Prosocial Values

Prosocial values are one category of a broader typology known as social value orientation (SVO). An individual’s SVO is his or her approach to allocating resources between himself or herself and another person. SVO is predicated on the concept that individuals are not purely motivated to be self-serving; in fact, there may be individual differences with regard to one’s desire to benefit others or the group relative to attempting only to maximize outcomes for oneself. Historically, SVO has had three main categories: prosocial (also called cooperation; i.e., being motivated to maximize outcomes for self and others), individualism (i.e., being motivated to maximize one’s own outcomes with little or no consideration for the outcomes of others), and competition (i.e., being motivated to maximize one’s own outcomes ...