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OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate weight bias within young children's pro-social choices between characters who differed in body size. METHODS: Seventy-six children aged 4-6 years read stories asking them to choose who they would first help, share with, comfort, and steal from, between a healthy weight and child with overweight. They also selected the one character they would most like to play with. Children's reasoning for these choices was recorded and analysed. RESULTS: The character with overweight was helped first in only a third of the choices made. Children chose the characters with overweight more often as the target for anti-social action. In friendship selections, children overwhelmingly rejected the characters with overweight. However, weight bias was not prominent in the reasons children gave for the choices. Most children were not negative about body shape, weight or appearance. Similarly, in friendship choices, these were mostly expressed positively to the character chosen. Only a small minority of children were explicitly negative about the character with overweight. CONCLUSIONS: A better understanding of weight bias acquisition and variation between children will benefit those working in health care and educational settings. Future research should link with developmental theory, such as on social categorization and theory of mind.

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The objective of this study was to determine the factors influencing consumer intention to donate blood in an emerging market setting. A quantitative research design was followed that entailed the collection of data from 308 non-donor respondents, using a self-administered online questionnaire. The conceptual model and hypotheses were analysed statistically, using SPSS to conduct reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and personal norms had a positive and significant influence on consumers' intention to donate blood. Ascription of responsibility was the largest influencer of personal norms towards blood donation.

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We are moving towards a future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) based agents make many decisions on behalf of humans. From healthcare decision-making to social media censoring, these agents face problems, and make decisions with ethical and societal implications. Ethical behaviour is a critical characteristic that we would like in a human-centric AI. A common observation in human-centric industries, like the service industry and healthcare, is that their professionals tend to break rules, if necessary, for pro-social reasons. This behaviour among humans is defined as pro-social rule breaking. To make AI agents more human-centric, we argue that there is a need for a mechanism that helps AI agents identify when to break rules set by their designers. To understand when AI agents need to break rules, we examine the conditions under which humans break rules for pro-social reasons. In this paper, we present a study that introduces a 'vaccination strategy dilemma' to human participants and analyzes their response. In this dilemma, one needs to decide whether they would distribute COVID-19 vaccines only to members of a high-risk group (follow the enforced rule) or, in selected cases, administer the vaccine to a few social influencers (break the rule), which might yield an overall greater benefit to society. The results of the empirical study suggest a relationship between stakeholder utilities and pro-social rule breaking (PSRB), which neither deontological nor utilitarian ethics completely explain. Finally, the paper discusses the design characteristics of an ethical agent capable of PSRB and the future research directions on PSRB in the AI realm. We hope that this will inform the design of future AI agents, and their decision-making behaviour.

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Game strategies are widely used by companies to attract users and increase their stickiness. At the same time, the protection of the ecological environment is also an important expression of corporate social responsibility. This paper explores the integration of social responsibility with gaming strategies from the psychological perspective of game withdrawal, and explores the incorporation of social responsibility as an element in gamification design to reduce user withdrawal behaviour, thereby increasing individual's environmentally sustainable behaviour. We evidenced our hypothesis through two studies. Study one proved our hypothesis by recruiting 106 university undergraduates (from Wuhan University, mean age 20, of whom 47 were female and 59 were male) to prove our hypothesis by recalling previous experiences with different types of games. Study two further tested our hypothesis by manipulating participants' guilt through randomly recruiting 196 participants (mean age 35, of whom 88 were female and 108 were male, 35 of them were students, 107 were office workers and 54 were from other sectors) from different industries through the questionnaire research website Credamo. The findings show that incorporating social responsibility elements into the design of games can make users engage in pro-social behaviour while playing the game, and the guilt that users feel because of the game will be compensated by pro-social behaviour, thus reducing the game frequency and duration and improving the intent of pro-social behaviour. At the same time, players' self-control moderates the effect of guilt on game play volume under a socially responsible gamification design.

