Prosocial Behavior, Solidarity, and Framing Processes

Abstract

This book is about what sociologists call solidarity and social psychologists call prosocial behavior. Any group or society heavily depends on the willingness of its members to help others in need, to contribute to a common good, to show themselves worthy of trust, and to be fair and considerate. While this is widely recognized, it is less obvious what makes people behave solidarily in one situation and keeps them from acting solidarily in another situation. It was our intention to offer a fresh look at this age-old question by focusing on the cognitive processes that influence an actor’s degree of solidarity and that mediate the influence of both the personality of a given actor and the situation in which a behavior takes place. One conclusion from such a perspective is that we all are to some degree like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (i.e., we are able to be highly altruistic in some situations but are brutally selfish in others). In the studies presented in this book, we focused on goal framing and mental models as two corre- sponding mechanisms that allow us to switch our solidary behavior between situations and relationships. Goal framing denotes cognitive processes (such as selective attention or selective activation of knowl- edge structures) related to the realization of particular goals. A mental model refers to a particular idea actors have of the sort of relationship they are in and the behaviors and expectations that are appropriate within this relationship. For example, in the workplace, members of work teams often have two main goals: Getting the job done and main- taining smooth social relationships with colleagues. However, the out- comes of group work may change radically when workers initially frame the situation primarily in terms of task output, but then switch their attention to social relations, or vice versa. Correspondingly, work- ers may hold a mental model of their peer relations in terms of “friend- ship” (putting priority on ties above task) or in terms of “professional colleagues” (where the task prevails).