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

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 soc...

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Autores principales: Anne Böckler, Anita Tusche, Peter Schmidt, Tania Singer
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2018
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/5fee93a050574a3da68effff0da2b1b0
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:5fee93a050574a3da68effff0da2b1b02021-12-02T15:08:25ZDistinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour10.1038/s41598-018-31813-82045-2322https://doaj.org/article/5fee93a050574a3da68effff0da2b1b02018-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31813-8https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract 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.Anne BöcklerAnita TuschePeter SchmidtTania SingerNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2018)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Anne Böckler
Anita Tusche
Peter Schmidt
Tania Singer
Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
description 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.
format article
author Anne Böckler
Anita Tusche
Peter Schmidt
Tania Singer
author_facet Anne Böckler
Anita Tusche
Peter Schmidt
Tania Singer
author_sort Anne Böckler
title Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
title_short Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
title_full Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
title_fullStr Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
title_full_unstemmed Distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
title_sort distinct mental trainings differentially affect altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2018
url https://doaj.org/article/5fee93a050574a3da68effff0da2b1b0
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AT anitatusche distinctmentaltrainingsdifferentiallyaffectaltruisticallymotivatednormmotivatedandselfreportedprosocialbehaviour
AT peterschmidt distinctmentaltrainingsdifferentiallyaffectaltruisticallymotivatednormmotivatedandselfreportedprosocialbehaviour
AT taniasinger distinctmentaltrainingsdifferentiallyaffectaltruisticallymotivatednormmotivatedandselfreportedprosocialbehaviour
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