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BACKGROUND: Understanding the correlates of behaviours that challenge (CB) can help in both identifying children with intellectual disabilities (ID) at risk of developing CB and designing support programmes and interventions. AIMS: This study explores the correlates of CB exhibited by children with ID in special educational settings in the UK. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Data on behaviours that challenge were provided by educators of 71 children with ID. Additional measures of adaptive and pro-social behaviours, maternal anxiety, depression, and stress, and demographic variables were included in the cross-sectional binary logistic regression analyses. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results showed that pro-social behaviours of children with ID were associated negatively with overall CB (OR=0.72, 95% CI [0.62, 0.84], p < 0.001), stereotyped (OR=0.81, 95% CI [0.70, 0.94], p = 0.005), self-injurious (OR=0.80, 95% CI [0.70, 0.90], p < 0.001), and aggressive/destructive behaviours (OR=0.79, 95% CI [0.69, 0.90], p < 0.001). Stereotyped behaviours were associated with lower adaptive skills (OR=0.95, 95% CI [0.91, 0.99], p = 0.026) and male gender (OR=9.20, 95% CI [1.07, 79.44], p = 0.044). Aggressive/Destructive behaviours were associated with maternal stress (OR=0.82, 95% CI [0.70, 0.97], p = 0.022), and increased maternal anxiety (OR=1.21, 95% CI [1.00, 1.47], p = 0.050) was a marginally significant predictor of self-injurious behaviours. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings of this study emphasise the potential role of pro-social and adaptive behaviours, gender of children with ID, and maternal stress, as factors associated with CB in special education settings. Therefore, the present study contributes to extending the literature on correlates of CB for children with ID in special education settings while adopting an evidence-informed methodology for defining and measuring CB that facilitates replicability and allows for comparisons across findings of studies that explore CB thus increasing a more coherent evidence-base regarding assessment of CB.

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BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene at critical time-points (as established by the World Health Organization's model 'Five Moments for Hand Hygiene') remains the leading measure for minimizing the risk of healthcare-associated infections. While many interventions have been tested to improve hand hygiene compliance (HHC) of healthcare workers (HCWs), little is known about the relationship between HHC and empathy of HCWs. AIM: To investigate the relationship between moment-specific HHC rates and empathy of HCWs at both individual and ward levels. METHODS: HHC data were collected via observation and self-report, and empathy levels were measured using an established questionnaire. The survey was conducted on 38 wards of three tertiary care hospitals in Germany. Observation data were obtained via in-house observations conducted ≤8 months before or after the survey. FINDINGS: Evidence for the expected correlation between empathy of HCWs and moment-specific HHC was found for both observed HHC (Moment 1: r=0.483, P=0.031; Moment 2: r=588, P=0.006) and self-reported HHC (Moment 1: r=0.093, P=0.092; Moment 2: r=0.145, P=0.008). In analyses of variance, the critical interaction effect between empathy (i.e. lower vs higher empathy) and designated time-point of hand hygiene (i.e. before vs after reference task) was also significant. CONCLUSION: Empathy of HCWs should be considered as an important factor in explaining differences between moment-specific HHC rates. In consequence, empathy comes into focus not only as a crucial factor for high-quality patient care, but also as an important contributor to improving HHC.

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This commentary concerns a controversial animal model in rodent social release research wherein one rat releases another rat from entrapment in a plastic tube. Release from the plastic tube has been proposed as a model to study empathically motivated behaviour. However, empathic motivations have been contested by others who have provided evidence for social reinforcement motivating release behaviour. Furthermore, helping, or other forms of pro-social behaviour could exist independent of empathy or empathetic motivation and the stimuli occasioning this helping behaviour are not known. In addition, there is a dearth in the citations of published studies whose results fail to support this model. In other words, the controversial aspect of the rodent social release model is often overlooked. This controversy is described in the current opinion piece.

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LAY ABSTRACT: Empathy is an important feature to feel for another person, evoking social support for the person in distress, and thus strengthening social cohesion. The question is to what extent empathic reactions can also be observed in autistic adolescents and autistic girls in particular, since their often mentioned good social skills might prevent their direct social environment from recognizing their autism. We examined 194 adolescents (autistic and non-autistic boys and girls) during an in vivo task in which the experimenter pretended to hurt herself while closing a binder. All responses by the participants were videotaped and coded by two independent coders. In line with our predictions, no group or gender differences appeared related to their attention for the event; yet autistic girls and boys showed less visible emotional arousal, which could indicate less affective empathy (feeling for someone), or which could indicate that autistic adolescents know less well how to show empathy. Autistic girls and boys reacted by comforting the experimenter equally often as their non-autistic peers, but autistic boys addressed the problem more often than any other group, while girls (autistic and non-autistic) more often addressed the emotion of the person in need. Our findings highlight that empathic behaviour is remarkably similar between autistic and non-autistic boys and girls. Indeed, only subtle differences exist, in terms of expressed emotional arousal and gender-specific comforting styles. Autistic girls' higher levels of emotion-focused comforting could be explained by well-developed social skills, camouflaging, or emotional investment in relationships with others.

