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Many Kinds of Kindness: The Relationship Between Values and Prosocial Behaviour

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Values and Behavior

Abstract

A prosocial behaviour is an act that benefits other people or society. The understanding of what actually benefits people is contested both within and between cultures. We address this by exploring and debating some different ways that “prosocial” can be construed—as everyday kindness, political activism, pro-environmental behaviour and participation in organised groups that work in the interest of others. We review the connection between values and these behaviours, finding that Self-Transcendence is consistently positively related while Self-Enhancement, and within it particularly Power, is often negatively associated with behaviours that are perceived as prosocial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Interest Research Centre, Machynlleth, UK

    Rebecca Sanderson & Jamie McQuilkin

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  1. Rebecca Sanderson
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  2. Jamie McQuilkin
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Correspondence to Rebecca Sanderson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel

    Sonia Roccas

  2. School of Business Administration, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Lilach Sagiv

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Sanderson, R., McQuilkin, J. (2017). Many Kinds of Kindness: The Relationship Between Values and Prosocial Behaviour. In: Roccas, S., Sagiv, L. (eds) Values and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56352-7_4

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