Developmental Pattern of Prosocial Motivation

Abstract

Changes in patterns of prosocial motivation between Grades 2 and 12 were examined in five samples from four countrics: West Germany, Poland, Italy,and the United States. The Prosocial Motivation Questionnaire (PSMQ), an instrument based on theoretical elaborations about evaluative standards operative in prosocial action, was used to assess within-subject preference for five prosocial motives: hedonism, self-interest, conformity, task orientation, and other-orientation. Studied were two samples from Berlin (West; average age range, 11-6 to 18-6 years) and one sample each from Warsaw (11-11 to 18-11), Bologna (11-6 to 18-11), and Phoenix, Arizona (8-4 to 13-4). The major results held for all cities studied and confirm the generalizability of earlier national findings. Specifically, the major findings were as follows: (1) extrinsic motives for prosocial acts (hedonism and self-interest) were least preferred, whereas intrinsic motives (task and other-orientation) were most highly valued, and conformity was always in between; (2) preference for hedonism decreased in the younger samples, preference for conformity decreased in the older samples, and age-related increases were found only for task orientation; and (3) gender differences emerged at age 12, thus confirming prior findings that girls prefer intrinsic motives more than boys do.