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A fast-growing literature is establishing how moving in time together has pro-social consequences, though no work to date has explored the persistence of these effects over time. Across two studies, people who had previously performed coordinated movements were over three times more likely to give their time to help their co-actor when asked 24 hours later than those who had performed a similar but uncoordinated task. Findings showed that group-level categorisation, but not social affiliation, partially mediated helping behaviour. This provides preliminary evidence that the pro-social effects of coordination are sustainable over a longer period than previously reported, and that the effects of coordination upon pro-social motivation may be more related to changes in group level categorisations than increased social affiliations.

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Humans are commonly motivated towards cooperation and prosociality. In this study, we examined this motivational predisposition in autistic individuals. Using an adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm, we investigated subsequent pro-social behaviour after witnessing social exclusion. Participants witnessed and played a series of Cyberball games, rated their affective state and valued emotional faces with respect to their approachability. Results showed that participants from both groups were aware of the social exclusion. However, while neurotypically developing participants engaged in pro-social behaviour in reaction to the exclusion, autistic participants showed less alterations, in terms of either behaviour or affective state. The current findings suggest a distinct motivational drive and processing of social reward stimuli in autism, which may result in behavioural responses divergent from typical development when engaging in the social world.

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Impairments in social behaviour are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD also usually present some difficulty to recognize or understand another person's feelings. Therefore, it is possible that altered empathy processing could hinder typical social interaction in ASD. Recently, robust paradigms confirmed that rodents show primordial forms of empathy-like behaviour. Therefore, in this work, we used one of these new protocols to test pro-social behaviour in the rat model of autism induced by Valproic Acid (VPA). We also evaluated possible beneficial effects of Resveratrol, since it can prevent social deficits in the VPA model. Rats were tested on their ability to open a restrainer to release a trapped conspecific. Exposure to VPA precludes the timely manifestation of this empathy-like behaviour, but does not affect its continuation after its first expression. We also found a significant correlation between average speed during the first day of test and becoming an Opener. Similarly, rats able to open the restrainer on the first day had an increased likelihood of repeating this behaviour in the later days of the testing programme. We did not find any protective effects of Resveratrol. Further investigation of empathy-like behaviour in the VPA model and in other models of autism could help to clarify the behavioural and neural processes underpinning the basic aspects of empathy alterations in autistic individuals.

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Gelstein et al. reported the results of three experiments suggesting a dampening influence of inhalation of female emotional tears on males' arousal and perception of female sexual attractiveness, specifically in non-sexual situations. This prompted the hypothesis that crying exerts its influence on others not only via the auditory and visual mode but also via chemosignals. In three studies, we attempted to replicate and extend Gelstein et al.'s findings by including an additional condition with irritant tears, by using pictures of sexually attractive women, and by testing related hypotheses on the pro-social effects of exposure to tears. All three studies, separately or combined in a meta-analysis, failed to replicate the original inhibitory effects of tears. In addition, sniffing tears did not affect measures of connectedness, aggression and pro-social behaviour. It is concluded that the effects of female tears on male arousal and perception of female sexual attractiveness, if any, are very weak at best. Rather, it seems that crying exerts its strong inter-personal effects through the visual and auditory sensory channels.

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Pro-social behaviours may be prompted or inhibited depending on the situation. Numerous experiments show that, when exposed to the idea of money, people are less willing to help, devote their time or share their resources with others (Vohs et al. Science, 314, 1154-1156, 2006, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(3), 208-212, 2008). Conversely, when exposed to the idea of spirituality, they often cheat less and are more willing to help others (Mazar and Ariely Journal of Marketing Research, 45, 633-644, 2008; Randolph-Seng and Nielsen The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 17(4), 303-315, 2007). The aim of this article is to present the results of two experiments in which we activated thoughts about money, i.e. both cash and credit cards, and thoughts about spirituality in order to find out in what way these two kinds of activation may influence pro-social behaviours. In experiment 1, participants, when reminded of money, offered lower donations to others whereas those reminded of spirituality offered higher donations. In experiment 2, those participants reminded of money offered to devote less time to help others whereas those reminded of spirituality offered to devote more time to help others.

