New meta-analysis reveals that Agreeableness and Openness predict prosocial behavior positively across studies.

Data & Methods

This research employed a Bayesian multilevel meta-analysis (MLMA) of 15 interdisciplinary experimental studies, totaling nearly 2500 individual observations. MLMA simultaneously estimated study- and individual-level effects while addressing concerns about incentivized experiments with robust model specifications.

Key Findings

✅ The Big Five traits Agreeableness and Openness are significantly associated with prosocial behavior.

✅ Other Big Five traits show no significant relationship to prosocial actions.

✅ Monetary incentives do not appear to reduce naturally occurring prosocial tendencies.

Why It Matters

These findings provide clarity amidst contradictory literature on personality-prosociality links. The MLMA approach offers a nuanced understanding of how individual differences relate to prosocial behavior even with limited studies.

Methodological Advantages

• Bayesian framework provides unbiased estimates in small study settings

• MLMA explicitly models hierarchical data structure

Limitations & Caveats

🔍 Further research needed across different cultural contexts

🔍 Operationalization limitations acknowledged

This analysis clarifies the complex relationship between personality and prosocial behavior while highlighting methodological innovations.