Ben Hine has been exploring how boys and girls make judgments about prosocial behaviour.
Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents consistently gender-type prosocial behaviour as feminine (Study 1), and that at age 13 boys being prosocial are judged less positively than at other ages (Study 2). Boys will still have a desire to be prosocial, as these behaviours are morally good, and they will know the rules of right and wrong. Furthermore, parents and teachers will encourage good behaviour. However, if prosocial behaviour is female-typed, boys may be discouraged by their peers from performing behaviours that are feminine and therefore incongruent with their gender role. In this sense, boys may have a conflict between being a good boy and being a good example of a boy. How might they resolve this conflict?
These studies may also give insight into how boys are able to be prosocial, despite broad prosocial behaviours and prosocial behaviour, as a term, being labelled as feminine. Boys may identify prosocial behaviours that are masculine in their quality, and perform more of these behaviours to satisfy both social and moral obligations. These results are important, as they highlight how moral behaviours, like prosocial behaviour, are subject to social rules and peer pressures.
Bottom Line
There are masculine and feminine prosocial behaviours
For more information about this study, please email B.Hine@rhul.ac.uk