UC Davis

Prosociality, which reflects dispositions to allocate attention and energy toward addressing the needs of others, is a hallmark of positive socioaffiliative development in adolescence (Eisenberg et al., 2015; Carlo & Padilla-Walker, 2020). While the propensity to help and support others is evident throughout the lifespan, the increasingly complex social landscape and neurobiological reorganization characteristic of adolescence present greater opportunities for the development of prosocial emotions and behaviors. Effective emotion regulation underlies the ability to shift attention from one’s own emotional state to attend to the needs of others (Preston & DeWaal, 2002). Assessments of psychophysiological functioning may provide foundational insight into core psychological capacities and motives that support prosocial engagement. Therefore, this dissertation examines the nuanced interplay among emotion regulation, autonomic nervous system activity, and various forms of prosocial emotions and behaviors. Paper 1 tests the influence of cognitive reappraisal and rumination as regulatory strategies on adolescents’ autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and prosocial responding. Paper 2 investigates the extent to which parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity to experiences of both thinking and talking about negative emotions are associated with adolescents’ prosociality. Paper 3 examines the effect of emotional distress experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic on different forms of helping behaviors during the pandemic, as well as the extent to which cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression may promote or diminish these forms of prosocial behaviors. Findings from this dissertation begin to address the existing gaps in emotion regulation research by identifying psychophysiological profiles that facilitate greater prosociality across emotional and situational contexts. Taken together, the three papers herein demonstrate that youths’ emotion regulation abilities and strategies contribute to diverse forms of prosocial engagement.