Hello! We hope you’re doing well as we enter these beautiful summer months! We’d like to take some time to talk about relationships, aggression, and prosocial behavior given that we are entering a season where we spend a lot of time around friends and family enjoying vacations and summer holidays.
Prosocial Behavior
Prosocial behavior is behavior performed with the intention of ultimately benefiting other people in society. Things like volunteering at the food bank, helping a stranger carry groceries, and devoting time to keeping local parks clean are all examples of prosocial behavior. There are many advantages to being prosocial and behaving in ways that contribute to the wellbeing of others and of society.
A 2016 study found that prosocial behavior reduced day-to-day stress as well as improved mental health overall. Another study from 2012 found that prosocial behavior can literally change one’s perception of time. This study found that people who dedicated time to caring for other people felt they had an abundance of time, compared to those who did not. Those who did not dedicate time to volunteering felt they had wasted time and that they had much less future time available to them as compared to those who focused on the needs of others.
A simple way to increase the prosocial behaviors and habits in your life is to ask yourself the question “how can I dedicate time to someone else today?” This can be extremely useful for teaching children how to be prosocial: involving children in small and simple service opportunities can foster an affinity for and tendency toward consistent prosocial behaviors.
Aggression
Another way of relating which is much less productive and healthy is that of aggression. The Oxford Dictionary of Psychology defines aggression as “Behaviour whose primary or sole purpose or function is to injure another person or organism, whether physically or psychologically.” There are many types of aggression just as there are many contributing factors which might make aggression a more convenient path for some individuals.
Some factors that have been demonstrated to contribute to the development of aggressive tendencies are experiences wherein aggression proves to be effective for accomplishing a goal and consistent engagement in pro-aggression environments. Research has also demonstrated that being exposed to aggression can increase aggressive behaviors. An example of this is even something as seemingly benign as violent media.
It may go without saying, but studies have demonstrated that being aggressive has dramatic negative impacts on the mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing of those perpetrating aggressive behaviors. Aggressive people also tend to be more lonely as loneliness precedes aggression, and aggression perpetuates loneliness.
Increasing Healthy Behaviors
With all of this data in mind, we can see that there are clear ways for increasing prosocial behavior and decreasing aggression both within adults and children.
- Increase service opportunities
- Model service opportunities to children in a compassionate and positive way
- Limit exposure to violence in media and other settings
- Seek services to gain tools for responding to violent behavior in a way that does not enable the individual to continue in violence
- Decrease loneliness and increase connection
Different periods of development pose new and unique challenges which must be tended to in holistic and compassionate ways. Aggression and violence can be mediated through consistency, compassion, and intervention from a mental health professional. Prosocial behavior can be fostered through establishing habits which orient us to the needs of other people. Prosocial behavior also has the incredible byproduct of being profoundly beneficial for overall well-being.