Culture & Prosocial Behaviour (DP IB Psychology)

Revision Note

Claire Neeson

Last updated

Cultural differences in prosocial behaviour 

  • Culture influences many aspects of an individual's life, for example:

    • food

    • art and music

    • religion

    • work and school 

    • relationships

  • The culture that a person grows up in also exerts an influence on their prosocial behaviour:

    • cultural norms make inroads into behaviour, attitudes and viewpoints

    • Some cultures may value the idea of helping others while other cultures may be more centred on promotion of the self and individual needs

  • The cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism outlines the value systems within both types of culture that develop as communities evolve, being passed on from one generation to the next, for example:

    • collectivist cultures place emphasis and value on the group

    • individualistic cultures place emphasis on the individual

    • collectivist cultures promote ideas of unity, togetherness and cohesion

    • individualistic cultures promote ideas of independence, autonomy and freedom

  • In terms of prosocial behaviour the differences between the two cultures include:

    • Feelings of duty and responsibility towards the group (collectivist cultures)

    • Feelings of ‘looking out for number 1’ i.e. egoism (individualistic cultures)

  • Examples of differences in prosocial behaviour across cultures include:

    • People from collectivist cultures may help extended family members more than in individualistic cultures e.g. by asking grandparents to move in to the family home

    • People from individualistic cultures may donate money to a charity in order to alleviate feelings of guilt

      • Donating to a charity is also an indirect form of helping i.e. the donor doesn’t have to actually do anything other than simply give money

Examiner Tip

Don’t be judgmental in an exam by stating that one culture is more/less prosocial than the other; you will need to highlight cultural differences but you are not required to comment on how good/bad each culture is.

Research which investigates cultural differences in prosocial behaviour

  • Levine et al. (2001): large-scale cross-cultural field study of prosocial behaviour

  • Aknin et al. (2013): cross-cultural survey on prosocial spending i.e. donating to a charity

Levine et al. (2001) and Aknin et al. (2013) are available as ‘Two Key Studies of Cultural Differences in Prosocial Behaviour’ – just navigate the Social Responsibility section to find them.

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Claire Neeson

Author: Claire Neeson

Expertise: Psychology Content Creator

Claire has been teaching for 34 years, in the UK and overseas. She has taught GCSE, A-level and IB Psychology which has been a lot of fun and extremely exhausting! Claire is now a freelance Psychology teacher and content creator, producing textbooks, revision notes and (hopefully) exciting and interactive teaching materials for use in the classroom and for exam prep. Her passion (apart from Psychology of course) is roller skating and when she is not working (or watching 'Coronation Street') she can be found busting some impressive moves on her local roller rink.