Oarga, Cristina, Stavrova, Olga ORCID: 0000-0002-6079-4151 and Fetchenhauer, Detlef (2015). When and why is helping others good for well-being? The role of belief in reciprocity and conformity to society's expectations. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 45 (2). S. 242 - 255. HOBOKEN: WILEY. ISSN 1099-0992

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This research investigates the relation between informal help and subjective well-being and its underlying mechanisms using a cross-national perspective. We focus on two potential mechanisms derived from the self-determination theory and conformity to the social norms literature. From the standpoint of self-determination theory, helping others is good for well-being if it is intrinsically motivated, rather than driven by the expectation of reciprocity. On the other hand, from the perspective of the conformity literature, helping others is associated with a higher well-being when it is linked to the benefits of social conformity, such as social approval. We tested these hypotheses using the data from a total of 23 countries. The results provided support for both mechanisms. First, we found that the lower individuals' beliefs in reciprocity are, the stronger is the positive effect of self-reported helping behavior on their well-being. Second, helping behavior was more strongly related to life satisfaction in countries where providing help represents a strong social norm (measured with two different cultural indicators). We conclude that both individual- and culture-level mechanisms account for the relation between prosocial behavior and well-being. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Oarga, CristinaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Stavrova, OlgaUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0002-6079-4151UNSPECIFIED
Fetchenhauer, DetlefUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-410804
DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2092
Journal or Publication Title: Eur. J. Soc. Psychol.
Volume: 45
Number: 2
Page Range: S. 242 - 255
Date: 2015
Publisher: WILEY
Place of Publication: HOBOKEN
ISSN: 1099-0992
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY; PROSOCIAL MOTIVATION; SOCIAL-INFLUENCE; PEOPLE HAPPY; HAPPINESS; ESTEEM; NORMS; LIFE; RELIGIOSITY; VARIABLESMultiple languages
Psychology, SocialMultiple languages
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/41080

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Altmetric

Export

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item