"The Roles of Perspective Taking, Empathic Concern, and Prosocial Moral Reasoning in the Self-Reported Prosocial Behaviors of Filipino and Turkish Young Adults"

Postdoctoral Scholar Zehra Gülseven (left) and Professor Gustavo Carlo (right) published an article in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology analyzing links between sociocognitive and socioemotive traits and prosocial behaviors.

The title of the article is “The Roles of Perspective Taking, Empathic Concern, and Prosocial Moral Reasoning in the Self-Reported Prosocial Behaviors of Filipino and Turkish Young Adults.”
 
Co-authors are Professor Asiye Kumru (Özyeğin University, Turkey) and Associate Professor Maria Rosario de Guzman (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).

​Gülseven's research focuses on parental, cultural, and contextual correlates of prosocial behaviors and moral development in children and adolescents. She is collaborating with Professor Sandra Simpkins, Chancellor's Professor Emerita Deborah Vandell, Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles, and Associate Professor Nicole Zarrett (University of South Carolina) in the Templeton Character Development Project to explore the development of five character virtues including prosocial behavior, cooperative behavior, self-control, emotion regulation, and hard work from childhood through adolescence. Gülseven received her B.S. in Psychology from Abant İzzet Baysal University, in Turkey and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from the University of Missouri.
 
Carlo’s primary research interest focuses on understanding positive social development and health in culturally diverse children and adolescents. Many of his projects focus on U.S. ethnic/racial groups, including Latino/a youth and families. He has published more than 200 books, chapters, and research papers. He currently serves as a member of the Society for Research in Child Development Governing Council, as associate editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, and as co-editor of the upcoming APA Handbook of Adolescent Development.
 
Abstract
 
Traditional social cognitive model of prosocial development suggests important links between both sociocognitive and socioemotive traits and prosocial behaviors. The present study examined the relations among perspective taking, empathic concern, prosocial moral reasoning, and public, emotional, compliant, and anonymous prosocial behaviors in Filipino and Turkish young adults to test the generalizability of this traditional model. Participants were 257 college students recruited from state universities in Ankara, Turkey (57 women, 83 men; Mage = 19.26 years, SD = 0.63) and Manila, the Philippines (75 women, 42 men; Mage = 18.41 years, SD = 1.44). Results showed that the relations among perspective taking, empathic concern, prosocial moral reasoning, and four types of self-reported prosocial behaviors were robust across two countries and gender. Perspective taking was positively related to empathic concern, which, in turn, was positively related to emotional and compliant prosocial behaviors. Perspective taking was also positively related to prosocial moral reasoning, which, in turn, was positively related to anonymous and negatively related to public prosocial behaviors. Overall, the findings provide support for the generalizability of traditional model of prosocial development and extend our understanding of prosocial behaviors to two non-Western, collectivist-oriented societies.