scholarly journals Prosocial behavior and altruism: A review of concepts and definitions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Pfattheicher ◽  
Yngwie Asbjørn Nielsen ◽  
Isabel Thielmann

The field of prosociality is flourishing, yet researchers disagree about how to define prosocial behavior and often neglect defining it altogether. In this review, we provide an overview about the breadth of definitions of prosocial behavior and the related concept of altruism. Common to almost all definitions is an emphasis on the promotion of welfare in agents other than the actor. However, definitions of the two concepts differ in terms of whether they emphasize intentions and motives, costs and benefits, and the societal context. In order to improve on the conceptual ambiguity surrounding the study of prosociality, we urge researchers to provide definitions, to use operationalizations that match their definitions, and to acknowledge the diversity of prosocial behavior.

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062092916
Author(s):  
Yuta Kawamura ◽  
Yohsuke Ohtsubo ◽  
Takashi Kusumi

Prosocial behavior consists of a cost to the actor and a benefit of others. Previous studies have shown that prosocial actors generally receive positive social evaluations from observers. However, it is unknown how each component of prosocial behavior (i.e., cost and benefit) influences the two dimensions of person perception (i.e., warmth and competence). Thus, three studies investigated the independent effects of cost and benefit on the perceived warmth and competence of the actor. In Study 1, participants read a series of vignettes about a protagonist incurring a cost to benefit another individual and rated the warmth and competence of each protagonist. Although benefit enhanced both perceived warmth and competence, cost enhanced only perceived warmth. Studies 2a and 2b separately manipulated costs and benefits of prosocial behaviors in vignettes and confirmed the results of Study 1. Thus, this study demonstrated the independent effects of cost and benefit on person perception.


2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1706) ◽  
pp. 20150540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart P. S. Nieuwenhuis ◽  
Timothy Y. James

Fungi are a diverse group of organisms with a huge variation in reproductive strategy. While almost all species can reproduce sexually, many reproduce asexually most of the time. When sexual reproduction does occur, large variation exists in the amount of in- and out-breeding. While budding yeast is expected to outcross only once every 10 000 generations, other fungi are obligate outcrossers with well-mixed panmictic populations. In this review, we give an overview of the costs and benefits of sexual and asexual reproduction in fungi, and the mechanisms that evolved in fungi to reduce the costs of either mode. The proximate molecular mechanisms potentiating outcrossing and meiosis appear to be present in nearly all fungi, making them of little use for predicting outcrossing rates, but also suggesting the absence of true ancient asexual lineages. We review how population genetic methods can be used to estimate the frequency of sex in fungi and provide empirical data that support a mixed mode of reproduction in many species with rare to frequent sex in between rounds of mitotic reproduction. Finally, we highlight how these estimates might be affected by the fungus-specific mechanisms that evolved to reduce the costs of sexual and asexual reproduction. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Weird sex: the underappreciated diversity of sexual reproduction’.


Author(s):  
Sadye L. M. Logan

Families in almost all societies are viewed as the basic unit for coordinating personal reproduction and the redistribution of goals within the larger societal context of production and exchange. They are vulnerable to the rapidly changing economics of the environments in which they live. Universals regarding families worldwide include a delay in marriage, an increase in divorce rates, a decrease in household size and fertility rates, and nontraditional living arrangements. The most studied aspect of families continues to be family diversity, with greater emphasis on an interdisciplinary framework. There is also a movement toward more effective ways of treating families. Placing families in an historical context, this entry discusses evidence-based family interventions, the latest research on families, family diversity, and implications for social work practice and education.


2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1511) ◽  
pp. 3813-3824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Rick ◽  
George Loewenstein

Since the advent of the discounted utility (DU) model, economists have thought about intertemporal choice in very specific terms. DU assumes that people make explicit trade-offs between costs and benefits occurring at different points in time. While this explicit trade-off perspective is simple and tractable, and has stimulated productive research, it does not provide a very realistic representation of a wide range of the most important intertemporal trade-offs that people face in daily life. If one considers the most important and commonly discussed examples of intertemporal choices, a striking pattern emerges: in almost all cases, early outcomes tend to be concrete (e.g. purchasing this latte), but later outcomes tend to be much less tangible (e.g. the unknown item that could have been purchased later with the money spent on this latte). We propose that people rely on anticipatory emotions as a proxy for intangible outcomes when trade-offs are implicit. This paper reviews neuroeconomic evidence that has begun to elucidate the role of anticipatory emotions in decisions involving intangible outcomes. Although most progress has been made in the domain of spending and saving, we discuss how the existing neuroeconomic research could be extended to other domains where trade-offs are ill defined.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma E. Buchtel

