Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Altruistic and Egoistic Prosocial Behaviors among Orang Asli Adolescents: Its Relations to Attachments and Prosocial Value

Aini Azeqa Ma’rof, Hanina H. Hamsan

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i16/8292

Open access

Attachment theories postulate that attachment is crucial during adolescence and act as an important predictor to prosocial behavior. From attachment and prosocial value perspective, people develop the ability to empathize with others which is related to healthy functioning and positive helping behavior. This study therefore examine the relations between social attachments (i.e., parental, peer, school, and ethnic group attachments) and prosocial value (i.e., kindness) on the distinct type of prosocial behavioral tendencies (i.e., altruistic and egoistic prosocial behaviors). The study was conducted among the Orang Asli adolescents (N = 402) aged 14 years and 16 years from ten secondary schools in the states of Perak and Pahang and employed self-administered questionnaire. The results revealed that there were significant relationships between parental, peer and ethnic group attachments on altruistic and egoistic prosocial behavior tendencies. Significant relationship also was found on the relations between prosocial value and both prosocial behavior tendencies. However, there was no significant relationship for school attachment and both prosocial behavior tendencies. Findings from this study suggests that attachment to specific social group contribute to the distinct types of prosocial behavior tendencies, meanwhile, regardless of the types of prosocial behavior, it comes together with the kindness act. This study further discusses on the implication of attachment specifically among the Orang Asli in preserving their prosocial acts.

Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of youth and adolescence, 16(5), 427-454.
Barr, J. J., & Higgins-D'Alessandro, A. (2007). Adolescent empathy and prosocial behavior in the multidimensional context of school culture. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(3), 231-250.
Batson, C. D., & Oleson, K. C. (1991). Current status of the empathy-altruism hypothesis. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, Vol. 12. Prosocial behavior (p. 62–85).
Brief, A., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1986). Prosocial organizational behaviors. The Academy of management Review, 11(4), 710-725.
Calderon-Tena, C. O., Knight, G. P., & Carlo, G. (2011). The socialization of prosocial behavioral tendencies among Mexican American adolescents: The role of familism values. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(1), 98.
Carlo, G., & Randall, B. A. (2002). The development of a measure of prosocial behaviors for late adolescents. Journal of youth and adolescence, 31(1), 31-44.
Carlo, G., Hausmann, A., Christiansen, S., and Randall, B. A. (2003). Sociocognitive and behavioral correlates of a measure of prosocial tendencies for adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence. 23, 107–134.
Carlo, G., Knight, G. P., McGinley, M., & Hayes, R. (2011). The roles of parental inductions, moral emotions, and moral cognitions among Mexican American and European American Early Adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 31(6), 757-781.
Clark, K. E., & Ladd, G. W. (2000). Connectedness and autonomy support in parent–child relationships: Links to children's socioemotional orientation and peer relationships. Developmental psychology, 36(4), 485.
Cornwell, G. T., Eggebeen, D. J., & Meschke, L. L. (1996). The changing family context of early adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 16(2), 141-156.
Davis, M. H. (1994). Social psychology series. Empathy: A social psychological approach. Westview Press.
De Waal, F. B., & Brosnan, S. F. (2006). Simple and complex reciprocity in primates. In Cooperation in primates and humans (pp. 85-105). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Dentan, R. K. (2001). Ambivalences in child training by the Smeai of Peninsular Malaysia and other peoples.
Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., & Penner, L. A. (2017). The social psychology of prosocial behavior. Psychology Press.
Eberly, M. B., & Montemayor, R. (1998). Doing good deeds: An examination of adolescent prosocial behaviour in the context of parent-adolescent relationships. Journal of Adolescent Research, 13(4), 403-432.
Eccles, J. S., Wigfield, A., & Schiefele, U. (1998). Motivation to succeed. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development (p. 1017–1095). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Eisenberg, N., & Eggum, N. D. (2009). Empathic responding: Sympathy and personal distress. The social neuroscience of empathy, 6, 71-83.
Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1991). Prosocial behavior and empathy: A multimethod developmental perspective. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, 12, 34-61.
Eisenberg, N., & Mussen, P. H. (1989). Cambridge studies in social and emotional development. The roots of prosocial behavior in children. Cambridge University Press.
Flook, L. F., Goldberg, S. B., Pinger, L., & Davidson, R., (2015). Promoting prosocial behaviour and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a kindfulness-based kindness curriculum. Developmental Psychology Journal, 51(1), 44-51.
Furlong, M. J., O'brennan, L. M., & You, S. (2011). Psychometric properties of the Add Health School Connectedness Scale for 18 sociocultural groups. Psychology in the Schools, 48(10), 986-997.
Guzman, M.R., Carlo, G., & Edwards, C.P. (2008). Prosocial behaviors in context: Examining the role of children's social companions. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 32, 522 - 530.
Hamalainen, H., & Tanskanen, A. O. (2017). Intergenerational transfers towards adult children and elderly parents. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28378.44488/1.
Henry, K. L., & Slater, M. D. (2007). The contextual effect of school attachment on young adolescents’ alcohol use. Journal of school health, 77(2), 67-74.
Hoffman, M. L. (1981). Is altruism part of human nature? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(1), 121-137.
Homans, G. C. (1958). Social Behaviour as Exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 63, 6, 597-606.
House, B. R., Silk, J. B., & Clark, H. (2013). Ontogeny of prosocial behavior across diverse societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(36).
Kenny, M. E., Griffiths, J., & Grossman, J. (2005). Self-image and parental attachment among late adolescents in Belize. Journal of adolescence, 28(5), 649-664.
Knight, G. P., Bernal, M. E., & Carlo, G. (1995). Socialization and the development of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic behaviors among Mexican American children. In E. E. Garcia, & B. McLaughlin (Eds.), Meeting the challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity in early childhood (pp. 85–102). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Knight, G. P., Cota, M. K., & Bernal, M. E. (1993). The socialization of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic preferences among Mexican American children: The mediating role of ethnic identity. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 15, 291–309.
Krebs, D. L. (2015). Prosocial behavior. In Evolutionary perspectives on social psychology (pp. 231-242). Springer, Cham. Latané, B., & Nida, S. (1981). Ten years of research on group size and helping. Psychological bulletin, 89(2), 308.
Lawford, H., Pratt, M. W., Hunsberger, B., & Pancer, M. S. (2005). Adolescent generativity: A longitudinal study of two possible contexts for learning concern for future generations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15(3), 261-273.
Layous, K., Nelson, S. K., Oberle, E., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). Kindness counts: Prompting prosocial behavior in preadolescents boosts peer acceptance and well-being. PloS one, 7(12), e51380.
Mavridis, S. (2014). The Human Right to The City. Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 2(2), 75–91.
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2015). The psychological effects of the contextual activation of security-enhancing mental representations in adulthood. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 18-21.
Nie, Y., Li., J., & Vazsonyi, A. T. (2016). Self-control mediates the association between parental attachment and prosocial behaviors among Chinese adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 96. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.077
Oldfield, J., Humphrey, N. & Hebron, J. (2015). The Role of Parental and Peer Attachment Relationships and School Connectedness in Predicting Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 21(1).
Park, J. H., & Schaller, M. (2005). Does attitude similarity serve as a heuristic cue for kinship? Evidence of an implicit cognitive association. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(2), 158-170.
Penner, L. A., Dovido, J. F., & Piliavin, J. A. (2005). Prosocial behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56(1), 365-392.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Universal virtues? Lessons from history.
Phinney, J. S. (1992). The multigroup ethnic identity measure: a new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7(2), 156-172.
Pilgrim, C., & Rueda-Riedle, A. (2002). The importance of social context in cross-cultural comparisons: First graders in Colombia and the United States. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 163(3), 283-295.
Piliavin, J. A., Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Clark, R. (1981). Emergency interventions, New York, Academic Press.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68.
Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B. L., & Jarvis, L. H. (2007). Ethnic identity and acculturation in Hispanic early adolescents: Mediated relationships to academic grades, prosocial behaviors, and externalizing symptoms. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(4), 364–373.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cup Archive.
Triandis, H. C. (1996). The psychological measurement of cultural syndromes. American psychologist, 51(4), 407.
Van Hoorn, J., Van Dijk, E., Meuwese, R., Rieffe, C., & Crone, E. A. (2016). Peer influence on prosocial behavior in adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 26(1), 90–100.
Yates, M., & Youniss, J. (1996). A developmental perspective on community service in adolescence. Social Development, 5(1), 85–111.

In-Text Citation: (Ma’rof & Hamsan, 2020)
To Cite this Article: Ma’rof, A. A., & Hamsan, H. H. (2020). Altruistic and Egoistic Prosocial Behaviors among Orang Asli Adolescents: Its Relations to Attachments and Prosocial Value. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(16), 58–72.