Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe
Journal article
Van Doesum, N.J., Murphy, R.O., Gallucci, M., Aharonov-Majar, E., Athenstaedt, U., Au, W.T., Bai, L., Böhm, R., Bovina, I., Buchan, N.R., Chen, X-P., Dumont, K.B., Engelmann, J.B., Eriksson, K., Euh, H., Fiedler, S., Friesen, J., Gächter, S., Garcia, C., González, R., Graf, S., Growiec, K., Guimond, S., Hřebíčková, M., Immer-Bernold, E., Joireman, J., Karagonlar, G., Kawakami, K., Kiyonari, T., Kou, Y., Kuhlman, D. M., Kyrtsis, A-A., Lay, S., Leonardelli, G.J., Li, N.P., Li, Y., Maciejovsky, B., Manesi, Z., Mashuri, A., Mok, A., Moser, K., Moták, L., Netedu, A., Pammi, C., Platow, M.J., Raczka-Winkler, K., Reinders Folmer, C.P., Reyna, C., Romano, A., Shalvi, S., Simão, C., Stivers, A.W., Strimling, P., Tsirbas, Y., Utz, S., van der Meij, L., Waldzus, S., Wang, Y., Weber, B., Weisel, O., Wildschut, T., Winter, F., Wu, J., Yong, J.C. and Van Lange, P.A.M. (2021). Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118 (35), p. e2023846118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023846118
Authors | Van Doesum, N.J., Murphy, R.O., Gallucci, M., Aharonov-Majar, E., Athenstaedt, U., Au, W.T., Bai, L., Böhm, R., Bovina, I., Buchan, N.R., Chen, X-P., Dumont, K.B., Engelmann, J.B., Eriksson, K., Euh, H., Fiedler, S., Friesen, J., Gächter, S., Garcia, C., González, R., Graf, S., Growiec, K., Guimond, S., Hřebíčková, M., Immer-Bernold, E., Joireman, J., Karagonlar, G., Kawakami, K., Kiyonari, T., Kou, Y., Kuhlman, D. M., Kyrtsis, A-A., Lay, S., Leonardelli, G.J., Li, N.P., Li, Y., Maciejovsky, B., Manesi, Z., Mashuri, A., Mok, A., Moser, K., Moták, L., Netedu, A., Pammi, C., Platow, M.J., Raczka-Winkler, K., Reinders Folmer, C.P., Reyna, C., Romano, A., Shalvi, S., Simão, C., Stivers, A.W., Strimling, P., Tsirbas, Y., Utz, S., van der Meij, L., Waldzus, S., Wang, Y., Weber, B., Weisel, O., Wildschut, T., Winter, F., Wu, J., Yong, J.C. and Van Lange, P.A.M. |
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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. |
Keywords | social mindfulness; prosciality; cooperation; decision making; societal influence; socio-economic differences; sustainability; equality; cross-national differences; environmental protection |
Year | 2021 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Journal citation | 118 (35), p. e2023846118 |
Publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023846118 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.pnas.org/content/118/35/e2023846118 |
Publication dates | |
23 Aug 2021 | |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 27 Jun 2021 |
Deposited | 25 Aug 2021 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/8xq48
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Publisher's version
van Doesum et al_social mindfulness_PNAS, 2021.pdf | ||
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | ||
File access level: Open |
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