observed when comparing the type of event and betrayal level of event. A between-subjects approach revealed people donated less money to the higher betrayal versions of both types of scenarios. Across both studies, increased affect, particularly guilt, was associated with more charitable behavior. Although there are several limitations of these studies, the findings represent an important first step exploring prosocial behavior within a betrayal trauma framework.

The purpose of the present laboratory study was to investigate the relative effects of sharing and nonsharing peer and adult models on the facilitation of prosocial behaviors with and without reinforcement to the model. One hundred and sixty second and third grade children served as subjects and were randomly assigned to six treatment groups and one control group. For replication purposes, half of the subjects participated in each condition prior to the second half doing so. Children in the treatment groups viewed videotaped sequences portraying both a male and female model sharing or not sharing tokens with poor children. Models were either peers or adults. Sharing was either reinforced by praise from an adult or not reinforced; nonsharing was not reinforced. Children in the control group viewed an entertainment program devoid of prosocial or antisocial content. All children received instructions with respect to the acquisition and distribution of tokens which were exchangeable for prizes at the end of the session. Prosocial behaviors were· assessed following the videotaped sequences and included token donations, volunteering of work, and offering help following a staged accident. Children viewing nonsharing and nonreinforced peers had lower token donations than children in other treatment groups and the control group. Although not statistically significant findings, children who viewed peer models exhibiting prosocial behaviors that were reinforced had greater token donations and tended to help in the staged accident more than children in other treatment groups. No differences were found between treatment groups with respect to volunteering work. More children provided help in a staged accident when they had observed sharing peers who were reinforced than children in other conditions. However when children observed nonsharing and nonreinforced adults, they displayed a lower incidence of helping. Vicarious reinforcement produced greater, though not statistically significant, token donations as compared with the absence of reinforcement in both adult and peer treatment conditions. The correlations among donations, volunteering, and helping were found to be low. Modeling in combination with reinforcement of the model was not sufficient to increase prosocial behaviors significantly beyond the performance of a control group. The contribution of peer modeling to the facilitation of prosocial behaviors in the early elementary grades appears slight. Nevertheless, peer models were especially influential in inhibiting prosocial behaviors by the modeling of antisocial responses. The observation of reinforcement contingencies applied to models only slightly increased prosocial behaviors and can not be considered a potent variable in this behavior domain.

Small-talk, flattery, teasing, ridicule, threats or insults are part of the daily fabric of consumers life. This dissertation is concerned with the way consumers behave toward others depending on how they are treated themselves. Pay-it-forward is the notion that a person who is treated well by someone should be nice toward others (and conversely, a person who is treated badly may treat other people badly in turn). The present research proposes and shows that the pay-it-forward mechanism does not always occur; in fact, under certain circumstances consumers behave in a manner that contradicts it. Although research has begun to explore social influences on consumer behavior, to date a coherent theoretical account of how social treatment (i.e., the way a person acts toward another individual during a social encounter) influences consumers is lacking. This thesis offers a theoretical framework for the impact of social treatments, and tests it in four scenario-based experiments and two field studies. Results provide support for the proposed conceptual model, indicating that two dimensions of social treatment (affiliation: friendliness vs. hostility; and relevance for self-assessment: high vs. low) interactively influence consumers likelihood to engage in socially-elevating behaviors (i.e. helping another consumer, picking up the tab when dining out with others, returning money to a salesperson who accidentally gives them too much change back for a purchase). Process evidence for the underlying roles of positive/negative affect and perceived social efficacy is provided. The dissertation addresses the implications of these findings to existing theory, and identifies avenues for future research. / Marketing

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.

While previous research has examined the effect of income on happiness, we suggest that how people spend their money may be as important for their well-being as how much they earn. Specifically, we hypothesized that spending money on others may have a more positive impact on well-being than spending money on oneself. We found converging evidence for this hypothesis in a nationally representative survey (Study 1), a longitudinal study of windfall spending (Study 2), and an experimental study in which participants were randomly assigned to spend money on themselves or others (Study 3). We also found that people believe that spending on themselves, as opposed to others, will make them happier (Study 4) and that happier people were more likely to spend on others and experience higher happiness as result (Study 5). These results demonstrate that spending money on others may facilitate the translation of wealth into well-being.

