Definition
Prosocial behavior is considered a social behavior that benefits other individuals or even the society as a whole, comprising actions such as helping, volunteering, donating, or sharing.
Introduction
Prosocial behavior represents voluntary behavior intended to benefit either another individual or society as a whole (Aronson et al. 2005; Eisenberg et al. 2007) by engaging in behaviors such as helping, sharing, donating, cooperating, and volunteering as well as complying with the rules and remaining compatible with socially accepted behaviors (Brief and Motowidlo 1986). These actions stem from a range of motivations, whether sympathy or concerns over welfare, egoistic or practical concerns, such as the individual’s social status and reputation (Eisenberg et al. 2007). As such, altruism and empathy feature among the relevant motivating factors (Straubhaar et al. 2009).
Altruism might be considered as a “subcategory” of prosocial behavior. Borden and Francis (1978) theorize...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ajzen I, Madden JT (1986) Prediction of goal-directed behaviour: attitudes, intention, and perceived behavioral control. J Exp Psychol 22:453–474
Allen JB, Ferrand J (1999) Environmental locus of control, sympathy, and proenvironmental behavior: a test of Geller’s actively caring hypothesis. Environ Behav 31(3):338–353
Aronson E, Wilson TD, Akert RM (2005) Social psychology, 5th edn. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River
Balderjahn I (1988) Personality variables and environmental attitudes as predictors of ecologically responsible consumption patterns. J Bus Res 17:51–56
Batson CD, Thompson ER, Chen H (2002) Moral hypocrisy: addressing some alternatives. J Pers Soc Psychol 77:525–537
Borden D, Francis JL (1978) Who cares about ecology? Personality and sex difference in environmental concern. J Pers 46:190–203
Brick C, Sherman D, Kim HS (2017) “Green to be seen” and “brown to keep down”: visibility moderates the effect of identity on pro-environmental behaviour. J Environ Psychol 51:226–238
Brief AP, Motowidlo SJ (1986) Prosocial organizational behaviors. Acad Manag Rev 11(4):710–725
Caprara GV, Alessandri G, Eisenberg N (2012) Prosociality: the contribution of traits, values, and self-efficacy beliefs. J Pers Soc Psychol 102(6):1289–1303
Clayton S (2003) Environmental identity: a conceptual and an operational definition. In: Clayton S, Opotow S (eds) Identity and the natural environment: the psychological significance of nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 45–65
Cleveland M, Kalamas M, Laroche M (2005) Shades of green: linking environmental locus of control and pro-environmental behaviors. J Consum Mark 22(4):198–212
De Groot J, Steg L (2009). Morality and prosocial behavior: The role of awareness, responsibility and norms in the normactivation model. J Pers Soc Psychol 149:425–449
Eisenberg N, Fabes RA, Spinrad TL (2007) Prosocial development. In: Handbook of child psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0311
Ellemers N, Spears R, Doosje B (2002) Self and social identity. Annu Rev Psychol 53(1):161–186
Geller ES (1991) If only more would actively care. J Appl Behav Anal 24:607–612
Granovetter M (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. Am J Sociol 91:481–510
Kollmuss A, Agyeman J (2002) Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environ Educ Res 8(3):239–260
Kumar P, Ghodeswar B (2015) Factors affecting consumers’ green product purchase decisions. Mark Intell Plan 33(3):330–347
Laroche M, Bergeron J, Barbaro-Forleo G (2001) Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. J Consum Mark 18(6):503–520
Osgood JM, Muraven M (2015) Self-control depletion does not diminish attitudes about being prosocial but does diminish prosocial behaviors. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 37:68–80
Ottman JA (2011) The new rules of green marketing. Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco
Schwartz SH (1977) Normative influences on altruism. In: Berkowitz L (ed) Advances in experimental social psychology, vol 10. Academic Press, New York
Stern PC (2000) New environmental theories: toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. J Soc Issues 56(3):407–424
Straubhaar JD, LaRose R, Davenport L (2009) Media now: understanding media, culture, and technology. Wadsworth, Boston
Welte T, Anastasio P (2010) To conserve or not to conserve: is status the question? Environ Behav 42(6):845–863
Zabkar V, Hosta M (2013) Willingness to act and environmentally conscious consumer behaviour: can prosocial status perceptions help overcome the gap? Int J Consum Stud 37:257–264
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Paço, A. (2019). Prosocial Behavior and Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-0_25
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11351-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11352-0
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education