Article

Prosocial to Egoistic Enculturation of Our Children: A Climato‐Economic Contextualization

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Abstract

Are altruistic, cooperative, apathetic, and egoistic cultures passed on from generation to generation in nongenetic ways? A society‐level analysis of data from the most recent World Values Surveys showed that adults in increasingly demanding cold or hot climates value cooperative enculturation of children to the extent that their society is richer, but egoistic enculturation to the extent that their society is poorer. These results refine the climatic demands–resources theory of prosociality, which posits that (a) humans in more demanding—colder or hotter—climates find it more difficult to satisfy homeostatic needs for thermal comfort, nutrition, and health; (b) increasingly demanding climates matched by wealth‐based resources and availability of homeostatic goods produce more prosocial cultures; and (c) increasingly demanding climates unmatched by wealth‐based resources and availability of homeostatic goods produce less prosocial cultures.

Keywords: cultural transmission, prosociality, egoism, altruism, climato‐economic, child enculturation

How to Cite: Van de Vliert, E. , Van der Vegt, G. & Janssen, O. (2009) “Prosocial to Egoistic Enculturation of Our Children: A Climato‐Economic Contextualization”, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. 2(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.34891/24s1-m664