It is also noteworthy that many of these principles were laid down in feudal times when they were essential for the functioning of collectivistic culture view more [47]. In modern Chinese societies, a prosocial orientation is still highly valued, but it is clear that there are many other possible social, economic, and cultural forces which shape moral standards and prosocial norms [48]. It is even clearer that when individual achievements and wealth are highly valued in modern Chinese societies, pragmatic values can become a lot more popular than prosocial values. Nonetheless, youth development programs can still attempt to make good use of materials from Chinese literature, philosophy, and folklore to help young people realize the duty of a citizen and the virtues put forward in traditional Chinese culture.

6. Implications for ResearchThis paper reviews the theories, prosocial development in the course of adolescence, and the gender and social factors linked to its development. A number of research implications can be drawn from the present discussion. First, most of the existing studies on prosocial behavior and some are on prosocial motivation, but there are relatively few studies on prosocial norms. While it is important to know how far people are engaged in prosocial acts, it is necessary to examine the motivation behind these acts. Researching on prosocial norms will give us some answers on what alters the expression of our prosocial intentions, as there is a wide gap between what one thinks is right and what one actually ends up doing.

Second, there are only a handful of theories that centered on prosocial norms. Few existing theories really address how people may negotiate between a norm of self-interest and prosocial norms or the feeling of doing what is morally right [49]. Based on social cognitive theory, the norm activation model has attempted to examine how one’s feelings of moral obligations may be altered by awareness of consequences for self and others if one does not act prosocially, and the self-efficacy in managing the situation. There are some initial successes in fitting alternative models using the structural equation modeling, and it will be good to continue with this research endeavor and see how this model can be applied under different social circumstances and on different social issues.Third, reciprocity, social responsibility, altruism, and volunteerism are the most common prosocial norms. People of different age groups or cultural backgrounds may have different Carfilzomib interpretations of these norms. We know very little about how and when children and young people learn them.