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PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG VARIOUS LEVEL STUDENTS: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Abstract
Prosocial behaviour is an area of interest to educational researchers for more than a decade. prosocial behaviour, which refers to voluntary actions intended to benefit others, it is an important aspect of social behaviour among various level of students. The present paper aims to explore the empirical research on the role of prosocial behaviour and its relation with some psychological variables at various levels of students (Primary, Secondary, Higher secondary, Graduate and B.Ed). The researcher used to study the secondary data only. The researcher collected last ten years secondary data. The collected data were analyzed and synthesized. So it is a qualitative research method. This study found the Prosocial behaviour of majority of the students in all levels more average in nature and there is a significant relation between Prosocial behaviour and other relevent variables.
Keywords: Prosocial behaviour, Primary, Secondary, Higher secondary, Graduate and B.Ed students.
intoduction
Prosocial behaviour refers to actions or behaviours that are intended to benefit others or societies, without any expectation of personal gain or reward. It encompasses various behaviours such as helping, supporting, and contributing to the well-being of others. Prosocial behaviour reflects positive values like empathy, compassion, and kindness, driven by a genuine desire to be co-operative and helpful. The significance of prosocial behaviour lies in its positive impact on individuals, communities, and society as a whole. It fosters positive relationships, and social cohesion, and contributes to personal well-being and mental health. Studying prosocial behaviour is crucial for researchers, policymakers, educators, and individuals interested in promoting positive social interactions and creating a better society.
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Prosocial behaviour is behaviour undertaken to help another individual, and for which an internal or external reward may be received. There are three types of prosocial behaviour proactive, reactive, and altruistic. To be proactive, the behaviour needs to benefit the individual undertaking it. One example of proactivity is an individual helping someone else so that they feel better about themself. To be reactive, a behaviour must be taken in response to a targeted individual need Altruism is being motivated to help others without anticipating anything in return. Altruism and prosocial behaviour are similar concepts, but altruism is a form of prosocial behaviour wherein nothing is expected in return for helping another. In altruism, the motivation of the action is the focus, whereas with prosocial behaviour the focus is on the action taken rather than the motivation behind the action.
An example of altruism is if someone volunteers to help a town hit by a natural disaster. The individual is motivated to help because there is a need; nothing is expected in return. While prosocial behaviour helps others, antisocial behaviour is a behaviour that harms others. These types of behaviours are often manifested in total disregard to others. Taking this disregard a step further, the Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) persists. ASPD personality is, the individuals who treat others in a harsh way, are indifferent to what others are feeling, and agitate others with no feeling of remorse or guilt.
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Prosocial behaviour is behaviour that helps another and for which an internal reward or external reward may be received. Positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman, focuses on positive experiences, positive states and traits, and positive institutions. A positive experience may be happiness.
Prosocial behaviour encompasses the feeling of happiness. helping others can help one feel good about them and increase their happiness. Research shows those that volunteer their time have increased happiness and feel that they have a purpose. It has also been noted that when individuals spend money on others it bring more happiness to their life than spending it on themself. Also, the intent to be generous can increase happiness.
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR WITH AN EXAMPLE
Volunteering to help another by applying your time and talent towards the completion of a specific task is an example of prosocial behaviour..
BENEFITS OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Engaging in prosocial behaviour not only benefits the person being helped, it can also benefit the person who is helping another. Researchers have found that engaging in prosocial behaviours can lessen feelings of stress and increase life satisfaction. It has also been noted that helping others can increase happiness and enhance social support, which is often needed to help reduce the risk of loneliness and depression.
THEORIES OF PROSOCIAL MOTIVATION
Starting in the 1970s, biologist Edward Wilson began to document voluntary helping behaviours in animals and insects. Psychologists and sociologists since have expanded on his research and noted that voluntary helping behaviours are an innate biological function. This foundation of understanding voluntary helping behaviour has been related to several fields; including education, human service, and criminal justice. Research on prosocial motivation has resulted in the formulation of several theories.
Prosocial behaviour is a behaviour that helps others. Altruism is different than prosocial behaviour, as it focuses on the motivation of helping others. In other words, altruism is behaviour that is motivated with no expectation of anything in return. Many theories have been formulated to predict the like childhood of an individual engaging in social behavior including, kin selection, the reciprocity norm (in which someone gives to get), the empathy-altruism hypothesis (the more empathy an individual feels for another person, the more likely they are to help and expect nothing in return), altruistic personality type (which is identified by the altruistic personality index), and socialization and the motivation to help others.
ObjectiveS:
• To find out the nature of prosocial behaviour among different level of students.
• To find out the relationship between prosocial behaviour with some psychological variables.
