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.

Ingeniera Civil Industrial / Las empresas entregan diversos incentivos a sus consumidores, como descuentos de precios, de manera de promover sus productos. Además de incentivos de tipo monetario, las empresas también pueden ofrecer productos que entregan un beneficio prosocial. Por ejemplo, un producto que sea amigable al medio ambiente puede ser valorado por los consumidores que tengan motivaciones hacia el cuidado del medio ambiente. En este documento se estudia cómo estos dos factores, monetarios y prosocial interactúan en la toma de decisiones de los clientes. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es estudiar cómo la utilización de descuentos y la técnica de auto-etiquetado -condición de ser consecuente con los principios que cada persona tiene- afectan el comportamiento de compra de productos de tipo prosocial. Para ello se llevaron a cabo dos experimentos; uno realizado a través de una encuesta, con decisiones hipotéticas, y un experimento de campo que se realizó en tiendas del comercio. Los participantes deben elegir si sus compras en la tienda las llevarán en bolsas reusables, en bolsas plásticas, o no utilizarán ningún tipo de bolsa. Antes de esta elección, las personas son asignadas aleatoriamente a 4 condiciones experimentales: (1) mensaje con alusión a que consumidores que les importa el medioambiente llevan bolsas reusables (técnica de auto-etiquetado), (2) descuento, (3) interacción del mensaje y descuento, y (4) caso base, sin mensaje ni descuento. Dentro de los principales resultados se encuentra el hecho de que el mensaje, consistentemente, genera un efecto positivo en las ventas de bolsas reusables, incluso cuando está interactuando con el descuento. El efecto del descuento prácticamente no existe, salvo cuando se modera por otras variables como si la persona que compra se encuentra sola o acompañada. A modo de conclusión, este trabajo plantea que sólo con incluir un mensaje medioambiental (usando la técnica de auto-etiquetado), se puede generar mayores ventas, y modificar el comportamiento de las personas en beneficio de la sociedad en su conjunto, reduciendo el consumo de bolsas plásticas evitando así el daño que estas producen.

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. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Empathic embarrassment is an emotional state that belongs to the self-conscious category of emotions. It is an uncomfortable condition where someone feels embarrassed over another person’s mishap or violation of social norms. It is prosocial in that one is motivated to help a person who expresses embarrassment. To experience it, one needs to be able to imagine how the other person is feeling and how one would feel if the situation happened to oneself. One is likelier to feel empathic embarrassment if one likes the person who is experiencing the mishap or if one has experienced the mishap oneself. This thesis investigates whether empathic embarrassment is a prosocial emotion and what neural basis empathic embarrassment has. The results show that empathic embarrassment is perceived as a prosocial emotion, while the areas that are the most involved are the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and medial prefrontal cortex.

Volunteering and service-learning (a pedagogical practice that combines volunteering with university-level courses) are associated with positive academic, psychological, and prosocial development in university students. Taking part in service-learning and volunteering is generally assumed to contribute to student development (Chapter 1), although little is known about students’ characteristics on entry into service-learning, specifically in comparison to volunteering or non-volunteering students. Characteristics of students who participate in service-learning or volunteering are shaped by institutional factors (Chapter 2) and are in turn related to developmental outcomes (Chapter 3). The unique motives for university student volunteering, particularly self-oriented motives such as career and understanding have likewise received little attention (Chapter 4). This thesis is structured in five chapters. Chapter 1 is an overview of key theoretical and practical issues in volunteering and service-learning research, including volunteering and service-learning in Canada and at the University of Ottawa. Chapter 2 is a study of 266 university students enrolled in developmental psychology courses offering elective service-learning. A model of institutional structuring of volunteering and service-learning was developed to examine students’ characteristics at entry into service. The study identified a novel subset of service-learners (service-learners with no prior volunteering engagement) that have yet to be examined in the literature. Chapter 3 is a longitudinal study, using the same sample as Chapter 2, testing developmental change using multi-level linear modelling (students nested in courses) to examine academic, psychological, and prosocial change over one semester, however, few changes were found. Chapter 4 examined volunteering motivations and prosocial tendencies among 270 undergraduate students, with the goal of testing the impact of motivations on wellbeing. Supporting past research, the study demonstrated that other-oriented volunteer motives are associated with well-being, however, some self-oriented volunteer motives (career and understanding motives) were positively associated with well-being contrary to expectations and previous research. Chapter 5 integrates the overall findings from each chapter in a general discussion, exploring: novel contributions of this thesis to the research literature, theoretical and practical issues raised in this dissertation, the connection between results and issues raised in the research literature, and limitations of the results with suggestions for future directions.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation contains three essays examining empathy and its implications for prosocial behavior and arts engagement. Empathy here refers to both compassion and concern for others (emotional empathy) and the understanding of the feelings and needs of others (cognitive empathy). Empathy is fundamental to our social life, and this dissertation explores its implications for two essential components of social life: prosocial behavior and arts engagement. Chapter 2 examines how three dimensions of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983)—empathic concern, perspective taking, and personal distress—are associated with charitable giving, and whether these associations vary across charitable causes. Using data from a nationally representative sample of American adults, the study confirms that the three IRI dimensions are associated with charitable giving in different ways. Chapter 3 focuses on the interplay of trait empathy and people’s tendencies to diversify (spread out) their prosocial behavior. By analyzing data from two samples of American adults, this study reveals that people with higher empathic concern (emotional empathy) versus higher perspective taking (cognitive empathy) have distinct patterns in how they spread out their monetary gifts, but trait empathy is not associated with the distribution of time spent in helping others.

