ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a model of prosocial action, one designed to delineate the role of altruistic emotions and cognitions in altruistic and prosocial action. Personal goals can be moral or nonmoral. Many of the personal characteristics that influence attention to and interpretation of cues concerning others' needs can be related to socialization history. The process leading to prosaically behavior some of the possibilities are at least three models to explain the manner in which estimates of expected utility and situational cues jointly influence subsequent prosaically behavior, prosaically behaviors can be motivated by no altruistic motivations. The performance of prosocial behavior in itself can influence the probability of enacting subsequent altruistic or prosocial behaviors. Indeed, researchers have found that engaging in prosocial behaviors is associated with enhanced probability of prosocial responding in the future. Altruistic behavior, like most social behaviors, is complex and multiply determined.
