‘Sukarma’: An investigation into the internal and external influences of prosocial behaviour

Pages: 898-904
Rajeshwari Ravi and Varsha Singh (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi)

We as society are always focused on the negatives, i.e., we always point out and talk about anti-social behaviour but rarely do we talk about or point out the small good actions that we do everyday which leads to the thriving of this society lie following traffic rules, helping elderly, etc. The aim of this research was to have an in-depth understanding of prosocial behaviour. The relationship of prosocial behaviour with emotional intelligence and personality traits was assessed along with studying the gender differences, differences on emotional intelligence and personality variables between slow and high scorers of prosociality and media influences on the same. For the purpose of the study 100 young adults aged 18-25 years were asked to complete a questionnaire compiled using the Helping Attitude Scale, NEO-FFI and HEXACO, and TEIQue-SF and further two self-constructed movies were shown. Results indicated that emotional intelligence and personality traits except extraversion and openness to experiences were significantly and positively correlated with prosocial behaviour. Further no significant gender differences were found. The low and high scorers of posocial behaviour differed significantly on emotional intelligence and personality variables except extraversion and openness to experiences. Lastly it was found that media has a very direct and specific influence on prosocial behaviour with positive media film significantly affecting participants with low scores on prosocial behaviour and negative media film influencing those with high scores. Thus the study was concluded with a broadened understanding about prosocial behaviour and also with the knowledge of how to use media efficiently to foster prosocial behaviour.