Social mindfulness and prosociality vary across the globe

Niels J. Van Doesum (Corresponding author), Ryan O. Murphy, Marcello Gallucci, Efrat Aharonov-Majar, Ursula Athenstaedt, Wing Tung Au, Liying Bai, Robert Böhm, Inna Bovina, Nancy R. Buchan, Xiao-Ping Chen, Kitty B. Dumont, Jan B. Engelmann, Kimmo Eriksson, Hyun Euh, Susann Fiedler, Justin Friesen, Simon Gächter, Camilo Garcia, Roberto GonzálezSylvie Graf, Katarzyna Growiec, Serge Guimond, Martina Hřebíčková, Elizabeth Immer-Bernold, Jeff Joireman, Gokhan Karagonlar, Kerry Kawakami, Toko Kiyonari, Yu Kou, D. Michael Kuhlman, Alexandros-Andreas Kyrtsis, Siugmin Lay, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Norman P. Li, Yang Li, Boris Maciejovsky, Zoi Manesi, Ali Mashuri, Aurelia Mok, Karin S. Moser, Ladislav Moták, Adrian Netedu, Chandrasekhar Pammi, Michael J. Platow, Karolina Raczka-Winkler, Christopher P. Reinders Folmer, Cecilia Reyna, Angelo Romano, Shaul Shalvi, Cláudia Simão, Adam W. Stivers, Pontus Strimling, Yannis Tsirbas, Sonja Utz, Leander van der Meij, Sven Waldzus, Yiwen Wang, Bernd Weber, Ori Weisel, Tim Wildschut, Fabian Winter, Junhui Wu, Jose C. Yong, Paul A. M. Van Lange

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

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.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2023846118
Number of pages9
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume118
Issue number35
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Aug 2021

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 501021 Social psychology

Keywords

  • BEHAVIOR
  • CULTURE
  • ECONOMIC MAN
  • EVOLUTION
  • GAMES
  • HUMAN COOPERATION
  • IDENTITY
  • PUNISHMENT
  • RECIPROCITY
  • RELIGION
  • cross-national differences
  • low-cost cooperation
  • social mindfulness
  • Social mindfulness
  • Low-cost cooperation
  • Cross-national differences

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