Methodology
This work is based on a review of the related literature. This study synthesized the literature from the previous ten years studies on prosocial behaviour. The investigator used the secondary data from numerous publications; no primary data were used. The researcher have reviewed 20 literature, out of which 10 are abroad and 10 are Indian. Subsequently, the investigator reviewed and synthesized all the gathered information.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The researcher in this study collected various data and synthesized; and in particular, students with respect to gender, locality, medium of instruction, type of management, and stream of study. Analyzing the various papers, the researcher explicates the following findings.
Table1: Abroad Studies
|
S.No |
Name |
Year |
Topic |
Sample |
Findings |
|
1.
|
Sage and Kavussanu |
2008 |
Pro-social and anti-social behaviour in youth football |
The samples were taken 156 males 24 female footballers. |
Most of the students in youth footballers have average level of pro-social behaviour. |
|
2 |
Iqbal |
2013 |
Pro-social behaviour in different situations among men and women. |
The sample size was 240. |
There was no significant difference between married and unmarried individuals with regard to direct and indirect helping. |
|
3 |
De Caroli, Falanga and Sagone
|
2014 |
Pro-social behaviour and moral reasoning in Italian adolescents and young adults. |
The 548 men has taken as sample. in this 314 were adolescents and 234 were young adults. |
The boys were better than girls in public behaviour. There was also a significant relationship between pro-social behaviour and pro-social moral reasoning. |
|
4 |
Lai, Siu and Shek |
2015 |
Individual and social predictors of prosocial behaviour and helping intention among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong |
The samples size was 580 Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. |
The female participants had significantly higher helping intention than males, but there were no gender differences in pro-social behaviour. |
|
5 |
Onyencho and Afolabi |
2018 |
Influence of subjective well-being and gender differences on prosocial behaviour among a Nigerian police personnels. |
The sample consisted of 128 Nigerian police. |
The results also showed that marital status, job rank and educational qualification significantly related to police personnel’s pro-social behaviour and individuals with a better score in subjective wellbeing had higher pro-social behaviour when compared to those with lower subjective wellbeing. |
|
6 |
Suzanne van de Groep |
2022 |
Measuring Adolescents’ Prosocial Behaviours |
The sample size was 425 adolescents (aged 12-17 ).
|
Results confirmed interrelations between different types of self-reported prosociality, and economic game-measured prosocial behaviours. Moreover, most game-measured behaviours were positively predicted by altruistic and anonymous, and negatively predicted by compliant, self-reported prosocial behaviours. No age effects were Observed. |
|
7 |
Afolabi,O.A. |
2013 |
Roles of Personality Types, Emotional Intelligence and Gender Differences on Prosocial Behaviour |
The sample taken was 200 undergraduate students. |
The first step in the hierarchical regression showed that the independent and joint contributions of age, gender, religion and educational level on PSB were Not significant. |
|
8 |
Imran Abbas Jadoon |
2022 |
Effect of teacher-student relationship on pro-social behaviour and academic achievement of secondary school students. |
A sample of 250 students |
Results show that Teacher- students relationship positively predicts the pro-social behaviour. Further more, Teacher- students relationship positively predicts the academic achievement of students. |
|
9 |
Yuan Guo |
2017 |
Influence of Social Support on the prosocial behaviour of college students. |
A sample of 720 college students from 10 different universities |
Results show that the subjective support and support utilization of college students directly influences prosocial behaviour, and indirectly affects prosocial behaviour through the influence of emotional trust and quality trust. Additionally, interpersonal trust plays an intermediary role in the influence of social support on pro-social behaviour. |
|
10 |
Belen Mesurado |
2014 |
Parental Expectations and prosocial behaviour of Adolescents from Low income back grounds. |
The sample was made up of 446 Argentinean adolescents, 474 Colombian adolescents, and 632 Spanish adolescents. |
Results show the existence of significant differences between male and female adolescents. In all three countries, girls score more highly than boys in prosocial behaviour and empathy. |
Table 2: Indian Studies
|
S.No |
Name |
Year |
Topic |
Sample |
Findings |
|
1 |
Muskan Arora |
2018 |
Study the correlation between prosocial behavior and Self esteem among young adults. |
The sample consisted of 50 young adults between the age of 18 and 25 years. |
The findings of this study show that prosocial behaviour is positively correlated with self-esteem and there is no gender difference. |
|
2 |
Vidhi Khanna |
2017 |
Effect of prosocial behaviour on well-being and happiness of under graduate students. |
The sample consisted of 250 under graduate students |
The findings suggested that prosocial behaviour is directly related to well-being and happiness. |
|
3 |
Supriya Srivastava |
2012 |
Prosocial behaviour and personality traits a review paper.
|
Secondary quantitative data collection method |
The prosocial behaviour and personality traits management process has become difficult for everyone in this recent era. |
|
4 |
Preksha Gupta and Anjali Sahai |
2023 |
Prosocial behaviour enhances happiness among adults. |
A sample of 126 adults between the age group 19-45 were included in the study. |
Findings show significant positive relationship and difference in males and females exist in their level of prosocial behaviour and happiness. |
|
5 |
Nikhita Dedha |
2023 |
Prosocial behaviour among college students. |
The participants were 130 college students, aged between 18-24 years.
