Research: New study into definitions of 'prosocial' & 'altruism'

Source: Current Opinion in Psychology (Elsevier)

A new study looks at the divergent definitions between the terms prosocial and altruism, terms which are sometimes used interchangeably.

In a paper called ‘Prosocial behavior and altruism: A review of concepts and definitions’, researchers Stefan Pfattheicher, Yngwie Asbjørn Nielsen and Isabel Thielmann unearth different definitions for prosociality and altruism used in academic literature.

Their findings show a wide variety of definitions in use across different scholars, that convey subtly different conceptual understandings of each term.

The authors give the following examples of definition divergence:

Prosocial behavior emphasizing intentions
“Prosocial behavior covers the broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself”

Prosocial behavior emphasizing consequences
“Any action that benefits another”

Prosocial behavior emphasizing intentions and consequences
“Voluntary, intentional behavior that results in benefits for another”

Prosocial behavior emphasizing societal context
“Prosocial behavior means no more, and no less, than behavior that is valued by the individual's society”

Prosocial behavior emphasizing societal context and consequences
“Prosocial behavior represents a broad category of acts that are defined by some significant segment of society and/or one's social group as generally beneficial to other people”

Altruistic motivation from an intentionalist perspective
“Motivation with the ultimate goal of increasing another's welfare”

Altruistic behavior from an intentionalist perspective
“Voluntary behavior intended to benefit another, which is not performed with the expectation of receiving external rewards or avoiding externally produced aversive stimuli or punishments”

Altruism from a consequentialist perspective (emphasizing economic costs and consequences)
“Costly acts that confer economic benefits on other individuals”

Altruism from a consequentialist perspective (emphasizing evolutionary costs and consequences)
“A behavior that is costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipient or recipients. Costs and benefits are defined on the basis of the lifetime direct fitness consequences of a behavior”

Altruism from a societal perspective
“A moral norm [which] implies certain social expectations of helping others in different social contexts”

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