But is helping you worth the risk? Defining Prosocial Risk Taking in adolescence

Kathy, T.; Moreira, João F. Guassi; Telzer, Eva H.

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2016.11.008

Cited by 95 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 126 publications

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“…2 A Note on Terminology Although we use the term positive risk taking, other researchers have described this phenomenon as prosocial (i.e., socially acceptable or the opposite of antisocial) or adaptive (Fischer & Smith, 2004;Hansen & Breivik, 2001;Wood, Dawe, & Gullo, 2013). We choose the term positive because the term prosocial may be confounded with behaviors solely intended to benefit others (e.g., Do, Guassi Moreira, & Telzer, 2017). Arguably, prosocial risks (e.g., defending a peer from a bully) are one category of positive risks because they yield uncertain outcomes and a potential cost to the risk taker (cf., Do et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Spectrum Of Risk Takingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Risk Taking in Adolescence

Duell

Steinberg

2018

Child Dev Perspectives

181

130

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Adolescents are more likely to take risks than children or adults. This propensity can be directed toward negative (illegal and dangerous) or positive (socially acceptable and constructive) risk behaviors. Adolescents who take positive risks include teenagers winning Olympic medals for landing snowboard tricks and students protesting gun violence on a national platform. Yet little is known about the nature of positive risk taking because much of the research on adolescent risk taking has focused on negative risks, such as substance use or delinquency. In this article, we offer a theoretical model of positive risk taking, briefly review research on positive risk taking, and discuss theoretical correlates of positive risk taking based on models of adolescent risk taking. We aim to identify positive risks as a unique class of socially acceptable risks in which youth engage in addition to negative risks.

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Section: The Spectrum Of Risk Takingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Risk Taking in Adolescence

Duell

Steinberg

2018

Child Dev Perspectives

181

130

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“…Therefore, developmental changes in reward sensitivity and relationship quality can affect adolescents’ motivation to engage in risky behaviors that affect others over time. Indeed, a new perspective from developmental neuroscience proposes that, in some contexts, adolescents may be taking risks with the explicit intention of helping others (Do et al, 2017), a process that may be supported by neural reactivity in reward-related regions to the experience of vicarious rewards for close others.…”

Section: Neural Correlates Of Peer and Family Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

Social Influence on Positive Youth Development: A Developmental Neuroscience Perspective

Telzer

Hoorn

Rogers

et al. 2018

Advances in Child Development and Behavior

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157

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Susceptibility to social influence is associated with a host of negative outcomes during adolescence. However, emerging evidence implicates the role of peers and parents in adolescents' positive and adaptive adjustment. Hence, in this chapter we highlight social influence as an opportunity for promoting social adjustment, which can redirect negative trajectories and help adolescents thrive. We discuss influential models about the processes underlying social influence, with a particular emphasis on internalizing social norms, embedded in social learning and social identity theory. We link this behavioral work to developmental social neuroscience research, rooted in neurobiological models of decision making and social cognition. Work from this perspective suggests that the adolescent brain is highly malleable and particularly oriented toward the social world, which may account for heightened susceptibility to social influences during this developmental period. This chapter underscores the need to leverage social influences during adolescence, even beyond the family and peer context, to promote positive developmental outcomes. By further probing the underlying neural mechanisms as an additional layer to examining social influence on positive youth development, we will be able to gain traction on our understanding of this complex phenomenon.

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“…Such behavioral variation in helping is often considered a reflection of differences in social preferences -the value individuals assign to the welfare of another person (Fehr & Schmidt, 1999;Van Lange, 1999). However, helping others often comes with risks -the possibility to incur additional personal costs (Do, Moreira & Telzer, 2017;Müller & Rau, 2016;Vives & FeldmanHall, 2018).…”

Section: Behavioral and Neurobiological Mechanisms Of Prosocial Decismentioning

confidence: 99%

When Helping is Risky: The Behavioral and Neurobiological Tradeoff of Social and Risk Preferences

Gross¹,

Faber²,

Kappes³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Helping others can entail risks. Doctors that treat infectious patients may risk their own health, intervening in a fight can lead to injury, and organ donations can lead to medical complications.When helping others comes with a risk to oneself, decisions depend on the individual's valuation of others' well-being (social preferences) and the degree of personal risk the individual finds acceptable (risk preferences). Here we identify how these distinct preferences are behaviorally (Study 1, N=292) and neurobiologically (Study 2, N=154) integrated when helping is risky. We independently assessed social and risk preferences using incentivized behavioral tasks, and manipulated dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain by providing methylphenidate, atomoxetine, or placebo. Results reveal that social and risk preferences are independent driving forces of risky helping, and that methylphenidate-altered dopamine concentrations lead to more helping under risk because of increases in risk-tolerance rather than increased social preferences.Implications for decision-theory and drug use are discussed. Statement of RelevancePeople help others at sometimes substantial costs to themselves. What has been largely overlooked is that helping can also be risky. When treating patients with infectious diseases doctors may become infected themselves, and volunteers trying to rescue ship-wrecked refugees risk injury and drowning. Here we identify individual differences in social preferencespredicting willingness to help-and risk preferences-predicting willingness to take risks-and examine how these distinct preferences alone and in combination predict decision-making when helping comes at a risk. Findings advance theory by showing that popular off-the-shelf drugs like methylphenidate increase risky helping because they alter risk rather than social preferences.

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But is helping you worth the risk? Defining Prosocial Risk Taking in adolescence

Cited by 95 publications

References 126 publications

Positive Risk Taking in Adolescence

Positive Risk Taking in Adolescence

Social Influence on Positive Youth Development: A Developmental Neuroscience Perspective

When Helping is Risky: The Behavioral and Neurobiological Tradeoff of Social and Risk Preferences

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