- On the Cover
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Preface
- The Field of Prosocial Behavior: An Introduction and Overview
- The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Prosociality: Adaptations, Byproducts, and Mistakes
- Prosocial Primates
- The Economics of Prosocial Behavior
- The Developmental and Evolutionary Origins of Human Helping and Sharing
- The Development of Prosocial Behavior
- Morality and Prosocial Judgments and Behavior
- The Contextually Grounded Nature of Prosocial Behavior: A Multiscale, Embodied Approach to Morality
- Terror Management and Prosocial Behavior: A Theory of Self-Protective Altruism
- Culture and Prosocial Behavior
- An Attachment Perspective on Prosocial Attitudes and Behavior
- Searching for the Prosocial Personality
- The Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis
- Empathy and Prosocial Behavior
- The Other Side of Helping: Seeking and Receiving Help
- Understanding Prosocial Behavior Requires Understanding Relational Context
- Functional Motives and Functional Consequences of Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Behavior in Close Relationships: An Interdependence Approach
- Beyond the Damsel in Distress: Gender Differences and Similarities in Enacting Prosocial Behavior
- Race and Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Behavior in Late Life
- Stigma: Implications for Helping Behavior
- Volunteerism and Community Involvement: Antecedents, Experiences, and Consequences for the Person and the Situation
- Health and Well-being Consequences of Formal Volunteering
- Determinants of Cooperation in Social Dilemmas
- Justice and Intragroup Cooperation
- Intergroup Cooperation
- Tolerance: An Elusive but Fundamental Aspect of Sociality
- Religion and Prosociality
- Prosocial Behavior and Environmental Action
- Prosocial Behavior in Cancer Research: Patient Participation in Cancer Clinical Trials
- Peace Psychology and Prosocial Behavior
- The Roots of Helping, Heroic Rescue and Resistance to and the Prevention of Mass Violence: Active Bystandership in Extreme Times and in Building Peaceful Societies
- Gaining the Big Picture: Prosocial Behavior as an End Product
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
The literature on the impact of volunteering on well-being, health, morbidity, and mortality is reviewed. Positive effects for teenagers and college students include avoidance of problem behaviors and experiences such as depression, alcohol and drug use, delinquency, unintended pregnancy, earning poor grades, and school dropout. Teenage volunteers also develop positive habits of social responsibility and are more likely to be engaged in their communities as adults. The impact of volunteering among the elderly includes increased positive mood, greater psychological well-being, increased physical activity, improved self-reported health, lower morbidity, and even decreased mortality. Possible sociological, psychological, and physiological mechanisms underlying these effects are discussed, including decreased anomie, an increase in “mattering,” and physiological processes such as increased oxytocin production and strengthening of the immune system. Finally, recommendations are made regarding social policy.
Keywords: Altruism, volunteering, health, well-being, life span
Jane Allyn Piliavin, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Erica Siegl, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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- On the Cover
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Preface
- The Field of Prosocial Behavior: An Introduction and Overview
- The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Prosociality: Adaptations, Byproducts, and Mistakes
- Prosocial Primates
- The Economics of Prosocial Behavior
- The Developmental and Evolutionary Origins of Human Helping and Sharing
- The Development of Prosocial Behavior
- Morality and Prosocial Judgments and Behavior
- The Contextually Grounded Nature of Prosocial Behavior: A Multiscale, Embodied Approach to Morality
- Terror Management and Prosocial Behavior: A Theory of Self-Protective Altruism
- Culture and Prosocial Behavior
- An Attachment Perspective on Prosocial Attitudes and Behavior
- Searching for the Prosocial Personality
- The Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis
- Empathy and Prosocial Behavior
- The Other Side of Helping: Seeking and Receiving Help
- Understanding Prosocial Behavior Requires Understanding Relational Context
- Functional Motives and Functional Consequences of Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Behavior in Close Relationships: An Interdependence Approach
- Beyond the Damsel in Distress: Gender Differences and Similarities in Enacting Prosocial Behavior
- Race and Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Behavior in Late Life
- Stigma: Implications for Helping Behavior
- Volunteerism and Community Involvement: Antecedents, Experiences, and Consequences for the Person and the Situation
- Health and Well-being Consequences of Formal Volunteering
- Determinants of Cooperation in Social Dilemmas
- Justice and Intragroup Cooperation
- Intergroup Cooperation
- Tolerance: An Elusive but Fundamental Aspect of Sociality
- Religion and Prosociality
- Prosocial Behavior and Environmental Action
- Prosocial Behavior in Cancer Research: Patient Participation in Cancer Clinical Trials
- Peace Psychology and Prosocial Behavior
- The Roots of Helping, Heroic Rescue and Resistance to and the Prevention of Mass Violence: Active Bystandership in Extreme Times and in Building Peaceful Societies
- Gaining the Big Picture: Prosocial Behavior as an End Product
- Index
