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30 - Toward a New Era of Prosociality Research

Priorities, Challenges, and Possibilities

from Part IV - Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

By
Maayan Davidov  and
Tina Malti
Edited by
Tina Malti  and
Maayan Davidov
Tina Malti
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Maayan Davidov
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Summary

This chapter outlines key foci for future research on prosociality and its development. It seeks to identify challenges and priorities and to delineate exciting possibilities for moving the field forward. These include the need for a useful taxonomy to help map the different dimensions and forms of prosociality across development; a call to extend the construct of prosociality by incorporating the perspectives of children and individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds; the need to integrate knowledge from different levels of analysis; the notion that for a more complete understanding of prosociality in humans, both specificities and commonalities in processes of prosocial development must be addressed; and the need to understand major obstacles to prosocial development – how is it that, despite the human potential for prosociality, some individuals do not become prosocial? – and how to transcend such barriers. Addressing these issues, using rigorous and innovative work, will promote a new era of prosociality science.

Keywords

prosocial developmentprosocialitytypologytaxonomychildren’s perspectivessystemic approachcommonalitiesspecificitiesbarriersintegration
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Prosociality
Development, Mechanisms, Promotion
 , pp. 600 - 613
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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