Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe

Van Doesum, Niels J.; Murphy, Ryan O.; Gallucci, Marcello; Aharonov-Majar, Efrat; Athenstaedt, Ursula; Au, Wing Tung; Bai, Liying; Böhm, Robert; Bovina, Inna; Buchan, Nancy R.; Chen, Xiao-Ping; Dumont, Kitty B.; Engelmann, Jan B.; Eriksson, Kimmo; Euh, Hyun; Fiedler, Susann; Friesen, Justin; Gächter, Simon; Garcia, Camilo; González, Roberto; Graf, Sylvie; Growiec, Katarzyna; Guimond, Serge; Hřebíčková, Martina; Immer-Bernold, Elizabeth; Joireman, Jeff; Karagonlar, Gokhan; Kawakami, Kerry; Kiyonari, Toko; Kou, Yu; Kuhlman, D. Michael; Kyrtsis, Alexandros-Andreas; Lay, Siugmin; Leonardelli, Geoffrey J.; Li, Norman P.; Li, Yang; Maciejovsky, Boris; Manesi, Zoi; Mashuri, Ali; Mok, Aurelia; Moser, Karin S.; Moták, Ladislav; Netedu, Adrian; Pammi, Chandrasekhar; Platow, Michael J.; Raczka-Winkler, Karolina; Reinders Folmer, Christopher P.; Reyna, Cecilia; Romano, Angelo; Shalvi, Shaul; Simão, Cláudia; Stivers, Adam W.; Strimling, Pontus; Tsirbas, Yannis; Utz, Sonja; van der Meij, Leander; Wa...

Abstract

Humans are social animals, but not everyone will be mindful of others to the same extent. Individual differences have been found, but would social mindfulness also be shaped by one’s location in the world? Expecting cross-national differences to exist, we examined if and how social mindfulness differs across countries. At little to no material cost, social mindfulness typically entails small acts of attention or kindness. Even though fairly common, such low-cost cooperation has received little empirical attention. Measuring social mindfulness across 31 samples from industrialized countries and regions (n = 8,354), we found considerable variation. Among selected country-level variables, greater social mindfulness was most strongly associated with countries’ better general performance on environmental protection. Together, our findings contribute to the literature on prosociality by targeting the kind of everyday cooperation that is more focused on communicating benevolence than on providing material benefits.

Citation

Van Doesum, N. J., Murphy, R. O., Gallucci, M., Aharonov-Majar, E., Athenstaedt, U., Au, W. T., …Van Lange, P. A. M. (2021). Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(35), Article e2023846118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023846118

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 27, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 23, 2021
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2021
• Deposit Date: Aug 25, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 25, 2021
• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0027-8424
• Electronic ISSN: 1091-6490
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 118
• Issue: 35
• Article Number: e2023846118
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023846118
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/6092356
• Publisher URL: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/35/e2023846118