Gailliot, M. T. (2010). The effortful and energy-demanding nature of prosocial behavior. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature (pp. 169-180). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/12061-009
Living in a complex society requires that people work together, cooperate, and help one another. Hence, prosocial behavior is a necessity in modem life. Helping others is not always easy, however, and it can demand effort and energy (see chaps. 7 and 19, this volume). In addition, although theorists agree that human beings have an innate capacity for prosocial behavior (see Chaps. 1, 2, and 4, this volume), other innate tendencies and cultural factors may predispose people toward selfishness and reduced altruism. In this chapter, I focus on self-regulation (or self-control)—the capacity that allows a person to exert effort when necessary to resolve conflicts arising from competing thoughts and behavioral tendencies (e.g., by overriding one thought or behavior with another)—and propose that self-regulation is necessary for increased prosociality, to the extent that factors such as selfishness that decrease prosociality must be overridden (see chap. 7, this volume). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)