Prosocial Motives, Emotions, and Behavior The Better Angels of Our Nature

by Mikulincer, Mario; Shaver, Phillip R.

• ISBN13: 9781433805462
• ISBN10: 1433805464
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-10-15
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

Research shows that human beings have an innate capacity for prosocial behavior, but the inclinations underlying such behavior can be blocked, inhibited, or overpowered by selfish, neurotic, or culturally engrained attitudes and values. Genes, personality, past social experiences, social and cultural identities, and contextual factors can all influence the degree to which human behavior is empathic, generous, and kind-or cruel, vindictive, and destructive. Prosocial Motives, Emotions, and Behavior is a comprehensive examination, from a variety of perspectives, of the interplay of these influences.

Author Biography

Mario Mikulincer, PhD, is professor of psychology and dean of the New School of Psychology at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel. He has published three books—Human Helplessness: A Coping Perspective; Dynamics of Romantic Love: Attachment, Caregiving, and Sex; and Attachment in Adulthood: Structure, Dynamics, and Change—and over 280 scholarly journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Mikulincer's main research interests are attachment theory, terror management theory, personality processes in interpersonal relationships, coping with stress and trauma, grief-related processes, and prosocial motives and behavior. He is a member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology®, Psychological Inquiry, and Personality and Social Psychology review, and has served as associate editor of two journals, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personal Relationships. Recently, he was elected to serve as chief editor of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. He is a fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Association for Psychological Sciences. He received the EMET Prize in Social Science for his contributions to psychology and the Berscheid–Hatfield Award for Distinguished Mid-Career Achievement from the International Association for Relationship Research.
 
Phillip R. Shaver, PhD a social and personality psychologist, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. Before moving there, he served on the faculties of Columbia University, New York University, University of Denver, and State University of New York at Buffalo. He has coauthored and coedited numerous books, including In Search of Intimacy; Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes; Measures of Political Attitudes; Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications, and Attachment in Adulthood: Structure, Dynamics, and Change, and has published over 200 scholarly journal articles and book chapters. Shaver's research focuses on attachment, human motivation and emotion, close relationships, personality development, and the effects of meditation on behavior and the brain. He is a member of the editorial boards of Attachment and Human Development, Personal Relationships, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Emotion®, and has served on grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. He has been executive officer of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and is a fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. Dr. Shaver received a Distinguished Career Award from the International Association for Relationship Research and has served as president of that organization.
 

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 3
Theoretical Perspectives	p. 13
Empathy-Induced Altruistic Motivation	p. 15
Evolutionary Perspectives on Prosocial Behavior	p. 35
Enduring Goodness: A Person-by-Situation Perspective on Prosocial Behavior	p. 55
A Behavioral-Systems Perspective on Prosocial Behavior	p. 73
Forms of Concern: A Psychoanalytic Perspective	p. 93
Neuroscience Meets Social Psychology: An Integrative Approach to Human Empathy and Prosocial Behavior	p. 109
Psychological Processes	p. 127
Empathy-Related Responding: Links With Self-Regulation, Moral Judgment, and Moral Behavior	p. 129
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Prosocial Behavior	p. 149
The Effortful and Energy-Demanding Nature of Prosocial Behavior	p. 169
Helping Relations as Status Relations	p. 181
Compassionate Callousness: A Terror Management Perspective on Prosocial Behavior	p. 201
Basic Values: How They Motivate and Inhibit Prosocial Behavior	p. 221
Prosocial Emotions	p. 243
Compassionate Love as a Prosocial Emotion	p. 245
Does Gratitude Promote Prosocial Behavior? The Moderating Role of Attachment Security	p. 267
The Malleability of Forgiveness	p. 285
The Subjective Experience of Generosity	p. 303
Prosocial Behavior at the Relational Level	p. 325
Prosocial Motivation and Behavior in Close Relationships	p. 327
Forgiveness: Integral to a Science of Close Relationships?	p. 347
Responding to Need in Intimate Relationships: Social Support and Caregiving Processes in Couples	p. 367
Prosocial Behavior at the Group and Societal Levels	p. 391
Empathy and Intergroup Relations	p. 393
A Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation: Perpetrators Need Acceptance and Victims Need Empowerment to Reconcile	p. 409
Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Peacemaking: The Influence of Beliefs About Losses	p. 431
Index	p. 449
About the Editors	p. 467
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