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This systematic review is an update examining the relationships between objectively and subjectively measured sedentary behaviour and health indicators in children and youth aged 5-17 years. EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Medline were searched in December 2014, and date limits were imposed (≥February 2010). Included studies were peer-reviewed and met the a priori-determined population (apparently healthy children and youth, mean age: 5-17 years), intervention (durations, patterns, and types of sedentary behaviours), comparator (various durations, patterns, and types of sedentary behaviours), and outcome (critical: body composition, metabolic syndrome/cardiovascular disease risk factors, behavioural conduct/pro-social behaviour, academic achievement; important: fitness, self-esteem) study criteria. Quality of evidence by outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework. Due to heterogeneity, a narrative analysis was conducted. A total of 235 studies (194 unique samples) were included representing 1 657 064 unique participants from 71 different countries. Higher durations/frequencies of screen time and television (TV) viewing were associated with unfavourable body composition. Higher duration/frequency of TV viewing was also associated with higher clustered cardiometabolic risk scores. Higher durations of TV viewing and video game use were associated with unfavourable behavioural conduct/pro-social behaviour. Higher durations of reading and doing homework were associated with higher academic achievement. Higher duration of screen time was associated with lower fitness. Higher durations of screen time and computer use were associated with lower self-esteem. Evidence ranged from "very low" to "moderate" quality. Higher quality studies using reliable and valid sedentary behaviour measures should confirm this largely observational evidence.

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Peer problems are common in children with special educational needs (SEN), but the reasons are poorly understood. This study aims to identify risk factors of peer problems (e.g., SEN, school setting, pro-social behaviour) for their occurrence. A subsample of 3900 children from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany was analysed. Children and parents answered the items of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) subscales 'peer problems' and 'pro-social behaviour'. Students with SEN (attending special schools or inclusive classes) were more likely to score within the abnormal range of the SDQ subscale peer problems than students without SEN. The results further show a low level of parent-child agreement on the subscale 'peer problems'. Logistic regression analyses showed that having SEN is always an explaining variable for 'peer problems' and that group differences cannot be fully explained by gender, school setting or 'pro-social behaviour'.

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El objetivo de esta investigación es presentar una adaptación y validación en población española de la Escala de Expectativa de los hijos adolescentes sobre la reacción de sus padres frente al comportamiento prosocial y antisocial, desarrollada por Wyatt y Carlo (2002). La muestra estuvo compuesta por 631 adolescentes españoles de entre 15 a 18 años de edad, de clase media, de ambos sexos. Se realizó un análisis factorial confirmatorio para estudiar la validez de constructo de la escala y se analizó la consistencia interna a través del cálculo del alpha de Cronbach. Los resultados indican que la escala posee buenos índices de ajuste al modelo teórico propuesto por los autores en su versión original. Asimismo, se realizó un análisis multigrupo con la intención de mostrar la invarianza del modelo en función del sexo. El modelo se mantuvo invariante, lo que confirma la estructura bifactorial de la escala que mide la expectativa de los adolescentes de la reacción de sus padres frente a las conductas adaptativas y desadaptativas.

The aim of this study is to carry out an adaptation and validation of Adolescents' Expected Parental Reactions Scale in Spanish sample. This original scale was developed by Wyatt and Carlo (2002). The sample was composed by 631 adolescents, between 15 and 18 years, middle-class and both sexes. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to study construct validity and with Cronbach's alpha was studied internal consistence. The results showed that scale has good fit indexes to theoretical model proposed by original authors. On the other hand, a multigroup analysis was carried out to study the invariance of model through both sexes. The model was invariant, this supports the bifactiral structure of the scale that assessments adolescents' expected parental reactions on prosocial and antisocial behaviors.

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BACKGROUND: Forensic mental health professionals attach considerable importance to their patient's description of his or her index offence. Despite this, there is no systematic approach to examining and formulating the patient's offence narrative. AIM: To use the index offence narratives and capacity to mentalize of violent offender-patients with personality disorder to develop a tool to predict their progress and to evaluate that tool. METHOD: In a prospective, cohort study, the index offence narratives of 66 violent high security hospital patients with personality disorder were obtained from a semi-structured interview and used to generate the Index Offence Representational Scales (IORS). The predictive validity of these scales was investigated across a range of outcome variables, controlling for the association between initial and final value of the dependent variable. RESULTS: The degree to which patients held internal representations of interpersonal violence and malevolence, as measured by the IORS, predicted subsequent violent behaviour. In contrast to their actual aggressive behaviour, these patients rated themselves as having fewer symptoms on the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and fewer problems in interpersonal relationships on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. A more empathic victim representation on the IORS predicted better engagement with treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The IORS show promise for helping clinicians formulate the early institutional pathway of seriously violent people with personality disorder, particularly with respect to their overt aggression and prosocial engagement. Replication studies are, however, indicated.

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