The Dispositional Basis of Selective Prosociality

Prosocial behavior is vital for societal well-being. However, people often display it selectively, treating certain individuals more favorably than others. Such selectivity reinforces social inequalities, highlighting the need to understand its roots. Prior research focused on the situational factors driving selective prosociality (e.g., group membership), largely neglecting person characteristics of actors. To close this gap, we systematically investigated the dispositional basis of selective prosociality across four pre-registered studies applying two different incentivized behavioral paradigms. We studied the predictive power of basic (HEXACO, D) and specific, theoretically-relevant personality traits for selective prosociality (Studies 1–4) and assessed its temporal stability (Study 3). We also compared selective prosociality (i.e., selectivity in giving to different recipients) with general prosociality (overall giving) regarding their personality correlates and stability. Findings show that selective prosociality is linked to certain personality traits, which are largely distinct from those linked to general prosociality. The dark factor of personality was the strongest positive predictor of selective prosociality across studies, followed by right-wing authoritarianism. Furthermore, social dominance orientation was positively correlated with selective prosociality, whereas openness was negatively correlated in three out of four studies. Selective prosociality also showed moderate stability over four weeks (rs = .58), supporting its conceptualization as a trait-like construct. Additionally, a thematic analysis of open-ended responses revealed that selective prosociality was driven by attitudinal preferences. Our findings provide evidence for a dispositional basis of selective prosociality, suggesting some individuals are consistently more selective than others and offering theoretical insights into the construct and its drivers.