|
The results highlight the role of gender in shaping prosocial behaviour among college students, with females demonstrating higher levels of prosocial behaviour. |
|
6 |
Sasmita Kar |
2023 |
Prosocial behaviour in adolescents: The role of parental encouragement. |
The sample of 120 higher secondary students from four schools of Baramula district |
Finding of the study boys and girls differ significantly in their mean pro-social behaviour. Parental encouragement and pro-social behaviour of higher secondary students are found to be related positively. It indicates that parental encouragement has a significant influence in developing pro-social behaviour in their children. |
|
7 |
Mariana Costa Martins |
2022 |
Attachment and the Development of Prosocial Behaviour in Children and Adolescents a systematic review. |
Children 703 were identified. |
The eligible studies revealed incongruous results about the potential associations between attachment security to mothers and fathers and prosocial behaviour. |
|
8 |
Samuel Quain |
2016 |
Pro-social behaviour amongst students of tertiary institutions: An explorative and a quantitative approach. |
The sample taken was 520 students. |
The results showed that the relationships between gender and location factors as independent factors and prosocial behaviour as dependent factor was highly positive amongst the students. Prosocial behaviour is a positive social phenomenon. |
|
9 |
Isah Aliyu Abdullahi |
2016 |
Gender differences in prosocial behavior. |
Total 60 students; 30 male and 30 female. |
The results revealed significant gender differences on two dimensions of prosocial personality battery, i.e. perspective taking and other oriented moral reasoning being females on the higher side. |
|
10 |
Sahitya Maiya |
2022 |
Parenting and person correlates of prosocial behaviours in Asian Indian young adults. |
Participants included 281 Asian Indian young adults. |
The findings yield supportive evidence on the importance of parent attachment, prosocial moral reasoning, and respect for family in the prosocial behaviours of young adult Indians. |
DISCUSSION
Objective 1: To find out the nature of prosocial behaviour among different level of students.
After analysing the review papers, the table 1 showed that the most of the students’s prosocial behaviour is moderate level (Sage and Kavussanu, 2008; Lai, Siu and Shek 2015). The girls had higher prosocial behaviour than boys (Afolabi, O. A 2013; Belén Mesurado, 2014; and Lai, Siu and Shek, 2015). The boys were better than girls in public behaviour (De Caroli, Falanga and Sagone 2014).
After analyzing table 2 showed that the girls were higher levels of prosocial behaviour than males (Muskan Arora, 2018; Preksha Gupta and Anjali Sahai, 2023; and Sasmita Kar, 2023). Some of the studies revealed, females exhibiting a higher mean value compared to males. This finding is consistent with previous research that has suggested gender differences in prosocial behaviour (Eisenberg & Lennon, 1983; and Eagly and Crowley, 1986). The higher mean value of Prosocial behaviour in females may be attributed to various factors, including societal and cultural norms, socialization processes, and individual differences in personality traits (Nikhita Dedha, 2023).
Objective 2: To find out the relationship between prosocial behaviour with various level students, some psychological variable of various level students.
Previous research identified a strong connection between prosocial behaviour and some psychological variables (Samuel Quain, 2016; Muskan Arora, 2018; Vidhi Khanna, 2017, Sahitya Maiya, 2022; Imran Abbas Jadoon, 2022; and Preksha Gupta and Anjali Sahai, 2023). Coming to another study, there is a significant positive correlation between prosocial behaviour and well-being. There is also a positive relation between happiness and prosocial behaviour (Vidhi Khanna, 2017). Prosocial behaviour and personality traits are interconnected with each other. In order to upgrade personality traits, there is essential to focus on the development of prosocial behaviour. The majority of human beings who are socially engaged in different fields are concerned about the improvement of prosocial behaviour by polishing personality traits (Supriya Srivastava, 2012).
Analysing previous studies, it is said that prosocial behaviour is a develops with time. The prosocial behaviour of secondary level is higher than primary level of students, again increasing their prosocial behaviour level in secondary, higher secondary, graduates students. Students can learn what they know and what they still need to work on using social activities. These activities develop the students prosocial awareness. The above findings showed that both Indian and abroad students prosocial behaviour is moderate level. Prosocial behaviour has been found positively correlated with some psychological variables.
CONCLUSION
From the above study the investigator found that prosocial behaviour and some psychological variables are closely correlated. Most of the students prosocial behaviour is average level. Therefore the investigator come to the conclusion that educational institutions should provide training programs and give importance to social activity in the regular classroom teaching and the learning process. It helps and enriches the academic performance of students in their walks of life.
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