Culture & Prosocial Behaviour (DP IB Psychology)

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

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.