Prosocial Motives, Emotions, and Behavior: The Better Angels of Our Nature

To help counter the widespread celebration and justification of inhumanity, scholars of psychology, most North American but some European, draw together theoretical and empirical studies on how and why people act to benefit other people and society as a whole. Their topics include evolutionary perspectives, neuroscience meets social psychology, the effortful and energy-demanding nature of prosocial behavior, helping relations as status relations, the subjective experience of generosity, compassionate love as a prosocial emotion, whether forgiveness is integral to a science of close relationships, empathy and intergroup relations, and a needs-based model of reconciliation. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)