IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v23y2022i4d10.1007_s10902-021-00464-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining Prosocial Behavior from the Inter-and Within-Individual Perspectives: A Role of Positive Orientation and Positive Affect

Author

Listed:
  • Mariola Laguna

    (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin)

  • Evelina Longis

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Zofia Mazur-Socha

    (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin)

  • Guido Alessandri

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

Abstract

Prosocial behavior is undertaken voluntarily to benefit others and includes a range of actions, such as helping, sharing, caring, and comforting. Our study concerned psychological mechanisms stimulating prosocial behavior explaining it from both the within-individual (daily fluctuations) and inter-individual (individual differences) perspectives. We tested a model in which positive orientation and positive affect directly predict within-individual variability in prosocial behavior and in which positive affect mediates the relationship between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. These two-level mediation mechanisms were investigated using an intensive longitudinal study design with seven daily measurements on a sample of 181 undergraduates and 1119 daily observations. The results confirm that, with personality traits, sex, and prosocial behavior during the previous day adjusted for, inter- and within-individual variability in positive orientation predict daily prosocial behavior. Inter-individual variability in positive affect is a significant predictor of prosocial behavior and a mediator between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. No such mediation mechanism was detected for within-individual variability in positive affect. These results suggest several recommendations on how to stimulate prosocial behavior. By stimulating the general tendency to cultivate positive affective experiences and to view life in a positive light, it may be possible to prepare people to notice and respond to the needs of others.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariola Laguna & Evelina Longis & Zofia Mazur-Socha & Guido Alessandri, 2022. "Explaining Prosocial Behavior from the Inter-and Within-Individual Perspectives: A Role of Positive Orientation and Positive Affect," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1599-1615, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00464-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-021-00464-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-021-00464-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-021-00464-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariola Laguna & Guido Alessandri & Gian Vittorio Caprara, 2017. "How do you Feel About this Goal? Goal-Related Affect, Positive Orientation, and Personal Goal Realization in the Family Domain," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 827-842, June.
    2. Guido Alessandri & Antonio Zuffianò & Richard Fabes & Michele Vecchione & Carol Martin, 2014. "Linking Positive Affect and Positive Self-beliefs in Daily Life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1479-1493, December.
    3. Kamas, Linda & Preston, Anne, 2021. "Empathy, gender, and prosocial behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tania Noël & Benoit Dardenne, 2022. "Relationships between Green Space Attendance, Perceived Crowdedness, Perceived Beauty and Prosocial Behavior in Time of Health Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Hossain, Md Shamim & Rahman, Mst Farjana, 2022. "Detection of potential customers’ empathy behavior towards customers' reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Wong, Amy & Lee, Marcus, 2022. "Building engagement in online brand communities: The effects of socially beneficial initiatives on collective social capital," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Ann T. Skinner & Leyla Çiftçi & Sierra Jones & Eva Klotz & Tamara Ondrušková & Jennifer E. Lansford & Liane Peña Alampay & Suha M. Al-Hassan & Dario Bacchini & Marc H. Bornstein & Lei Chang & Kirby De, 2022. "Adolescent Positivity and Future Orientation, Parental Psychological Control, and Young Adult Internalising Behaviours during COVID-19 in Nine Countries," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Xizheng Xu & Zhiqiang Liu & Shaoying Gong & Yunpeng Wu, 2022. "The Relationship between Empathy and Attachment in Children and Adolescents: Three-Level Meta-Analyses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Chowdhury, Subhasish M. & Jeon, Joo Young & Saha, Bibhas, 2023. "Eye-image as nonverbal social cue has asymmetric gender effects in dictator taking games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Axelle Heyert & Laurent Weill, 2024. "Does Female Bank Leadership Affect Firm Credit?," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2024-08, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    8. Elisabeth Assing Hvidt & Sonja Wehberg & Christina Maar Andersen & Jens Søndergaard & Anders Larrabee Sonderlund, 2024. "Individual differences in empathy in Danish university students: A cross-sectional study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(1), pages 113-121, February.
    9. Alma Au & Simon Lai & Wen Wu & Jan Hofer & Holger Busch & Iva Poláčková Šolcová & Peter Tavel & Sheung-Tak Cheng, 2020. "Generativity and Positive Emotion in Older Adults: Mediation of Achievement and Altruism Goal Attainment Across Three Cultures," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 677-692, February.
    10. Arcadio de Jesús Cardona-Isaza & Remedios González Barrón & Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla, 2023. "Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescent Offenders: The Mediating Role of Rational Decisions," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.
    11. Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw & Abay, Kibrom A., 2024. "Cooperation among community leaders: The role of women’s leadership and exposure to conflict," IFPRI discussion papers 2273, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00464-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.