Frågor rörande kriminalitet har en framträdande plats i medier och i allmän diskurs medan frågor rörande vad som sker efter ett avtjänat fängelsestraff och klienters samhällsintegrering är mindre framträdande. Ämnet för denna uppsats är Frivården som aktör för att minska återfall i brott. Tidigare forskning visar att rehabilitering är den mest lämpade metoden för att få klienter att bryta en prokriminell livsstil. Syftet för denna studie är att få en inblick i Frivårdens arbetsprocess för att främja ett prosocialt liv hos deras klienter, då frivårdens vision och huvudsakliga uppdrag är att minska återfall i brott. Prosocialt liv i denna studie är avgränsat till att främst bemöta Frivårdens arbete med att främja klienternas prosociala kontakter och psykiska mående. Studien undersöker även ett genusperspektiv i Frivårdens arbete genom att studera hur frivården förhåller sig till Hirdmans genussystem. För att undersöka detta har vi genomfört en kvalitativ intervjustudie där samtliga respondenter består av frivårdare. Tre teorier används i studien; Smalls teori om organisationellt socialt kapital, Hirdmans teori om genus och Goffmans teori om stigma. Studien visade att Frivårdens viktigaste roll för att främja klienternas psykiska mående och prosociala kontakter är att öka deras sociala kapital genom utomstående organisationer samt arbeta med klienters attityder och värderingar genom samtal, övningar och program. Arbetet är individanpassat efter varje enskild klients behov, vilket kan resultera i att Frivården arbetar annorlunda med manliga och kvinnliga klienter, men själva arbetsmetoderna är könsneutrala. Frivårdare kan ibland göra medvetna skillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga klienter för att försöka motverka könsnormer som frivårdarna anser att klienterna har och påverkas negativt av.

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Little is known about the complex processes leading to prosocial behavior. However, theories suggests that empathy, empathic responding, and emotion regulation abilities, may all contribute to the presence or absence of prosocial behavior. While theoretical papers demonstrate relationships between these constructs, researchers to date have only focused on small aspects of this complex relationship (e.g., the relationship between sympathy and emotion regulation, the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior). This study proposed a complex model whereby empathy was both directly related to prosocial behavior and indirectly related to prosocial behavior via sympathy or personal distress. Furthermore, this study proposed an emotion regulation framework for understanding the relation between empathy and prosocial behavior, suggesting that one's emotion regulation abilities would cause a differential presentation of empathic responses, leading to a potential increase or decrease in prosocial behavior. An adult sample was recruited. Analyses were completed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results indicate that hypothesized model adequately fit the data. All hypothesized associations between variables were significant. However, contrary to the hypothesis, emotion regulation ability did not alter the associations between study constructs. Strengths, limitations, and implications will be discussed. / Master of Science