Prosocial spending and well-being: cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal.

Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion: Evidence for a Positive Feedback Loop between Prosocial Spending and Happiness

We examine whether a positive feedback loop exists between spending money on others (i.e. prosocial spending) and happiness. Participants recalled a previous purchase made for either themselves or someone else and then reported their happiness. Afterward, participants chose whether to spend a monetary windfall on themselves or someone else. Participants assigned to recall a purchase made for so...

Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.

Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Unique features of this meta-analytic review include (a) more restrictive methodological quality inclusion criteria than in past meta-analyses; (b) cross-cultural comparisons; (c) lo...

Cognitive and social influences on early prosocial behavior in two sociocultural contexts.

In this cross-cultural study, we tested 2 main hypotheses: first, that an early self-concept along with self-other differentiation is a universal precursor of prosocial behavior in 19-month-olds, and second, that the importance attached to relational socialization goals (SGs) concerning interpersonal responsiveness (obedience, prosocial behavior) is related to toddlers' prosocial behavior. Cont...

A Cross-Cultural Study about Positive and Negative Emotions and Its Relation to Health and Well-being

A Cultural Perspective on Prosocial Development

Anthropological studies and recent evidence from cross-cultural psychology suggest considerable variations in the way prosocial behavior is conceptualized and embedded in social interactions across cultures. Important questions are which aspects of different ecosocial contexts might explain these variations and how these aspects influence prosocial development throughout ontogeny. Here, buildin...