Findings relating personality and demographic variables to prosocial behavior are reviewed. Original research results are then presented. These results show that different personal dispositions are related to various forms of prosocial behavior in different ways. The traditional search for general correlates of prosocial behavior is viewed as shortsighted. Attention is drawn to the relation of situational payoffs to personal dispositions, interactions among predictors, assessment of independence among predictors, and to situational shifts in personality.

Individual Orientations To Prosocial Behavior

Background Prosocial behaviors are essential to the ability to relate to others. Women typically display greater prosocial behavior than men. The impact of depression on prosocial behaviors and how gender interacts with those effects are not fully understood. We explored the role of gender in the potential effects of depression on prosocial behavior. Methods We examined prosocial behaviors using a modified version of the Trust Game in a clinical population and community controls. Study participants were characterized on the severity of depression and anxiety, presence of suicidal ideation, history of childhood trauma, recent stressful life events, and impulsivity. We correlated behavioral outcomes with gender and clinical variables using analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis. Results The 89 participants comprised four study groups: depressed women, depressed men, healthy women and healthy men (n = 16-36). Depressed men exhibited reciprocity more frequently than healthy men. Depression induced an inversion of the gender-specific pattern of self-centered behavior. Suicidal ideation was associated with increased reciprocity behavior in both genders, and enhancement of the effect of depression on gender-specific self-centered behavior. Conclusions Depression, particularly suicidal ideation, is associated with reversal of gender-specific patterns of prosocial behavior, suggesting abnormalities in sexual hormones regulation. This explanation is supported by known abnormalities in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axes found in depression.

/pdf/gender-specific-effects-of-depression-and-suicidal-ideation-26jxaoo8ti.pdf

Gender-specific effects of depression and suicidal ideation in prosocial behaviors.

There is considerable theoretical and empirical C:11nnn....+ +n.-r+’ho lwmnthn.-~ +’h_+ _’h--r..-&dquo;: _....1 su-ort for the hy-,othes4-s that pll-~ys,4,ca’L --1’1’-’&’’’’’ .&..V’.&. &dquo;&dquo;’£&.’&dquo; £&.J 1’’&dquo;’ &dquo;&dquo;J.&,,&dquo;,ü..l...;J B..JAg.B.. J:1J1] ;:J..L’-Q..L proximity to an emergency event increases the probability that helping behavior will occur. The disruption of accustomed patterns of interaction associated with involvement in natural disaster situations has been credited with the strengthening of primary group life (Fritz, 1961, p. 690) and causing &dquo;the reconstitution of a Gemeinschaft, a &dquo;community&dquo; (1967, p. 8) or, as Turner puts it, &dquo;a resurgence of mechanical solidarity&dquo; (1966, p.3). Increased social interaction in response to the threat posed by disasters may be compared to the social consequences of conflict with out-groups (cf. Simmel, 1955; Coser, 1956), and has been reported to result in &dquo;a phenomenal increase in acts of altruism&dquo; (Shaskolsky, 1967, p. 8) among those surviving the emergency (Wallace, 1956, p. 124; Moore, 1958, p. 313). According to equity theory, the relationship between physical proximity to emergency and helping behavior may be explained in terms of physiological arousal. Distress is produced in bystanders by inequitable arrangements, and the arousal thus elicited

PROXIMITY TO EMERGENCY AND HELPING BEHAVIOR: Data from the Lubbock Tornado Disaster:

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study planned to determine the altruism levels of the nursing students and the influencing factors. Research was conducted in the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Gaziantep, including 193 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th class students during the 2010-2011 academic year. In collection of the data; information form was used to determine the socio-demographic attributes of the nursing students, and Altruism Scale consisting of family, social, benevolence and responsibility sub-sections was used to determine the levels of altruism. In the study, the average age of the nursing students was 21.09 ± 1.90, 68.4% was female, 62.2% of them was graduated from a general high school and 37.8% of them chose the department intentionally. When the altruism levels of the nursing students were assessed, it was found that the students perceived their families, relatives and selves highly benevolent in terms of family scale and got 18.18±3.94 points; their levels of participation to social activities were low in social terms and they got 14.62±4.07 points; their benevolence towards others was at mid-levels in terms of benevolence scale and they got 16.25±3.89 points; and their levels of taking responsibility and believing in others\' taking responsibility were at mid-levels in terms of responsibility scale and they got 17.36±3.16 points. They were found to be altruists at above mid-levels according to the altruism level scores with 66.28±10.29 points. As a result, the altruism levels of the students were above mid-levels.

http://www.eurjther.com/sayilar/7/buyuk/GMJ-2014-20-1-61.pdf

Altruism levels of nursing students

Continuity in Helping Roles: A Comparison of Everyday and Emergency Role Performance

(1968). Altruism, Extraversion, and Mental Illness. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 19-30.

Robert K. Bower

Papers

Altruism, extraversion, and mental illness.