Abstract Is it particularly human to feel coerced into fulfilling moral obligations, or is it particularly human to enjoy them? I argue for the importance of taking into account how culture promotes prosocial behavior, discussing how Confucian heritage culture enhances the satisfaction of meeting one's obligations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda R. Ridley ◽  
Melanie O. Mirville

Abstract There is a large body of research on conflict in nonhuman animal groups that measures the costs and benefits of intergroup conflict, and we suggest that much of this evidence is missing from De Dreu and Gross's interesting article. It is a shame this work has been missed, because it provides evidence for interesting ideas put forward in the article.


1985 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan T. Bagley

AbstractThe genus Klebsiella is seemingly ubiquitous in terms of its habitat associations. Klebsiella is a common opportunistic pathogen for humans and other animals, as well as being resident or transient flora (particularly in the gastrointestinal tract). Other habitats include sewage, drinking water, soils, surface waters, industrial effluents, and vegetation. Until recently, almost all these Klebsiella have been identified as one species, ie, K. pneumoniae. However, phenotypic and genotypic studies have shown that “K. pneumoniae” actually consists of at least four species, all with distinct characteristics and habitats. General habitat associations of Klebsiella species are as follows: K. pneumoniae—humans, animals, sewage, and polluted waters and soils; K. oxytoca—frequent association with most habitats; K. terrigena— unpolluted surface waters and soils, drinking water, and vegetation; K. planticola—sewage, polluted surface waters, soils, and vegetation; and K. ozaenae/K. rhinoscleromatis—infrequently detected (primarily with humans).


Author(s):  
B. K. Kirchoff ◽  
L.F. Allard ◽  
W.C. Bigelow

In attempting to use the SEM to investigate the transition from the vegetative to the floral state in oat (Avena sativa L.) it was discovered that the procedures of fixation and critical point drying (CPD), and fresh tissue examination of the specimens gave unsatisfactory results. In most cases, by using these techniques, cells of the tissue were collapsed or otherwise visibly distorted. Figure 1 shows the results of fixation with 4.5% formaldehyde-gluteraldehyde followed by CPD. Almost all cellular detail has been obscured by the resulting shrinkage distortions. The larger cracks seen on the left of the picture may be due to dissection damage, rather than CPD. The results of observation of fresh tissue are seen in Fig. 2. Although there is a substantial improvement over CPD, some cell collapse still occurs.Due to these difficulties, it was decided to experiment with cold stage techniques. The specimens to be observed were dissected out and attached to the sample stub using a carbon based conductive paint in acetone.


Author(s):  
K.R. Subramanian ◽  
A.H. King ◽  
H. Herman

Plasma spraying is a technique which is used to apply coatings to metallic substrates for a variety of purposes, including hardfacing, corrosion resistance and thermal barrier applications. Almost all of the applications of this somewhat esoteric fabrication technique involve materials in hostile environments and the integrity of the coatings is of paramount importance: the effects of process variables on such properties as adhesive strength, cohesive strength and hardness of the substrate/coating system, however, are poorly understood.Briefly, the plasma spraying process involves forming a hot plasma jet with a maximum flame temperature of approximately 20,000K and a gas velocity of about 40m/s. Into this jet the coating material is injected, in powder form, so it is heated and projected at the substrate surface. Relatively thick metallic or ceramic coatings may be speedily built up using this technique.


Author(s):  
N. Yoshimura ◽  
K. Shirota ◽  
T. Etoh

One of the most important requirements for a high-performance EM, especially an analytical EM using a fine beam probe, is to prevent specimen contamination by providing a clean high vacuum in the vicinity of the specimen. However, in almost all commercial EMs, the pressure in the vicinity of the specimen under observation is usually more than ten times higher than the pressure measured at the punping line. The EM column inevitably requires the use of greased Viton O-rings for fine movement, and specimens and films need to be exchanged frequently and several attachments may also be exchanged. For these reasons, a high speed pumping system, as well as a clean vacuum system, is now required. A newly developed electron microscope, the JEM-100CX features clean high vacuum in the vicinity of the specimen, realized by the use of a CASCADE type diffusion pump system which has been essentially improved over its predeces- sorD employed on the JEM-100C.


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