Knowledge Tree
prosocial behavior
Also known as: prosociality
Facts (21)
Sources
Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART) frontiersin.org 16 facts
referenceBrain areas implicated in prosociality, empathic concern, and experience sharing include the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL), as cited by Singer and Lamm (2009), Frith and Frith (2012), Fan et al. (2011), and Roy et al. (2012).
claimHuman brains are continuously shaped functionally and structurally by experience, allowing explicit training to promote adaptive brain functioning related to prosocial behavior.
claimThe mental expertise to cultivate empathic behavior and positive emotion for the suffering of others involves a network of prosociality and social cognition.
claimThe S-ART framework identifies intention and motivation, attention regulation, emotion regulation, extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, non-attachment, and decentering as supporting neuropsychological mechanisms.
claimMentalizing and perspective taking are considered major facets of prosociality and inter-relationships.
referenceProsociality has a biological basis, and dispositional differences in empathic responding and prosocial action exist from early life onwards, as noted by Rothbart and Ahadi (1994).
claimNeural circuitry underlying empathy can be enhanced through mental training designed to increase positive affect and prosocial behavior across the lifespan.
claimEmpathic forms of behavior, including empathy, sympathy, and altruism, are implicated in conceptual models and theories about social cognition, experience sharing, and prosocial behavior, according to Hein and Singer (2008), Eisenberg et al. (2010), and Zaki and Ochsner (2012).
claimWhen perceivers watch targets experiencing pain or reward, the perceiver's engagement of brain areas associated with those states predicts later prosocial behavior.
perspectiveThe S-ART model proposes that plasticity associated with prosociality may indicate self-transcendence, which involves dissolving distinctions between self and other and reflecting loving-kindness.
claimProsocial behavior is defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit another person, according to Eisenberg et al. (2010).
claimThe S-ART (Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence) framework proposes six neurocognitive component mechanisms—intention and motivation, attention and emotion regulation, extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, non-attachment, and de-centering—that are integrated and strengthened through intentional mental strategies to modulate networks of self-processing and reduce bias.
referenceEisenberg, Eggum, and Di Giunta (2010) examined the associations between empathy-related responding and prosocial behavior, aggression, and intergroup relations in Social Issues and Policy Review.
claimPatterns of empathic responding and prosocial behavior remain plastic throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
referenceThe S-ART (Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence) framework identifies six component mechanisms underlying the practice and cultivation of mindfulness: intention and motivation, attention regulation, emotion regulation, memory extinction and reconsolidation, prosociality, and non-attachment and de-centering.
claimIncreased prosociality may predict decreased differences in the intensity and localization of neural activity between one's own experience and a target individual's experience.
Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution frontiersin.org 3 facts
claimThe interpersonal and prosocial effects of psilocybin may have mediated the expansion of social bonding mechanisms such as laughter, music, storytelling, and religion, thereby favoring selection for prosociality in the human lineage.
referenceBrian Hare published 'Survival of the friendliest: Homo sapiens evolved via selection for prosociality' in the Annual Review of Psychology in 2017.
claimBenítez-Burraco et al. (2020) describe the high level of intragroup tolerance and cooperative communication in modern humans as a result of selection for prosociality, a process termed self-domestication.
Sleep Across the Lifespan: A Neurobehavioral Perspective link.springer.com Feb 5, 2025 1 fact
claimSleep deprivation heightens sensitivity in brain areas that serve as warnings for human approach while impairing activity in brain regions that encourage prosociality.
The Mechanisms of Psychedelic Visionary Experiences - Frontiers frontiersin.org Sep 27, 2017 1 fact
claimLSD impairs the recognition of sad and fearful faces, increases feelings of happiness, trust, and closeness to others, enhances explicit and implicit emotional empathy, increases the desire to be with others, and increases prosocial behavior.