Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour

authored by: Anne Böckler, Anita Tusche, Peter Schmidt, Tania Singer
Abstract: Global challenges such as climate change or the refugee crises emphasize the necessity of altruism and cooperation. In a large-scale 9-month intervention study, we investigated the malleability of prosociality by three distinct mental trainings cultivating attention, socio-affective, or socio-cognitive skills. We assessed numerous established measures of prosociality that capture three core facets: Altruistically motivated behaviours, norm motivated behaviours, and self-reported prosociality. Results of multiple time point confirmatory factor analyses support the validity and temporal stability of this model. Furthermore, linear mixed effects models reveal differential effects of mental trainings on the subcomponents of prosociality: Only training care and compassion effectively boosted altruistically motivated behaviour. No effects were revealed for norm-based behaviour. Self-reported prosociality increased with all training modules; this increase was, however, unrelated to changes in task-based measures of altruistic behaviour. These findings corroborate our motivation-based framework of prosociality, challenge economic views of fixed preferences by showing that socio-affective training boosts altruism, and inform policy makers and society about how to increase global cooperation.
External Organisation(s): Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science (MPI CBS)
Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
California Institute of Caltech (Caltech)
Justus Liebig University Giessen
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University
Type: Article
Journal: Scientific reports
Volume: 8
ISSN: 2045-2322
Publication date: 10.09.2018
Publication status: E-pub ahead of print
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31813-8 (Access: Open)