Online Altruism and Prosocial Behavior in Youth

Abstract

As much as cyber perpetration, victimisation, and cyber hate are of significance in exploring the factors influencing happiness and well-being, online prosocial behaviour can be considered significant since it aids in differentiating individuals on core goodwill with which they want to operate at a virtual level. Such benefiting behaviours can be fostered for the social well-being of the population, and the insights gained through this study will act as a source of niche to realise the true purpose of online community and social media.  The study aims to find out the students’ online altruism and prosocial behaviour. The objective of the study would be to identify the influence of personality types and psychosocial capital on their online prosocial behaviour. A purposive sample of 292 university students will be used for this study. The Brief Self Control Scale will be employed to evaluate an individual’s self-capacity to regulate their inner responses and interpret their behavioural tendencies on acting or refraining from performing certain activities. In order to analyse the prosocial behaviour of the students, we will be using the Altruistic Personality Scale. A correlational analysis will be done between self-control and prosocial behaviour with personality types and psychological capital by using the 24-item Brief HEXACO Inventory and Psychological Capital Questionnaire. The results are interpreted, analysed and discussed in the paper.