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Developmental Pattern of Prosocial Motivation
A Cross-National Study
Boehnke, Klaus; Silbereisen, Rainer K.; Eisenberg, Nancy; Reykowski, Janusz; Palmonari, Augusto
Changes in patterns of prosocial motivation between Grades 2 and 12 were examined in five samples from four countrics: West Germany, Poland, Italy, and the United States. The Prosocial Motivation Questionnaire (PSMQ), an instrument based on theoretical elaborations about evaluative standards operative in prosocial action, was used to assess within-subject preference for five prosocial motives: hedonism, self-interest, conformity, task orientation, and other-orientation. Studied were two samples from Berlin (West; average age range, 11-6 to 18-6 years) and one sample each from Warsaw (11-11 to 18-11), Bologna (11-6 to 18-11), and Phoenix, Arizona (8-4 to 13-4). The major results held for all cities studied and confirm the generalizability of earlier national findings. Specifically, the major findings were as follows: (1) extrinsic motives for prosocial acts (hedonism and self-interest) were least preferred, whereas intrinsic motives (task and other-orientation) were most highly valued, and conformity was always in between; (2) preference for hedonism decreased in the younger samples, preference for conformity decreased in the older samples, and age-related increases were found only for task orientation; and (3) gender differences emerged at age 12, thus confirming prior findings that girls prefer intrinsic motives more than boys do.
- Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.
- This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
