The Impact of Dysfunctional Attitudes and Emotion Regulation on Prosocial Behaviour in Adults

Abstract

Dysfunctional attitudes are characterized by an individual’s faulty beliefs and feelings about themselves as well as the world. These attitudes can also lead to people acting against their best interests. We are able to feel different forms of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger etc. as long as we live. In order to control and cope with these emotions, we tend to use both healthy and unhealthy techniques of emotion regulation. Displaying a type of behaviour that is intended to help and support others can be described as prosocial behaviour. The present study aimed at exploring the impact of dysfunctional attitudes and emotion regulation on prosocial behaviour among adults. The independent variable of emotion regulation included two commonly used strategies i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. One hundred and ten adults were assessed using self-report measures such as the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (From A), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Proscialness Scale for Adults. The findings of this paper revealed a significant positive relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and prosocial behaviour as well as between cognitive reappraisal and prosocial behaviour among the total sample. It was also seen that both dysfunctional attitudes and cognitive reappraisal can predict prosocial behaviour in adults. However, no such significant links were found between expressive suppression and prosocial behaviour.