When and why is helping others good for well‐being? The role of belief in reciprocity and conformity to society's expectations

Abstract

This research investigates the relation between informal help and subjective well-being and its underlying mechanisms using a cross-national perspective. We focus on two potential mechanisms derived from the self-determination theory and conformity to the social norms literature. From the standpoint of self-determination theory, helping others is good for well-being if it is intrinsically motivated, rather than driven by the expectation of reciprocity. On the other hand, from the perspective of the conformity literature, helping others is associated with a higher well-being when it is linked to the benefits of social conformity, such as social approval. We tested these hypotheses using the data from a total of 23 countries. The results provided support for both mechanisms. First, we found that the lower individuals' beliefs in reciprocity are, the stronger is the positive effect of selfreported helping behavior on their well-being. Second, helping behavior was more strongly related to life satisfaction in countries where providing help represents a strong social norm (measured with two different cultural indicators). We conclude that both individual-and culture-level mechanisms account for the relation between prosocial behavior and well-being.

Mediating Role of Self-Concordance on the Relationship Between Internet Altruistic Behaviour and Subjective Wellbeing

“…Tian, Du, and Huebner (2015) revealed that altruistic behaviour was positively correlated with life satisfaction and positive affect. Findings reported by several empirical studies have also shown that altruistic behaviour leads to a high level of SWB and predicts SWB (Aknin, Hamlin, & Dunn, 2012;Oarga, Stavrova, & Fetchenhauer, 2015;Pareek & Jain, 2012).…”

Towards an asset-based approach to promoting and sustaining well-being for people with aphasia and their families: an international exploratory study

“…This reciprocity helped the people affected by aphasia (both PWA and their families) to feel valued and gave them a sense of purpose. Helping others, not only being helped is significant for boosting well-being (Oarga, Stavrova, & Fetchenhauer, 2015). In addition, participants described personal attributes that facilitated them to live successfully with aphasia.…”

The helping orientations inventory: Measuring propensities to provide autonomy and dependency help

“…Combining these two lines of work would reveal whether certain people are more or less consistent in the type of help they prefer to provide and receive. Future work should consider both sides of the equation by examining features of the helper (e.g., through the HOI scales) and the helpseeker (e.g., their help-seeking preferences; Nadler & Chernyak-Hai, 2014;Tscharaktschiew & Rudolph, 2015), and how these interactions can lead to effective helping relationships and positive outcomes for all involved (e.g., well-being; Oarga, Stavrova, & Fetchenhauer, 2015).…”