Moscow, Moscow, Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Moscow, Moscow, Russian Federation
employee from 01.01.2020 to 01.01.2025
Moscow, Moscow, Russian Federation
UDC 159.9
Introduction. The development and refinement of psychological and pedagogical strategies for the prevention of aggressive and destructive behavior require an understanding of the mechanisms of helping (prosocial) behavior and altruism as important components of an individual’s social adaptation. Prosocial behavior is viewed as a broader phenomenon encompassing various motivational forms, whereas altruism is interpreted as a specific type of helping action without expectation of external reward or personal gain. It is shown that prosociality and altruism occupy a central place in the external criteria of social adaptation and are linked to the system of personality characteristics that facilitate the transition from perceived social adaptation to actual social adaptation. Materials and methods. This theoretical article describes the conceptual relationships between the concepts “prosocial behavior” and “altruism” based on contemporary meta-analytic reviews and approaches from positive psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience. The article presents key socio- psychological and psychophysiological approaches to the study of prosocial behavior and altruism: classical laboratory and field experiments (moral dilemmas, the “trolley problem,” the “Good Samaritan” study, etc.), questionnaires and self-report scales, as well as modern neuroimaging and multimodal methods. The results of the analysis demonstrate a significant expansion of the methodological arsenal in the study of prosocial behavior and altruism and a shift in emphasis from isolated procedures to comprehensive designs combining behavioral, psychometric, and psychophysiological methods. Conclusion. The need for further development of integrative models that account for the prerequisites of altruism, its connection to moral development, and the role of prosocial behavior in preventing aggressive and destructive forms of social maladjustment is emphasised.
positive psychology, positive neuroscience, social neuroscience, well-being, altruism, prosocial behavior
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