prosocial

American  

[proh-soh-shuhl] / proʊˈsoʊ ʃəl /

adjective

1. relating to behavior that helps others, benefits the community, or promotes connection, friendship, and acceptance.

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Explanation

Use prosocial to describe something that benefits other people or society in general. Volunteering at your city's soup kitchen is a great example of a prosocial way to spend your weekend. The phrase prosocial behavior is used by social scientists to describe what you might think of as simply being a good person. Stopping at stop signs, sharing your cookies with a hungry classmate, giving money to charities, and shoveling your neighbor's driveway in the winter are all examples of prosocial actions. This word was coined to be an antonym for antisocial.

Example Sentences

A large body of research shows that a strong connection to family is linked to higher prosocial behavior, stronger self-esteem and lower rates of substance use and delinquency among Latino youth.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

It concluded that reducing screen media "positively affected psychological symptoms of children and adolescents" and enhanced "prosocial behaviour", although added that further research was needed.

From BBC • Jul. 30, 2025

Furthermore, studies have also shown that musical training in adolescence increases empathy and prosocial behaviors.

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2025

To call them weird, to banish them to the monstrous hinterlands, is to claw back the ability to define whether behavior is prosocial or antisocial, to determine what principles we should be conforming to.

From Slate • Oct. 28, 2024

Joint music making promotes prosocial behavior in 4-year-old children.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin