People in more racially diverse neighborhoods are more prosocial

Author

Jared NAI, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Jayanth NARAYANAN, National University of Singapore
Ivan HERNANDEZ, DePaul University
Krishna SAVANI, Nanyang Technological University

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2018

Abstract

Five studies tested the hypothesis that people living in more diverse neighborhoods would have more inclusive identities, and would thus be more prosocial. Study 1 found that people residing in more racially diverse metropolitan areas were more likely to tweet prosocial concepts in their everyday lives. Study 2 found that following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, people in more racially diverse neighborhoods were more likely to spontaneously offer help to individuals stranded by the bombings. Study 3 found that people living in more ethnically diverse countries were more likely to report having helped a stranger in the past month. Providing evidence of the underlying mechanism, Study 4 found that people living in more racially diverse neighborhoods were more likely to identify with all of humanity, which explained their greater likelihood of having helped a stranger in the past month. Finally, providing causal evidence for the relationship between neighborhood diversity and prosociality, Study 5 found that people asked to imagine that they were living in a more racially diverse neighborhood were more willing to help others in need, and this effect was mediated by a broader identity. The studies identify a novel mechanism through which exposure to diversity can influence people, and document a novel consequence of this mechanism.

Keywords

diversity, identity, prosocial, socioecological psychology, big data

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Organization Development

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Volume

114

Issue

4

First Page

497

Last Page

515

ISSN

0022-3514

Identifier

10.1037/pspa0000103

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Citation

NAI, Jared; NARAYANAN, Jayanth; HERNANDEZ, Ivan; and SAVANI, Krishna. People in more racially diverse neighborhoods are more prosocial. (2018). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 114, (4), 497-515.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5359

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000103