Prosocial Development

Abstract In this chapter, we review research and some current theory on the development of prosocial responding (including prosocial behavior and empathy‐related responding) and possible antecedents/causes, outcomes, and correlates. In the initial section of this chapter, we briefly present a general framework for integrating factors that contribute to prosocial responding. Then the empirical literature related to the development of prosocial behavior, with an emphasis on the emerging literature on early development and development during adolescence, is reviewed. Next we review literature on the potential origins of prosocial responding, including potential biological, cultural, familial, and peer/school factors. Then we address sociocognitive correlates of prosocial responding and the relations of temperamental/personality and social‐behavioral individual differences (e.g., aggression) to prosocial behavior and/or empathy‐related responding. Due to space constraints, we focus more on current rather than older publications and disproportionately on topics of central importance to prosocial development and issues that have been foci of interest in the past decade. In the final sections of the chapter, gaps in the field and future directions are discussed.