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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics pp 1–4Cite as

Prosocial Behaviors

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Abstract

Prosocial behaviors contribute to the well-being of others following activities like charitable giving or volunteering. Theories that explain prosocial behaviors are pure altruism and impure altruism, inequality aversion reciprocity and conditional cooperation. These theories are linked to a system of motivations, that is intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and image motivation. Social norms play a key part in one’ s motivations to behave prosocially, in particular with regard to image motivation and likely sanctions when one’s deviates from these norms. The expressive power of law leads to norms legitimacy. Prosocial behaviors are mainly studied in the literature in economics and psychology, especially in behavioral and experimental economics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, CEE-M, Université Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, SupAgro, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France

    Sébastien Roussel

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  1. Sébastien Roussel
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Correspondence to Sébastien Roussel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  2. Dept DiGSPES, Univ del Piemonte Orientale Dept DiGSPES, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

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Roussel, S. (2018). Prosocial Behaviors. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_710-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_710-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Prosocial Behaviors
    Published:
    01 September 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_710-3

  2. Prosocial Behaviors
    Published:
    10 November 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_710-2

  3. Original

    Prosocial Behaviors
    Published:
    17 April 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_710-1

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