Empathy for others’ pain is an important human capacity. Despite this, little is known about how children develop or express their empathy for another individual’s pain. Thus, this dissertation aimed to accomplish two primary objectives: 1) to describe and compare children’s expressions of empathy toward others’ pain and others’ sadness, and 2) to examine whether developmental (i.e., age and sex) or interindividual variables of interest (i.e., temperament, social-emotional variables, language abilities) predict children’s expressions of empathy for pain and empathy for sadness. To this end, 120 children (60 boys, 60 girls) between the ages of 18 and 36 months (M = 26.44 months; SD = 5.17 months) were assessed for their empathy-related behavioural responses to lab-based simulations of pain and sadness. Children’s responses were coded for: prosocial behaviours (e.g., sharing), attempts to understand the distress (e.g., hypothesis testing), self-distress behaviours (e.g., self-soothing), unresponsive/inappropriate responses (e.g., ignoring, showing anger), and miscellaneous responses (e.g., imitation). Children were also given an overall rating of global concern. Differences emerged when individual behavioural codes were compared between pain and sadness simulations. Specifically, children were more likely to be distressed by, but also more likely to be prosocially responsive to, another’s sadness. Interestingly, children were more likely to actively play during another’s pain. Two principal component analyses were conducted: one for the pain simulations and one for the sadness simulations. Three components emerged both for pain (Empathic Concern for Others’ Pain, Personal Distress to Others’ Pain, and Unresponsiveness to Others’ Pain) and for sadness (Empathic Concern for Others’ Sadness, Personal Distress to Others’ Sadness, and Social Referencing in Response to Others’ Sadness). While there was some overlap in the conceptualization of the first two components for both pain and sadness, the behaviours that loaded onto these components were different. Additionally, the third component for each analysis described very different phenomena. For pain, this final component described general unresponsiveness to the other’s distress. For sadness, the final component described a tendency to gauge one’s response on the reaction of a parent. Hierarchical regression analyses examining the influence of developmental (i.e., age and sex) and interindividual variables of interest (i.e., temperament, social-emotional variables, and language abilities) in children’s empathy-related responses were also conducted for each pain and sadness component. In general, age or sex differences only emerged for empathy-related responses to pain. Temperament, and to a certain extent social-emotional variables, showed some predictive value in how children would respond to another’s pain or sadness. Language showed very little predictive value in children’s expressions of empathy. While the findings of the current study indicate some conceptual similarities across children’s empathic responses to pain and sadness, they also show interesting and important differences in the behavioural expression of children’s empathic responses to pain and sadness. Additionally, developmental and interindividual variables predictive of children’s empathic responses to pain and sadness emerged. A developmentally appropriate model of empathy is proposed highlighting all of these influences on children’s expressions of empathy. / An examination of toddlers' expressions of empathy for pain versus sadness.

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When will people empathize with and help others? The goal of this research was to determine whether a prosocial orientation results from experiencing trauma. Recent research suggests there may be positive consequences to suffering. Under certain conditions, such as when people experience post-traumatic growth, past suffering can lead to personal benefits. Building on this body of research, one aim of this thesis was to investigate the impact of subjective traumatic suffering and psychological distress on post-traumatic growth and empathy. The second aim of this research was to examine whether objective trauma severity predicts post-traumatic growth. Finally, the third aim of this research was to examine the relationship between post-traumatic growth and empathy and the simultaneous impact of these variables on a prosocial orientation. Study 1 assessed these aforementioned relationships and Study 2 included a manipulation of post-traumatic growth and a behavioural outcome measure of prosocial behaviour. Structural equation models for Study 1 and 2 indicated that subjective traumatic suffering and objective trauma severity positively predicted post-traumatic growth, and post-traumatic growth positively predicted empathy. In turn, empathy positively predicted several prosocial outcomes. Thus, empathy mediated the link between post-traumatic growth and a prosocial orientation. In contrast to subjective traumatic suffering, psychological distress was unrelated to post-traumatic growth and negatively predicted empathy. Study 2 further indicated that focusing on one’s growth in regards to trauma resulted in greater post-traumatic growth scores, but the manipulation had no direct impact on empathy or a prosocial orientation. The current findings have important social and clinical implications.

When will people empathize with and help others? The goal of this research was to determine whether a prosocial orientation results from experiencing trauma. Recent research suggests there may be positive consequences to suffering. Under certain conditions, such as when people experience post-traumatic growth, past suffering can lead to personal benefits. Building on this body of research, one aim of this thesis was to investigate the impact of subjective traumatic suffering and psychological distress on post-traumatic growth and empathy. The second aim of this research was to examine whether objective trauma severity predicts post-traumatic growth. Finally, the third aim of this research was to examine the relationship between post-traumatic growth and empathy and the simultaneous impact of these variables on a prosocial orientation. Study 1 assessed these aforementioned relationships and Study 2 included a manipulation of post-traumatic growth and a behavioural outcome measure of prosocial behaviour. Structural equation models for Study 1 and 2 indicated that subjective traumatic suffering and objective trauma severity positively predicted post-traumatic growth, and post-traumatic growth positively predicted empathy. In turn, empathy positively predicted several prosocial outcomes. Thus, empathy mediated the link between post-traumatic growth and a prosocial orientation. In contrast to subjective traumatic suffering, psychological distress was unrelated to post-traumatic growth and negatively predicted empathy. Study 2 further indicated that focusing on one’s growth in regards to trauma resulted in greater post-traumatic growth scores, but the manipulation had no direct impact on empathy or a prosocial orientation. The current findings have important social and clinical implications.