Being Moderately Prosocial Helps You Earn More Money

The term “prosocial” is the behaviour of interest and engagement in others’ wellbeing. It is social behaviour that benefits other people or society. It includes activities including helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering.

We are busy. Our available time is limited. So, many think that continually focusing on other people compromises time spent on yourself and your advancement. Thus, conventional wisdom tends to focus on “what’s in it for me.” Many view that being selfish and greedy is their way to higher earnings and career advancement.

New Study Regarding Being Prosocial

In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers at Stockholm University and the University of South Carolina suggests otherwise. The findings in their paper “Generosity pays: Selfish people have fewer children and earn less money” bode well for humanity.

The result is clear in both the American and the European data. The most unselfish people have the most children, and the moderately unselfish receive the highest salaries. Moreover, we also find this result over time – the people who are most generous at one point in time have the largest salary increases when researchers revisit them later in time.” — Kimmo Eriksson, a researcher at the Centre for Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University

The researchers were seeking to understand whether one’s prosocial behaviour is a good indicator of how much money a person makes and whether they have children. In the study, they examined data on more than 60,000 people.

Previous research suggests that prosociality positively impacts psychological wellbeing. The study’s authors examined the effect on income and the number of children people have. Previous studies explored the theories that emphasize the power of self-interest, namely economics and evolutionary thinking.

Across the five studies they analyzed, selfish people were not the highest earners. Also, they had the fewest children. One study showed that the most prosocial people earned the highest salaries. In four of the five studies, people who received the highest salaries were not the most altruistic people. Instead, they were “moderately prosocial.” They were mostly unselfish, but not entirely.

People Expect Selfish People to do Better

In a separate study of participants not involved in their five studies, the researchers found that most people expect selfish people to earn more money than prosocial people. However, the overall findings run counter to most peoples’ expectations. The researchers believe that improved social relationships may be the key to generous peoples' success from an economic perspective.

Generosity often pays off in the long run

The high-earning potential of prosocial people aligns with findings in the book, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. It sets out research on “givers” and “takers” by Wharton psychologist Adam Grant.  Grant discovered that the most successful people (as defined by their wealth, happiness, and professional impact) are “unselfish givers”—people who are disposed toward helping others, without expecting favours in return.

The key to unselfish givers’ success isn’t altruism; it’s being generous without sacrificing yourself. Being a giver is not about donating money or volunteering necessarily, but looking to help others by making an introduction, giving advice, providing mentoring or sharing knowledge, without any strings attached. These givers actually prefer to be on the contributing end of an interaction.” —Adam Grant

Grant’s description of unselfish givers is consistent with moderately prosocial behaviour.

Pure givers are rare

Most of us fall somewhere in between giver and taker. It is possible to be somewhat selfish in high-stress professional environments while being extremely generous with your kids at home.

Wealth doesn't guarantee you happiness, but it may predispose you to experiencing different forms of it - for example, whether you delight in yourself versus in your friends and relationships.” — Paul Piff, University of California, Irvine

A University of California study the found that:

• people with lower incomes tend to find happiness in other people, through feelings of love and compassion
• rich people find their happiness in more self-involved traits, such as pride

More importantly, we can change our status on the giver-taker continuum. We all have the potential to become moderately prosocial. The key to doing so is identifying which types of giving energize you the most and align well with your skills:

“For some people, it’s making introductions. For others, it’s sharing credit. For others, it’s stepping up as a mentor. Finding your own giver style is powerful. The real meaning and purpose associated with that is that even if givers don’t always do better than takers or matchers, they manage to succeed in ways that make others better and lift others up, instead of cutting them down. Looking for ways to do that is probably the most sustainable path to success in the long term, both for individuals and organizations.”

Align Fulfillment and Giving

Fulfilment is a feeling of satisfaction that you get from doing or achieving something, especially something useful. Uncovering your “micro-motives” are crucial to finding fulfilment. These motives are the collection of your super-specialized things that make your heart sing. Fulfilment leads to success at work, not the other way around.

Understanding your micro-motives and behavioural DNA will help you create an alignment of your giving and fulfilment is the path to career success and satisfaction. When you are fulfilled giving, and success comes naturally. Fulfillment comes first — the rest follows naturally.

You must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” —Richard Feynman, physicist

Fulfilment is all about engineering your purpose and find your path rather than subjecting yourself to a standard formula of hard work and perseverance. Empower yourself to reliably make the right choices that fit your unique interests, abilities, and circumstances. This approach will guide you to a life of purpose, passion, and achievement. For you to be successful, you must be genuine — your prosocial behaviour must be natural and meaningful not forced. It is beneficial for you and society.

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savoured. — Earl Nightingale