Prosocial Risk Taking as a Predictor of Social Inclusion Across Group Lines

亲社会行为是为使他人受益(如分享、帮助、安慰)而实施的行为。从事亲社会行为在个人内部(例如心理健康)、个人之间(例如减少欺凌)、群体之间(例如减少冲突)以及在社会层面(例如容忍和集体行动)都有积极影响。亲社会行为的不同子类型与不同的前因和结果相关，因此，研究人员如果要影响它们的发生，单独考虑这些因素是很重要的。然而，一种新提出的亲社会行为在很大程度上被忽视了：亲社会冒险(PSRT)。也就是说，帮助其他面临自身潜在风险的个人(Do等人，2017年)。在最近的世界事件中(例如新冠肺炎大流行和乌克兰冲突)，可以看到PSRT的明显例子，也可以想起其他日常例子(例如，一个孩子保护朋友免受欺凌)。鉴于PSRT在我们周围随处可见，令人惊讶的是，很少有研究检验这一结构或提出一种方法来捕捉它。这是我博士研究的重点，在我的研究中，我开发了一项行为任务，以衡量孩子们承担亲社会风险的意愿。孩子们可以玩一种游戏，保证他们会赢得一个好奖，但同龄人赢得了一个坏奖，或者可以选择另一个游戏，让每个孩子有一半的机会赢得好奖/坏奖(Corbett等人，2021年)。该奖学金的第一个目的是通过发表我博士的进一步工作以及在该领域的主要会议上发表演讲来传播我对儿童PSRT的了解。新的研究将通过检查PSRT作为社会包容的预测因素来产生关于PSRT的社会影响的知识。团体的权力和地位往往不同；关于包容，地位较低的团体成员面临被较高地位团体成员拒绝的风险，而较高地位团体成员则因与前者联系而面临声誉损害的风险。在其他领域(如分享)高度亲社会的个人可能不包括在这种情况下(即跨越群体边界)，因为他们相对厌恶风险；因此，可能需要的是亲社会特征和冒险特征之间的互动。因此，PSRT可能是社会包容的一个未被探索的先行因素--这是一个全球性的长期社会问题。北爱尔兰和贝尔法斯特女王大学是开展这项研究的理想场所，因为存在着两个主要的种族群体(天主教徒和新教徒)，他们基本上彼此隔离。通过考虑对真实群体的社会影响，我们解决了许多现有亲社会行为研究的一个重要局限性(Taylor，2020)。另一个目标是与广泛的研究人员网络建立联系，这将通过利用我导师现有的网络来实现。我将在二级数据方面进行合作，以培养以下硬技能：(1)高级统计分析；(2)手稿开发，由于现有的现有数据和我对该主题领域的先前知识，将加快手稿的开发。影响和公众参与活动也将是这一奖学金的关键部分；这些活动将提供一个机会，通过与当地社区建立双向沟通，从我的研究结果中获得影响，有利于我的个人发展、研究质量和公众。我将建立一个地方咨询委员会，代表不同的利益攸关方，例如青年、教育工作者和非政府组织。我将根据我的博士学位和这项奖学金的研究结果，制定未来的资金建议，这将使我能够围绕亲社会发展开展一个独立的研究计划，特别关注亲社会风险承担，因为它在很大程度上被忽视了，并具有潜在的社会影响。

Prosocial behaviour is behaviour which is performed to benefit other people (e.g. sharing, helping, comforting). Performing prosocial behaviour has positive effects within individuals (e.g. mental wellbeing), between individuals (e.g. bullying reduction), between groups (e.g. conflict reduction) and at a societal level (e.g. tolerance and collective action). Different sub-types of prosocial behaviour are associated with different antecedents and outcomes, and so it is important for researchers to consider these individually, if they are to influence their occurrence. Yet, one newly proposed type of prosocial behaviour has been largely ignored: prosocial risk taking (PSRT). That is, helping other individuals at a potential risk to oneself (Do et al., 2017). Clear examples of PSRT have been seen in recent world events (e.g. the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine), and other every-day examples can be brought to mind (e.g. a child defending a friend from a bully). Given that PSRT can be seen all around us, it is surprising that very few studies have examined this construct or proposed a method to capture it. This was the focus of my PhD research, in which I developed a behavioural task to measure children's willingness to take a prosocial risk. Children could play a game that guaranteed they would win a good prize but that a peer won a bad prize, or could choose another game giving each child a 50/50 chance of winning a good/bad prize (Corbett et al., 2021). The first aim of the fellowship is to disseminate what I have already learned about children's PSRT by publishing further work from my PhD, and presenting at leading conferences in the field. New research will generate knowledge regarding the social implications of PSRT by examining it as a predictor of social inclusion. Groups tend to differ in power and status; regarding inclusion, lower status group members risk rejection from higher status group members, while the latter risk reputation damage through association with the former. Individuals who are highly prosocial in other domains (e.g. sharing) may not include in this context (i.e. across a group boundary) because they are relatively risk averse; thus, what may be required is an interaction between prosocial and risk taking traits. Thus, PSRT may be an unexplored antecedent of social inclusion - a persistent social problem globally. Northern Ireland and Queen's University Belfast is the ideal setting to carry out this research given the presence of two salient ethnic groups (Catholics and Protestants), who remain largely segregated from one another. By considering the social implications for real groups, we address an important limitation of many existing studies of prosocial behaviour (Taylor, 2020). A further aim is to forge links with an extensive network of researchers, which will be achieved by leveraging my mentors' existing networks. I will collaborate on secondary data to develop hard skills: (i) advanced statistical analysis, and (ii) manuscript development, which will be accelerated due to existing available data and my prior knowledge of the subject area. Impact and public engagement activities will also be a key part of this fellowship; these activities will provide an opportunity to achieve impact from my findings by establishing two-way communication with the local community, benefiting my personal development, the quality of research, and the public. I will develop a local advisory council representing different stakeholders, e.g. youth, educators, NGOs. I will develop future funding proposals from findings across my PhD and this fellowship, which would allow me to carry out an independent program of research around prosocial development, with a particular focus on prosocial risk taking, given its largely neglected status and potential for societal impact.