Peer Effects in Pro-social Behaviour


Book Description

We compare social preference and social norm based explanations for peer effects in a three-person gift-exchange game experiment. In the experiment a principal pays a wage to each of two agents, who then make effort choices sequentially. In our baseline treatment we observe that the second agent's effort is influenced by the effort choice of the first agent, even though there are no material spillovers between agents. This peer effect is predicted by a model of distributional social preferences (Fehr-Schmidt, 1999). As we show from a norms-elicitation experiment, it is also consistent with social norms compliance. A conditional logit investigation of the explanatory power of payoff inequality and elicited norms finds that the second agent's effort can be best explained by the social preferences model. In further treatments with modified games we find that the presence/strength of peer effects changes as predicted by the social preferences model. As with the baseline treatment, a conditional logit analysis favors an explanation based on social preferences, rather than social norms following for these treatments. Our results suggest that, in our context, the social preferences model provides a parsimonious explanation for the observed peer effect. -- peer effects ; social influence ; gift-exchange ; experiment ; social preferences ; inequity aversion ; measuring social norms




The Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior


Book Description

Written by four leading researchers in the study of prosocial behavior, this book introduces a new perspective on prosocial behavior for the 21st century. Building on the bystander intervention work that has defined this area since the 1960s, The Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior examines prosocial behavior from a multilevel perspective that explores the diverse influences that promote actions for the benefit of others and the myriad ways that prosocial actions can be manifested. The authors expand the breadth of the field, incorporating analyses of biological and genetic factors that predispose individuals to be concerned for the well being of others, as well as planned helping such as volunteering and organizational citizenship behavior and cooperative behavior within and between groups. They identify both the common and the unique processes that underlie the broad spectrum of prosocial behavior. Each chapter begins with a question about prosocial behavior and ends with a summary that answers the question. The final chapter summarizes the questions and the answers that research provides. Conceptual models that elaborate on and extend the multilevel approach to prosocial behavior are used to tie these findings together. The book concludes with suggestions for future research. The Social Psychology of Prosocial Behavior addressesthe following: *the evolution of altruistic tendencies and other biological explanations of why humans are predisposed to be prosocial; *how the situation and motives that are elicited by these situations affect when and how people help; *the causes and maintenance of long-term helping, such as volunteering; *how prosocial behavior changes over time and the developmental processes responsible for these changes; *the consequences of helping for both the people who provide it and those who receive it; *helping and cooperation within and between groups and the implications of these actions. This accessible text is ideal for advanced courses on helping and altruism or prosocial behavior, taught in psychology, sociology, management, political science, and communication, or for anyone interested in learning more about prosocial behavior in general.




Prosocial Development


Book Description

Prosocial behavior-broadly defined as voluntary action intended to help or benefit another-has been associated with positive outcomes across the lifespan. Children with a more prosocial orientation are better liked and trusted by their peers, have a higher status in peer groups, are better at maintaining friendships, demonstrate better self regulation, empathy, and social cognitive skills, and excel in academics. Researchers have shown that prosocial behaviors correlate to lower rates of school suspension and drop-out, teen pregnancy, substance use, aggression, and delinquency. These positive effects speak to the value of prosocial behavior during formative years. Prosocial Development examines a variety of biological, socialization, and contextual influences on prosocial development from infancy through early adulthood. While the definition of prosocial behavior may seem straightforward, recent research has highlighted its multifaceted nature. This volume specifically focuses on the multidimensionality of prosocial development, examining different contexts, motivations, types, and targets of prosocial behavior that are differentially predicted by socialization and dispositional characteristics. Skillfully edited by Drs. Padilla-Walker and Carlo, each chapter in this volume highlights some aspect of multidimensionality in regard to prosocial behavior and meaningful avenues for future research. This volume will be an important tool for scholars, researchers, and practitioners who are interested in prosocial, moral, and positive youth development. The organization and focus of this volume are also well-suited for use as a text for graduate courses in moral development, child and adolescent development, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and family studies.




The Development of Prosocial Behavior


Book Description

Approx.401 pages







Peer Effects in the Elementary School Classroom


Book Description

I find support for the existence of average peer effects for prosocial and aggressive behavior, with similar effect sizes, in this population, acting simultaneously on the behavior of elementary school-aged children. Additionally, I find that for a segment of the population -- the girls -- higher levels of both aggressive and prosocial behavior are associated with higher ratings of their academic skills one year later. I conjecture that this unexpected finding, evidenced exclusively for girls, speaks directly to the differential functions that different forms of social behavior may have, within the classroom context during the elementary school years.




Reward and Punishment in Social Dilemmas


Book Description

One of the key scientific challenges is the puzzle of human cooperation. Why do people cooperate? Why do people help strangers, even sometimes at a major cost to themselves? Why do people want to punish others who violate norms and undermine collective interests? Reward and punishment is a classic theme in research on social dilemmas. More recently, it has received considerable attention from scientists working in various disciplines such as economics, neuroscience, and psychology. We know now that reward and punishment can promote cooperation in so-called public good dilemmas, where people need to decide how much from their personal resources to contribute to the public good. Clearly, enjoying the contributions of others while not contributing is tempting. Punishment (and reward) are effective in reducing free-riding. Yet the recent explosion of research has also triggered many questions. For example, who can reward and punish most effectively? Is punishment effective in any culture? What are the emotions that accompany reward and punishment? Even if reward and punishment are effective, are they also efficient -- knowing that rewards and punishment are costly to administer? How can sanctioning systems best organized to be reduce free-riding? The chapters in this book, the first in a series on human cooperation, explore the workings of reward and punishment, how they should be organized, and their functions in society, thereby providing a synthesis of the psychology, economics, and neuroscience of human cooperation.







Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents


Book Description

Scientists, educators, and parents of teens have long recognized the potency of peer influences on children and youth, but until recently, questions of how and why adolescents emulate their peers were largely overlooked. This book presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the processes by which peers shape each other's attitudes and behavior, and explores implications for intervention and prevention. Leading authorities share compelling findings on such topics as how drug use, risky sexual behavior, and other deviant behaviors "catch on" among certain peer groups or cliques; the social, cognitive, developmental, and contextual factors that strengthen or weaken the power of peer influence; and the nature of positive peer influences and how to support them.




Development and Maintenance of Prosocial Behavior


Book Description

This book was inspired by an intimate, stimulating, intellectually enrich ing conference that took place in Poland. However, the book is not a conference report. Rather, at the time of the conference, participants agreed that it would be worthwhile to create a volume representing the international state of knowledge in pro social behavior, and many of them agreed to write chapters. This volume is the outcome. The book contains chapters by outstanding researchers and scholars who have made substantial contributions to some aspect of scholarship about pro social behavior-helpfulness, generosity, kindness, coopera tion, or other behavior that benefits people. The book concerns itself with how prosocial behavior comes about and what influences contrib ute to or inhibit it; how prosocial behavior, or values and other personal characteristics that promote prosocial behavior, develop; how socializa tion, peer interaction, and other experiences contribute to development; and with the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of re ceiving help. Some chapters directly, and a number of them implicitly, concern themselves with applications of knowledge about prosocial be havior, particularly with the question of how cooperation and behavior that benefits other people can be promoted. The purpose of the book is. in part to show where the field stands and what knowledge we have accumulated, and in part to suggest fu ture directions and advance the field. It is a truly international book, with contributors from most countries where research on pro social be havior is being conducted.