ABSTRACT
How can social bonds in society be strengthened? How do we learn and develop prosocial behaviour?
This comprehensive textbook provides up-to-date coverage of the social phenomenon of prosocial behaviour, incorporating all the major developments in the fields of developmental and social psychology. The first section identifies different forms of prosocial behaviour, including estimates of prevalence in everyday situations and the controversy between biological and cultural perspectives as explanatory models of prosocial behaviour. The second and third sections focus on learning and development, with emphasis on social learning, responsibility, empathy and guilt. The fourth section explores the prevalence of prosocial behaviour, in particular the situational and personality factors which inhibit urgently needed prosocial behaviour. The final section is devoted to practical applications, such as how to increase the likelihood that people will work as volunteers in community organisations and how to heighten the willingness to offer first aid.
This book will be an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of social psychology and sociology, as well as anyone with an interest in social services and voluntary organisations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |6 pages
Introduction
part I|50 pages
Prosocial behaviour and social life
chapter 1|2 pages
Issues of definition
chapter 2|6 pages
Forms of prosocial behaviour
chapter 3|8 pages
How helpful are human beings?
chapter 4|16 pages
Culture, the individual, and level of helpfulness
chapter 5|6 pages
Human nature vs cultural context
chapter 6|10 pages
Measurement and generality of prosocial behaviour in children
part II|48 pages
Learning and development
chapter 7|14 pages
How does prosocial behaviour develop?
chapter 8|32 pages
Learning of prosocial behaviour
part III|72 pages
Processes of prosocial behaviour
part IV|94 pages
Theories of prosocial behaviour
chapter 12|12 pages
Arousal: cost—reward model of intervention
chapter 13|24 pages
Altruistic motive system
chapter 14|8 pages
Empathy-related responding and emotional regulation
chapter 15|22 pages
Social inhibition of bystander intervention
chapter 16|6 pages
Altruistic personality
chapter 17|20 pages
Psychology of seeking and receiving help
part V|54 pages
Applications