Individual Differences in Selective Prosociality

Individuals select who they want to be prosocial towards. This is backed up by a longstanding literature showing that humans have the tendency to be prosocial towards certain people or groups rather than others. Yet, sur­pris­ingly, up until this point, no research has systematically investigated individual differences in selective proso­cial­ity. Why are some individuals more selective in their prosocial behavior, whereas others are universally prosocial or, even, universally selfish? Which personality traits can such selective and universal prosociality be traced back to? Further, given that selective prosociality can have a number of negative consequences for society – such as discrimination and intergroup conflict – how can we use our knowledge about the link between personality traits and selective prosociality to promote universal prosociality? By integrating empirical insight on selective proso­cial­ity from the intergroup relations literature with theoretical and methodological insight on individual differences from personality psychology, this project will contribute to addressing these issues.

Publications